[To purchase CD's or mp3's of Hellbent, please visit the CD Baby.]

Sometimes the raw, spontaneous, interpretive abilities of an all-star cast of top improvisers mixes just right with the compositions at hand to create an unforgettable night of music. Hellbent captures just such a night on November 13th, 2000, when George Schuller’s group The Schulldogs rolled into Albuquerque, New Mexico for a show at The Outpost. That night Tim Berne, Tony Malaby and Ed Schuller joined the group’s leader in stretching, pulling, and dramatically exploring his compositions with a creative urgency seldom captured on the precarious live recording format. Whereas the group’s 1999 studio debut Tenor Tantrums (New World) relied heavily on the original compositions, this live deconstruction and reinvention of the original material shows the true breadth of this group’s creative abilities and Schuller’s range as a leader.

"More than a tour souvenir, HELLBENT is a rhythmically exciting listening experience. Plus it’s the sort of calling card for this band that will make many audiences wish they could replicate the New Mexicans’ sonic adventures." — Jazz Weekly

"Think: David Murray, the World Saxophone Quartet, and, later, Dave Holland’s small groups, with their tricky horn counterpoint over shifting, roiling grooves. Texture, tempo, meter, and melodies are always shifting, so that each of the six pieces on this 71-minute CD sustains interest for its duration. Schuller knows how to use composition to spur improvisation, and as a way to organize free blowing so that it never sounds arbitrary." — Boston Phoenix

"Boston drummer George Schuller and his Schulldogs know how to make a free-jazz album that will seem coherent to the average fan.........His compositions are provocative, but the emphasis is on extended improvisation. The solos are often long, but they're so well structured that it seems the soloists are reading the notes off of paper." — Boston Herald

"......an intuitive, spontaneous romp. Fun to play, and fun to listen." — All About Jazz

"The ideas are fresh (and many of the notes, "bent"), the energy contagious, and many of the more subtle exchanges between the drummer and his three collaborators (particularly with bassist Ed Schuller) simply beautiful." — NewMusicBox