Kane’s limber group on Grey Matters pursues general-ly soft-toned impressionistic post-Bop, heavy on the circuitous lines, dense harmonies, and quirky syncopations beloved by fans of this style. The pianist-leader has a great band, held together by the gifted Gress (whose work in Fred Hersch’s trio has conferred upon him just the right experience for this kind of gig). Smith is a very tasteful player, given to accents similar to those of Michael Sarin but in a more understated style. And of course Liebman lifts up every session he’s on, playing with both taste and fire (I’m particularly fond of the bouncing unison he shares with Kane on “Stealth Plan”).

The tasteful lilt of “Moon and Shadows” again conjures up Hersch, and is really a model of how good a mainstream trio can be, not so much exploring linear extension as moving in tandem with a fascinating threeway conversation revealing new details on each listen. Though the group never cranks up the volume or lays it on tastelessly (though they get pretty raucous for the apart-atthe-seams swing of “Revenge of the Wally Dug”), they sound best to me on the more busy pieces.  Instead of the impressionistic but unmemorable “Catching Threads,” I’ll take the hyper-tricky, almost George Russell-ish head on “Crypto-Zoology”—with a great duo section for Liebman’s soprano and Smith—or Kane’s shifting rhythms and quick-moving imagination on “Winter Rose” and “Unified Fields.” Fine stuff overall.

Jason Bivins

Cadence Magazine

Some of the orchestra's best players [performed on] the program including violinists Elisabeth Adkins and Desi Alston, violist Denise Wilkinson, cellist David Hardy, contrabassist Curtis Burris, oboists William Wielgus and Rudolph Vrbsky, clarinetist Loren Kitt and pianist Lambert Orkis. Many of them are also members of the 20th Century Consort, which performs in the Hirshhorn Museum, and one of the most successful parts of their program  (a mild surprise with a general audience) came toward the end of the program when they played music of the 20th century. The response indicates that NSO audiences might be much larger if ticket prices could be made much lower.    First was a powerful string quartet movement by George Walker, who is, with Duke Ellington and John Philip Sousa, one of the three most notable composers born in the District of Columbia. Also well-received were two movements from Stravinsky's "L' Histoire du Soldat" and "Rhythm Changes" by the young American composer David Kane, who was present and took a bow. This work, a tangential development of some thematic ideas in George Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," brought the audience to its feet, not for the first time. It sounded intriguing on first hearing, and I hope to hear it again ...

Joseph Mc Lellan

Washington Post

Marketing experts will hate this one (confound the blighters), but Keyboard readers will love it. Kane kicks off with three strong Jazz selections in a quartet lineup with sax. Then he takes a detour into new age electronics, comes back with a little more Jazz and winds up in a Classical bag with a neo-romantic violin/piano duet and a one movement string quartet that owes something to Bartok. He has a fluid, vivid soloing style on piano and a  strong command of chord changes. His bass player (Drew Gress) and drummer (Mike Smith) are monsters too; Gomez and DeJohnette have nothing on these guys. And the recording quality- nobody would spot this a self-produced. Zowie!

Jim Aiken

Keyboard Magazine

The super-abundance of jazz musicians on CD has had the curious effect of making composition an area in which they can stake out territory of their own. That can be an important step on their way to what must still be that holiest of grails: the realisation of their own musical identity.

David Kane is a case in point. In penning the airily rhapsodic "Other Roads," he proves that he's as in the pocket as the next person in the modern mainstream field, but with the odd metre and intervals of "Machinery Of The Night," he offers evidence of something entirely different and more compelling. Dave Liebman's presence on tenor sax on the latter piece enhances that impression and underlines the notion that Kane is one to watch. Liebman's presence has the effect of adding an extra dimension to the music in a way that's worthy of the loudest applause, and the relish that’s a hallmark of his work here suggests that he might be of a similar opinion.

His soprano sax on "Smilestone" is indicative of a musician who has paid his dues on that demanding horn, and the degre of empathy between him and the piano trio is a mark of how close his focus is. The act of bringing both intelligence and a wealth of experience to bear should always result in music as listenable as this.

Liebman's appearance on four tracks of this disc makes it effectively a programme of two halves. "Moving Pictures," played by a piano trio able to evoke a mood whilst staying on the right side of sentiment, again shows how Kane is working towards a compositional vocabulary of his own. Kudos have to go to both bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tony Marlucci for the empathy and depth of experience they bring to proceedings.

So, with this his fourth release as a leader, David Kane evidently has higher aims and intentions in mind than becoming just another journeyman pianist, and watching this space looks set to reveal some rich rewards in the future. For the moment, what's on offer here is ample evidence of a musician and composer who is thinking about where he wants to take his music, rather than simply relying on laying truckloads of technique on listeners as the sole means for winning our attention.

Nic Jones

AllAboutJazz.com