REVIEW: NEW YORK POST, February 27, 2001

By Dan Aquilante

MATT JORGENSEN & 451
'The Road Begins Here'
3 Stars
Origin Records

Matt Jorgensen is an unusual jazzman. He is young, he runs his band from the drum kit, he knows when to give and when to take within a song and he has a rock aesthetic that lends intensity to his improvisations for 'The Road Begins Here.'

Sure, Jorgensen and company cover the expected numbers such as Miles Davis' 'Teo' and John Coltrane's 'Central Park West,' but where he and his bandmates are truly terrific is on their cover of Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter.' It doesn't require a keen ear to extract the melody from the song, yet 451 twists it to the point where it might be mistaken for an original composition.

This disc will be a hard find in all but the largest of record stores, but it can be ordered over the Internet at www.originarts.com.