Brent Bowman

“Overall, I found the music genuinely fresh and exciting, as this experienced band has presented a varied set with melodic and rhythmic interest, with plenty of interplay and drama. I especially enjoyed the Pointer horn. But, at the end of the day, it was all just plain fun, holding my interest for several listens through the program. CD Review of “Go Wake The Rooster” - Roger Atkinson, Kansas City Jazz Ambassador Magazine (Oct 01, 2011)

“...They create very open and wide structures and take time to develop things. Their improvisations originate on stage or in studio without much pretension. This results in very captivating music that is never in a hurry and working very consequent to its goal..It's just there.” Dolf Mulder, Vital Weekly, Netherlands

“I sincerely believe this is the best creative venture I've ever heard from a midwestern group of cows & give it my MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as well as the “PICK” of this issue for “best creative jazz”! “ Rotcod Zzaj - Zzai Productions - Improvijazzation Nation

“The best song in the world, right now this morning (3-07-10) is… “Investment Bankers” by the River Cow Orchestra. Kansas City outfit. I just heard about them yesterday and I’m digging their chill.” Jack Pribek - Snake Oil - music web blog

“That approach (River Cow Orchestra's) was what Kansas City was once famous for ��” jazz musicians who cut new ground ��” or hoped to ��” each time they played.” David Knopf - Richmond Daily News

“Ah yes, …improv at its best. To classify the sound as jazz ��” where most (of their band) members have a lot of experience ��” would be too limiting. The improvisation created newer and deeper textures.” Cory Streeter - The Kansas City Star newspaper

“The pieces, or excursions as the trumpet player E. E. Pointer put it, took the audience through a journey of styles from psychedelic to funk, acid jazz, traditional jazz and contemporary classical music in the likeliness of Eric Dolphy, Charlie Haden, Charles Mingus, even Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Little surprises, like a musical quote from the Wizard of Oz and Middle Eastern melodies, Pointer rang out in one of the “excursions” took me out of my trance.” - Nihan Yesil, KCMetropolis.org (Jul 27, 2011)

“River Cow Orchestra takes free form jazz and turns it into an experience that delights not only the ears, but the eyes��”and the mind as well. As the orchestra begins each piece, it invites the audience to join an original journey, one that begins only in that moment and ends vibrantly but only with a memory, because that exact performance will neither be seen nor heard again. Members of the audience listen as the sounds build and blend and excite. They watch as colors swirl and flow and energize. They feel the mood as it mellows and then bellows. Then, the audience leaves with a smile, because they’ve been not to a concert but to an event. “ - Sara D. Seidel Vice President, Friends of the Farris Theater Richmond, Missouri, Letter to the Kansas Arts Commission Touring Roster

“And then the music began to fill the air that Saturday evening. I felt as if I was being transported through time ��” to a different era, the era of Jazz clubs; where Jazz was truly the “music of the streets”; where Jazz was truly alive. I imagined hearing Louis Armstrong playing away on his trumpet while Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday scatted along with him. The music flowed so seamlessly, that it was hard to tell when one song ended and when another one began! But the greatest surprise was learning that ALL of the music that was played that night was 100% improvised! “ - Jenny Gray, Performance Review (Music 116-PVCC KC, MO) (Jul 17, 2010)

“They create very open and wide structures and take time to develop things. This results in very captivating music that is never in a hurry and working very consequent to its goal.” Dolf Mulder - Vital Weekly, Netherlands