Released in 2014,
the Jason Roebke Octet's
High/Red/Center is a dense and ambitious set of 11 originals, an album that showcases the bassist's skills as a bandleader and as a composer. The two go hand in hand, for
Roebke needs a dexterous, intuitive band to execute these dense but nimble compositions. Often, the album suggests
Mingus at his biggest and woolliest, but there's a discipline to the material that makes it distinctive. This isn't music that asks to be liked and that's its appeal: it's bold enough to wait for you to meet it on its own terms. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine