Press

Switches (2025)

Chris Ingalls – POP MATTERS (US): 8/10 – Tropos possess a seemingly boundless energy supply, but it’s delivered smartly and with brilliant flair for instrumental fluidity and a sense of adventure. Switches is them at their very best. (read more)
Kira Grunenberg – DOWNBEAT (US): Switches is an experiential record that embodies Tropos’ duality of fastidious work and cheerful camaraderie, which makes the music a remarkably balanced, enjoyable listen. (read more)
Phil Freeman – STEREOGUM (US): exhilarating and welcome (read more)
Dean Nardi – ALL ABOUT JAZZ (US): remarkable album … It is a thrill ride, listeners​ (read more)
Nate Chinen – WRTI (US): engaging balance of precision and daring (read more)
Bruce Lee Gallanter – DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY (US): Pretty much every week I review a disc which knocks me out although the personnel are mostly lesser known musicians. This week’s buried treasure is this disc, a mind-blowing mystery that is well worth your time and listening abilities. (read more)
TWISTED SOUL (US): It’s a profound yet thought-provoking experience that demands patience and opens the window of thought. (read more)
IF IT’S TOO LOUD… (US): It gets more and more captivating and intriguing the further into the song you get. (read more)

​Axioms // 75ab (2020) & Shadow Music (2023)

Giovanni Russonello – NEW YORK TIMES (US): That feeling — of a writhing text, something almost escaping its own language — became inspiration for Tropos, a quintet of young improvisers and composers who first met as students at New England Conservatory. On their debut album, “Axioms // 75 AB,” they take inspiration from Braxton’s method; half of its tracks are his compositions, and the other half are original pieces inspired by him. One of those, “Of the Trellis,” a smoky piece by the drummer Mario Layne Fabrizio, becomes a fertile meeting ground for Laila Smith’s voice and Raef Sengupta’s alto saxophone. (read more)
Mike Shanley – JAZZ TIMES (US): Profile in September 2020 issue (read more)
Phil Freeman – STEREOGUM (US): Tropos are a new group of young improvising musicians out of the New England Conservatory. This is their debut, and they’re making a powerful statement by juxtaposing five pieces they created themselves against six versions of Anthony Braxton compositions from the 1970s. (read more)
Thom Jurek – ALL MUSIC (US): The album’s most compelling feature lies in how well Tropos integrate Braxton’s influence and intent in the creation of a unique musical identity. With humor, high-powered energy, sudden radical rhythmic and harmonic shifts, and a kinetic range of dynamics, Tropos enthusiastically traverse the murky terrain between the voices of the soloist and the collective. […] Tropos’ Axioms // 75 AB is an auspicious debut, filled with exhilarating energy, charisma, and a canny ability to transform the complex and even inscrutable into sophisticated yet joyful noise. (read more)
Alex Dutilh – FRANCE MUSIQUE (FR): Tropos offers the last iteration of this deep heritage, with striking uniqueness. (read more)
Steve Smith – ON THE RECORD (US): Now, here comes Tropos, a brash young band jointly led by pianist Phillip Golub and drummer Mario Layne Fabrizio. The collective cohesion of this quintet […] extends to its vivacious interpretations of six Braxton compositions from the early ’70s. […] Tropos plays with assurance, charisma, and infectious enthusiasm. (read more)
Tor Hammerø – NETTAVISEN LIVSSTI (NO): There are lots of plants in the jazz-garden. The one presented to us by the American band Tropos is of the extremely rare kind, but without a doubt exciting. (read more)
AVANT MUSIC NEWS (US): Even if Axioms // 75 AB had nothing to do with Anthony Braxton, it would still be a compelling release. But the addition of the Braxton material puts this one over the top. Well done, indeed. (read more)
Ken Waxman – JAZZ WORLD (US): Not only exemplary music, these discs confirm the idea that so-called serious music will be enriched with many more timbral flavors as the 21st Century advances. (read more)
O’S PLACE JAZZ MAGAZINE (US): Their music is dynamic and expressive in both what they play and what they don’t. […] It is too early to suggest it’s the best free jazz recordings of the year but this one is certainly up for consideration! (read more)