Steven Loewy, Cadence Magazine
CD review — Lapis Exilis
Hobbs is a solid sender, strong and powerful on alto, an intense wailer, but it is his superb writing that distinguishes the set, his vision that mixes tempos, time signatures, harmonies, and timbre: an exciting voice. His “Ol’ Lady Who?” is a tune with staying power, its eerie melody and tight voicing a sure winner.
Paul Olson, AboutJazz.com
CD Review — Lapis Exilis
Boston-based altoist Jim Hobbs and his Fully Celebrated Orchestra combine vast musical prowess and playful, irreverent intelligence on Lapis Exilis. No one today is playing the alto better than Hobbs—the vast range of tones he summons from the small horn is altogether remarkable—and Orchestra members cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, bassist Timo Shanko, and drummer Django Carranza display a comparable mastery of their respective axes.
Jon Garelick, The Boston Phoenix
Is alto player Jim Hobbs the best saxophonist in Boston? The 37-year-old native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been here since 1986, when he began to attend Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship. Not long after that, he began working with a nucleus of like-minded musicians who would become the paradoxically named small ensemble the Fully Celebrated Orchestra.
Band Review - Skycap.de
Even by jazz’s sometimes bizarre standards, alto saxophonist/composer Jim Hobbs is an anomaly… The eclecticism of his influences is what sets him and his group apart - Duke Ellington Suites, heavy metal, Don Cherry and Willie Nelson’s song stylings (“the way he can twist melodies that are common”).
Kapil Kachru
Mark Corroto, All About Jazz.com
CD review — Marriage of Heaven and Earth
Marriage Of Heaven And Earth is fifty minutes of searing and heavy music from this very exceptional band. And this disc is only their first set!
Ed Hazel, Boston Phoenix
Concert review
With so many jam bands laying down heavy grooves and lightweight music in the name of jazz, it’s good to hear the Fully Celebrated Orchestra demonstrate that one does not have to exclude the other. A week ago last Wednesday night at the Regattabar, mental and physical energy were evenly matched as the band marked the release of their new CD, Marriage of Heaven and Earth (Innova), and premiered a newly commissioned suite by alto-saxophonist Jim Hobbs.
Downtown Music Gallery CD Review
CD review — Marriage of Heaven and Earth
The FCO are one of Boston’s most notorious avant-jazz trios with a few amazing and intense self-released cds under their belts. They are led by a young alto sax great Jim Hobbs and include the ever burnin’ bassist Timo Shanko, who can often be found smokin’ in Joe Morris’ main trio and drummer Django Carranza. On this new release they are joined by Braxton collaborator Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet, who has moved here in recent years and played with the Cecil Taylor Orchestra last year at the Knit.
Jon Garelick, The Boston Phoenix
It’s easy to think of the Fully Celebrated as upstarts, but in fact they’ve been around for a decade - first as a trio, then in the past couple of years as a quartet, since the fine young trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum joined Jim Hobbs in the front line. The FCOs first gained notoriety in the rock clubs - or, at least, it was the rock crowd that first created the buzz. Maybe that’s because the band are proponents of old-fashioned avant-garde inclusiveness: funk, Latin, blues, Balkan, and any number of “world” melodies, scales, and rhythms show up in the FCO book, with plenty of free-jazz-collective chatter.
Brad Lingham
Rant
…Think of the wind at war with itself, and you’re the Psychic CNN. Telekinetic waves of power, changing the air and light in the room, getting in your throat a minute. It feels like holding the column of memory upright, like balancing a baseball bat in your hand until its weight disappears. Laugh!
Bob Blumenthal, The Boston Globe
Concert review
…The band’s core instincts involve bold, expressionistic playing, and Django Carranza drums with emphatic glee, Timo Shanko furiously plucks and bows his bass, and leader Jim Hobbs’s alto sax exudes passion. These emotions are channeled through compositions that span a variety of moods, and that on Wednesday led listeners from relative calm to frenzy. Indian raga, free-form swing, waltz, ballad, Latin, and funk rhythms were employed before the climactic rave that gained in impact from the preceding variety.
Michael Rosenstein, Cadence Magazine
CD review — Right On
The Boston-based Fully Celebrated Orchestra is ironically, neither fully celebrated, nor particularly orchestral. Instead, they are a hard-working trio who have been developing their collective approach to improvisation since the mid ’80’s, with three previous releases.