Downbeat Magazine

Remy Le Boeuf is wholly ensconced in a singular sonic world on Light As A Word, the alto saxophonist’s leader debut due out May 24 on Outside In.

Oscillating between originals flecked with the electricity of Charles Altura’s guitar and bolstered by tenorist Walter Smith III on the frontline, Le Boeuf seems steadfast in his belief in the ensemble collected here.

“My musical values are built around communication,” the bandleader said in a press release. “I value conversation, interaction, intimacy, authenticity and the ability to capture emotion. I chose this band specifically because they help me achieve that.”

Downbeat Magazine

"Brothers in musical crime and creative invention with chops and a flexible pocketful of ideas about how jazz could go in the 2010s. Their latest album, ['In Praise of Shadows,'] freely incorporates electronics, digitized production modes and sounds from the pop realm, while slipping in tasty improvisational elements. […] Impressive young players with integrity… coolly appealing."

San Francisco Chronicle

Often inspired by literary sources, he crafts melodic lines that follow the contours of a text, unheard lyrics that might be drawn from poetry, prose or plays. “Light As a Word” features a program of original tunes played by a brilliant cast of musicians a few years older than Le Boeuf, including tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III, guitarist Charles Altura (a graduate of Berkeley High School), SFJazz Collective bassist Matt Brewer and pianist Aaron Parks.

“I love that Remy’s not afraid to go for unapologetic beauty,” said Parks, who has performed widely in the Bay Area with trumpet star Terence Blanchard and in the collective quartet James Farm. “His playing is slippery and elusive but really clear, and I love that balance of those different energies.”

The New Yorker

“Classical music’s chamber wing has become a small home for big experiments in cross-genre fertilization. The Le Boeuf Brothers(Pascal on piano, Remy on saxophone), prodigious twins from Santa Cruz, are clearing their own path, mixing the solid swing of the jazz tradition with hip-hop, indie rock, and the complex techniques of classical modernism. With their sidemen, they join the ever-ready JACK Quartet in a concert at National Sawdust on Nov. 16 that celebrates the release of their new album, ‘imaginist.’”

Jazz Times Magazine

The group comfortably occupies diverse terrain: the soaring melodies, flickering rhythms, and vaguely Americana-ish strains of “Mirrors in Your Eyes” as well as the delicacy of “Union,” a ballad penned for his sister’s wedding.

Le Boeuf’s explorations are ably abetted by second saxophonist Walter Smith III on tenor, a dynamic rhythm section—regular collaborators Matt Brewer on bass and Peter Kronreif on drums, plus pianist Aaron Parks—and, on two tracks, guitarist Charles Altura. The latter shines particularly with a bracing extended improvisation on “Imperfect Paradise,” a color-shifting fusion piece undergirded by Fender Rhodes.

A kind of lightness, a musical gracefulness and openness, infuses much of the music on Light as a Word. But artistic intensity is never far away.

New York Times

“If not for the overwhelming beauty of Le Boeuf’s harmonies and his crafty combinations of reeds and brass, it would be all too easy to grow dizzy while listening to the music of his Assembly of Shadows, a big band that is about to release its debut album. From moment to moment, these whirling, airborne arrangements call to mind the jazz bandleader Maria Schneider, the modernist composer Benjamin Britten and the maximalist film scorer Hans Zimmer. But Le Boeuf, a saxophonist, has a clear vision of his own and an ace ensemble of young musicians to help him carry it off.”

The New York Times

"This group has an impressively self-assured new album which reaches for the gleaming cosmopolitanism of our present era."

San Francisco Chronicle

"The brothers play a rich brand of modern jazz, with performances and compositions that display an impressive level of sophistication. Textured harmonies and shifting time signatures are handled with aplomb."