"Newton’s your man whether you prefer your jazz-guitar virtuosi rough or smooth. The tunes range from funk to totally #$%&*-d-up (in the best sense).
--Village Voice
"Newton performs on a par with seminal players like Bill Frisell and Ben Monder."
--Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz
"Smart and appealing new music...an astounding mix...Newton is eloquent and passionate."
--Donald Elfman, All About Jazz
"Improv- and prog-rock nuts no less than jazzbos should get a sharp shock of recognition from this double-guitar quartet, a sort of Medeski, Martin and Mahavishnu thing that cuts loose from tight heads to travel the spaceways."
--Village Voice
"While also establishing sonorous melodies atop Toshi Someya's Jaco-like, pumping electric bass lines and rendering melodious passages with violinist Christian Howes, Newton enhances his line of attack with layered underpinnings and a variegated assortment of wittily designed compositions."
--Down Beat magazine
"Trail Magic's interplay is as bright and smart as the leaders' compositions. Their self-titled debut is a rollicking helping of funk-and-country fusion that's never less than vigorous. They're a little Jeff Beck and a little Dixie Dregs with an occasional smattering of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters.
--Geno Thackara, All About Jazz
“Newton assumes the characteristics of a cat as he energetically plies the strings with liveliness and agility. [He is] able to build a spark into a full-fledged fire with his zingy solos…and spurts of psychedelic coloring.”
--Cadence Magazine
"Unique group conception, great writing and playing, and deep groove!"
--DD Jackson, pianist/composer/recording artist
"Newton's conception is both broad and deep…One is an exceptionally focused debut that seems to just hint at where [he] might go next."
--James Hale, Downbeat contributor, from ONE liner notes
"Intergalactic travels...a new angle on jazz-rock...introspective quietude mixed with explosive energy."
--Nils Jacobson, All About Jazz
"Could JNS be the first great jazz-fusion band of the 21st century? In a word, yeah...Free thinking and forward looking, JNS is guided by a passionate spirit of improvisation..."
--Buffalo News
"...an adventurous guitarist with chops to spare...Joel has produced a well executed collection of original music that falls onto a musical continuum begun 25 years ago while remaining completely contemporary and invigorating."
--Jazzreview.com
"...combines virtuosic instrumental skills, funky beats and jagged starts and stops. Snaky, rhythmic riffs and futuristic sounds come out of this guitar-led quartet."
--Listen.com
"A powerhouse of jazz-rock fusion, impressing with its intricate compositions...sense of humor and absurdist view."
--Columbus Dispatch
"This two-guitar [quartet] forsakes their free-funk starting place rather quickly. They've got places to go and vistas to see. But at points along the way, they always choogle back to square one. In some books that's called focus."
--Village Voice
"Listening to [JNS] "ONE" is the most fun I've had with my clothes on in a long time...packed with novel arrangements and innovative grooves...57 minutes of ear-opening freshness and aural satisfaction...one of the best bands currently playing music inspired by the jazz-fusion of the latter 21st century."
--Julian Derry, from the John Mclaughlin Archives
“I drove 10 hours in a snow storm to play with them and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Energetic, sensual, thought-provoking stuff! SEE THIS BAND”
--Christian Howes, violinist
