Press Quotes - Cruel Yet Fair (Les Disques Victo)
"...John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra is a juggernaut. On Cruel Yet Fair, the 22-piece ensemble rips through Korsrud's erudite compositions, kicking up a dust storm of ideas that linger long after the disc is over. As a composer, Korsrud gives minimalism's interlocking figures and repeating motives big band brawn and palpable propulsion, while grafting material from funk, Latin and rock sources. He makes very arcane concepts swing hard... Incredibly, Cruel Yet Fair is Hard Rubber Orchestra's first recording; there hasn't been as impressive a debut by a composer and his orchestra in years."
- Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes
"...a frenetic, rhythmically exciting big band tour de force. ...the whole recording has polish and flash."
- Walter Horn, Cadence
"...daunting, high-strung pieces full of surging rhythms, dissonant brasses, can't breathe effects, hot-wired, post-Hendrix guitar solos and fright-night crescendos. None of this gives his musicians any problems whatsoever; the level of skill and discipline of all the players on this debut CD is remarkable."
- Mark Miller, Globe & Mail
"Cruel Yet Fair is certainly not for the faint-hearted nor for those whose ears are immovably rooted in mainstream music. The CD combines New Music, groove rhythms, and high level improvisation into a high art musical presentation."
- Laurence Svirchev, 5/4 Magazine