Press

“Asher is an ideal example of the heart and ambition of New Orleans’ creative music community.” - We Jazz Magazine

“Asher is a creative musician to look out for.” - Free Jazz Blog

"There is a neat brilliance to Byron Asher's music." - Anthony Dean-Harris, Nextbop.com review of "100% Humidity"

"There's a clear strategic intelligence and inventiveness at work... a range of musical influences showing a substantial depth of artistic resourcefulness. Byron Asher’s large, generous tenor sax tone and melodic invention recall Sonny Rollins." - No Depression Magazine

Praise for Basher May Day

“A perfect record to put on when the only thing that is needed is a euphoric release.” - We Jazz Magazine

“A wake-up call to pay attention when Asher is at the helm.” - Offbeat Magazine

Praise for Skrontch Music Lord, when you send the rain (2024)

“Delivers a thoughtful and moving suite of music, stirring thoughts about what the blues really mean in 2024.” - We Jazz Magazine

“Makes for a resounding and passionate narrative, the latest act in a very human story. 4 stars (of 5)” - All About Jazz

Praise for Basher Doubles (2022)

“Stunning. It slaps, 4 stars (of 5)” - Downbeat Magazine

“Unbearably beautiful. Doubles pays tribute both to the city’s abundant spirit and to its complicated legacy.” - Pitchfork

“Preconceptions and genre categories are hurled out of the window. It’s a party. No clipboards or box-ticking allowed.” - Jazz Journal UK

Praise for Byron Asher’s Skrontch Music (2019)

"One of the top 20 jazz albums of 2019." -- textura.org

“Skrontch Music effects a deft integration between past and future. As a musical accomplishment, the recording's impressive, but its incorporation of historical background makes it resonate all the more meaningfully.” -– textura.org review of Skrontch Music

"A kaleidoscopic montage of action-packed artistry." -- Mike Greenblatt review of Skrontch Music in The Aquarian

“I don't claim to know every bit of music that is out there in the universe being made, but it's been a long time since I've heard a new jazz work by a relatively new artist that draws me back for repeated listens.” — Mark Smotroff, Audiophile review of Skrontch Music

Links

Cast The Dice preview of Basher May Day, 2024

Offbeat Magazine review of Basher May Day, 2024

Offbeat Magazine review of Skrontch Music Lord, when you send the rain, 2024

All About Jazz review of Skrontch Music Lord, when you send the rain, 2024

Gambit Magazine profile of Skrontch Music Lord, when you send the rain, 2024

Pitchfork review of Basher Doubles, 2022

Downbeat Magazine review of Basher Doubles, 2022

Free Jazz Blog review of Basher Doubles, 2022

Promo for Skrontch Music’s concert at University of Mississippi, 2020

Double review for Skrontch Music and Nutria’s Meeting In Progress, Step Tempest Blog, 2020

Something Else! premiere of “Blues Obligato” video from Skrontch Music, 2019

Backseat Mafia premiere of "Elegy” video from Skrontch Music, 2019

Offbeat Magazine feature video on Skrontch Music, featuring myself, James Singleton, Aurora Nealand, Emily Frederickson, and Steve Glenn. 2019

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript promo of my MacDowell Downtown lecture, November 2018

Featured guest on Tripod episode "The Mexican Band," talking New Orleans music history with Laine Kaplan-Levinson, WWNO New Orleans, 2018

Promo for Skrontch Music at the 2017 Forestival on Inside the Arts with Diane Mack, WWNO New Orleans