Le Monde, France:
Full of music and future!
Mike Nock, (pianist, composer, ECM recording artist):
Chris Cody is one of the most interesting pianist/composers to have emerged from Australia in recent years.
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia:
These musicians guarantee a performance full of colour, humour and rhythmic movement. Space and simplicity are used in a deceptive way. This is very inventive, indeed completely unfettered, playing.
Drum Media, Australia:
Chris Cody is one of this country’s most impressive jazz pianists, and his compositional skills are no less developed, as evidenced on his elegiac, memorable “Oasis” (Naxos) CD.
Swing Journal, Japan:
Cody has absorbed the jazz and classical music of both Europe and America. That’s why this is now an international combo. His works have an original 4-beat influenced by East-European, modal and Monk-like taste, and it is versatile music too. We can enjoy the combination.
All About Jazz, U.S.A:
An interesting and entertaining recording with fine performances by all… This disc is a very welcome one.
Le Philanthrope, France:
Chris Cody, “the pianist from the land of the kangaroos”. An exceptional musician doubled with a charming personality to discover, along with Bernard Pivot who invited him onto the set of a “Bouillon de Culture” Australian special, consecrated to the artists of this immense country. A dimension of space, the play of silence, to hear in his music. And the melody, second nature to this remarkable composer who writes for theatre and cinema. A journey without error in taste, a sharp knowledge of the universe of piano, – the classics, the French School, a “Who’s whos” of jazz that goes without saying – for an expression full of character. “To have fun, and keep a sense of humour, that is also my vision of music. Coalition? For the collective and to create this while playing”. Top rhythm section, with special invite Glenn Ferris, whose lyricism, sound, and reputation need no further mention.
Jazz Around, Belgium:
Compositions that showcase the technical prowess of the leader, as well as his extroverted personality
Basler Zeitung, Switzerland:
Cody creates superb soundscapes of melody and colour.
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia:
The material sparkles whether the mood is buoyant swing, darker funk, or walks on the wild side of improvisation… Cody’s breadth of endeavour as a composer is as impressive as his playing. A welcome return.
Variety, USA:
A fine mix of superior technical talent and youthful inventiveness…intelligent original compositions…his pieces range from witty improvisation laid over a funky groove to a classical cool sound to pretty ballads.
La Depeche du Midi, France:
A memorable concert where Chris Cody showed he is not only a great composer but also an incredible virtuoso! He carried the crowd with his deep sensitivity and irreproachable technique.
Saturday Star, USA:
An Australian sextet led by much travelled pianist Cody absorbs rhythms from Africa, Europe and the Americas as well as classical and exotic formats – thus aiding original music sound as accessible and mysterious at the same time.
Rolling Stone:
Chris Cody’s second album is something of a musical photo album, summing up the seven years he spent in France, and the diverse range of sounds to which he was exposed. Returning to Sydney, the pianist teamed up with a group of players who shared his vision of jazz as an infinitely adaptable art form. This eclecticism can be most obviously heard on “El Bahdja”, with its Middle Eastern motif, and the bouncing melodic line which runs through “African Dance”. A European sensibility with a nod to Debussy, informs “Green’s Peace”, an understated composition infused with an appealing lyricism, while “Monk’s Mood”, the only non-original, is played with humour and a rolling gait.
Jazzwise, U.K:
Cody deploys his forces with great skill, and the result is a splendidly rich and varied album.
Journal de La FNAC, France:
With “Oasis”, Chris Cody proposes a cosmopolitan jazz, both intimate and exuberant, anchored in the tradition with its swing and its cover tribute to Thelonious Monk but also influenced by African rhythms (“ElBadja” dedicated to the Algerian people, “African Dance”…). Australia, a new land of jazz? And why not! Chris Cody is one of its worthy representatives.
La Dépèche Du Midi
Those who know this Australian know that with him the evening will be without frontiers or taboos, in the image of this talented and sensitive pianist.
Cadence, USA
The musicians on “Oasis” will not be familiar to most American listeners because they are all fixtures of the jazz scene in Sydney, Australia. They have all been in Europe at one time or another and their playing is certainly world class. Pianist Chris Cody, who has a driving post-bop style, wrote all of the selections except for “Monks Mood”, including the Monkish “Flooze Blues”. His music explores plenty of moods including the Arabic “El Bahdja”, the dark ballad After the Storm, the swinging “Gare de L’Est” and a passionate “Shadows Across the Land”. James Greening has plenty of spirit in his playing while the rhythm section is both alert and intuitive, reacting quickly to the ideas of the lead voices. Well worth checking out.
Jazz Journal, United Kingdom:
Cody is a writer with an all-round grasp. As a soloist he is equally accomplished. “Maya” shows his easy way with a ballad, “I’ve Got Twelve” his comfort in serial country and the solo “Nightmusics” his widely different approaches to free moods.
La Dépèche Du Midi:
A sensitive being full of talent!
The Drum Media, Australia:
There’s a touch of “Kind Of Blue” about “Oasis”, and complements don’t come much higher than that Cody’s piano is a constant highlight, reaching deep and soulful within his strikingly bold melodies.
The Age, Australia:
Cody is unusually versatile, handling up-tempo grooves, Miles Davis-inspired funk and moods of tranquil impressionism with equal assurance.
Drum Media, Australia:
The suave Chris Cody, who’s unique, North African influenced modern jazz is refreshing like a breeze off the ocean, and redolent with mystery.
Sydney Morning Herald:
While his harmonic ingenuity and his accomplishment and touch at the keyboard were to be admired in this performance, it was his compositions which particularly caught the ear…This was strong confident improvising, with space between phrases for the rhythm section to churn over Cody’s ideas, before he would return with a line that might curl as unpredictably as a cut snake.
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia:
At last, a Coalition you can cheer for…Cody played his heart out.
The Australian Financial Review:
There is an almost Ellingtonian spirit in Cody’s spare piano playing and his dedication to an overall band sound. Instead of technical displays, which Cody resists as an end in themselves, there is the gentle construction of moods and narratives carefully constructed and played with charm and finesse.
Sydney Morning Herald:
Cody seemed to chisel his lines, so fiercely and clearly were they drawn as he fed off the rhythm section.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, sixth edition:
The young Australian has a strong Monk influence which he is beginning to take in interesting directions. Monks Mood follows the original Flooze Blooze and cements the prevailing sound of a very competent and enjoyable record by a group that has had some European exposure. Cody writes well and “Shadows” and the mournful ballad “After the Storm” suggest a developing talent.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD Fifth Edition:
If Australasia is the new melting pot, Chris Cody’s band Coalition is a fair representation of its creative diversity…lively and joyous … His strength is in shaping a group sound, creating atmospheres. On “Shadows across the Land” and “After the Storm”, the latter another feature for Greening’s pocket trumpet, he patiently colours in backgrounds, content to stay out of the limelight. Only on “Shadows” does he cut loose and show glimpses of what he might achieve in years to come.