03/10/2005 Jazzwise

“Stapleton is a highly talented composer and pianist and these nine originals are full of powerful riffs, melodic hooks and intriguing and surprising turns of phrase. With a remarkable young band from the Welsh scene, it’s truly heartening to hear music this vital and fresh... For me this is up there with the Barkers, Sheppards and Baptistes of the UK scene”.
(Jazzwise)

"Stapleton is one of the most refreshing, sophisticated and intelligent young jazz composers working today. Innovative, infectious and utterly compelling, the future of new British jazz is in safe hands".
(The Western Mail)

“This is of course a band of considerable aptitude and skill…This augurs well for new approaches in modern British jazz and Dave and this quintet look set to be among its harbingers. This is an excellent, fully-coloured album from start to finish and I thoroughly recommend it to you”.
(www.jazzviews.co.uk)

“An outstanding album by a fresh face at UK Jazz. The tone is fluid and compelling with motifs, runs and cut up rhythms. Trumpet and saxophone spar and whirl with mind beguiling verve and the rich piano work is exceptional throughout. Enjoy”.
(Big Issue – September 2005)

“… the members of DSQ - Jonny Bruce on trumpet, Paula Gardiner on bass, Elliot Bennett on drums and Marcin Wright on sax - follow leader pianist Dave Stapleton in a cycle of polite arrangements which owe some of their elegant beauty to the undisguised inspiration of the best pages of 70s British jazz, resonating with echoes of Zappa's "Grand Wazoo" and a sparse, minimal old ECM atmosphere. Everything is masterfully engaging…” (www.touchingextremes.org)

“...one of the most promising quintets around at the moment, speaking of the British Isles...”
(RTE Radio Lyric fm 'The Third Wave')

“ Intelligent and relentless jazz, with piano supporting the fiercely competitive sax and trumpet as it bolts down the path of creativity, never dwelling on any motif of allowing any section to become a quagmire. This is jazz as it should be: based on improvisation, but always with a keen ear for melody, always compelling”.
(Buzz Magazine)