" Schuller is a drummer who starts at the boundaries and then extends them. He can take the music through difficult and surprising changes with astonishing economy."
-- AllAboutJazz (2/03)

 

 

"Since it’s his date, George Schuller does get room for more drum features than if it was, say, a saxophonist’s CD. But like his sibling, he never tries to draw attention to himself with overlong, noisy imprudence. More likely you can comment on the chess-master’s skill with which he position each beat. On his own and as part of the bigger picture he keeps bass drum and snare rhythm going, but is just as likely to express himself in quick flams, rim shots and with a variety of ancillary percussion including cowbells, maracas and a bell tree." -- Jazz Weekly (1/03)
 

 

"George Schuller's talent on Hellbent lies in his ability to keep the quartet together through periods of order and disorder. He uses drums, rather than cymbals, much of the time to sharpen edges and provide
contrast. Schuller's playing is particularly refreshing because he doesn't generally play on (or off) the beat--instead, he comes in and out unexpectedly, dancing around the pulse. You always know it's there, but nobody's offering any formal demonstration." -- AllAboutJazz (1/03)
 
 
"Schuller's compositions create an effective balance between form and freedom; his melodic sense is firmly rooted in the post-Ornette vocabulary, and his rhythmic conception is finely connected to the time/space continuum. As a drummer, Schuller propels, swings hard and has the rare ability to conjure form out of seeming chaos."--The Tuscon Weekly (1/00)
 

 

"Schuller's ambitious 'Evanescent,' dedicated to Gil Evans, is definitely a case where conceptual reach does not exceed grasp. Music in homage to late great musicians rarely lives up to the honorees, but this is an exception that makes an original statement while embodying the grandeur, mystery and hip irreverance of Evans (and Miles Davis) and has an elegiac quality which communicates a heartfelt sense of loss. Simply put, it's cosmic."   --Jazz Radio News (10/94)

 

"This is not a mere 'drummer's CD,' rather the improbable but gratifying substantial results of a mature compositional and collective effort." --Jazzthetik (12/90)
 

 

"Schuller's charts provide fruitful frameworks for the improvising, with loose-limbed harmonic lines and purposeful rhythmic foundations underpinning free-wheeling melodic parts from the horns." -- JazzReview (Great Britain)