Jazz

Red Rhinoceros is the second HCR (Hidden Cinema Records) release from Bobby Selvaggio, and the first recorded with his octet, Red Rhinoceros. The album features eight original compositions by saxophonist, composer, Bobby Selvaggio and will be his thirteenth album as leader.

Red Rhinoceros captures everything that makes live jazz such an irreplaceable experience: risk, spontaneity, collective intuition, and the electrifying feeling that the music is being discovered the very moment it is played.

With this remarkable live recording, Bobby Selvaggio and his band achieve something increasingly rare, an album that feels completely alive from beginning to end, where every track breathes with the natural momentum of musicians listening deeply to one another and shaping the music together in real time.

What makes Red Rhinoceros especially compelling is that the live setting is not simply incidental to the project, it is absolutely central to its identity. The performance thrives on interaction, on subtle shifts of energy, on the emotional charge created by musicians responding instantly to each other. In a studio recording, such communication can sometimes become polished or too carefully controlled. Here, by contrast, the listener experiences the full immediacy of the octet, the joy of collective creation.

Bobby Selvaggio’s role within the band is exemplary precisely because he never approaches leadership as domination. His saxophone playing is vibrant, expressive, and deeply lyrical, but what impresses most is his generosity as an ensemble musician. He constantly creates openings for dialogue, and his phrasing combines modern harmonic sophistication with emotional directness, giving the entire album both intellectual depth and human warmth.

The internal balance of the album is particularly impressive. The brass section displays considerable power without ever becoming overwhelming, capable of moving in a few seconds from collective explosions to melodic lines of unexpected delicacy. The rhythm section deserves special mention for its ability to maintain both momentum and flexibility, letting the compositions breathe while constantly pushing them forward.

Bobby Selvaggio’s octet delivers a striking live jazz performance, driven by daring musical complicity, rare emotional intensity and exceptional virtuosity.

As is often the case in important works, the music is located in a permanent in-between, between tradition and experimentation. Some passages briefly touch on recognizable jazz forms before drifting into more murky and uncertain territories, like on Galapagos Islands, one of the highlights of this record.

What makes the eight musicians so complementary is their refusal to compete for attention. Red Rhinoceros is not a sequence of individual showcases loosely connected by themes, it is the sound of a true working band whose members trust each other completely. Every musician leaves space for the others. Every solo emerges naturally from the ensemble texture. This constant circulation of energy creates the astonishing sense of complicity that defines the album.

The live recording itself deserves praise for preserving not only the clarity of the instruments but also the physical presence of the eight musicians (and applause from the audience). One can almost feel the air moving between the musicians, see their smiles, hear the immediacy of reactions, and sense the audience’s appreciation. This gives the album a rare authenticity that studio perfection could never fully reproduce.

Red Rhinoceros succeeds because it embodies the true spirit of jazz ensemble playing: conversation, trust, and shared risk. Bobby Selvaggio and his band deliver a recording filled with energy, elegance, and collective intelligence, where no single musician overwhelms the others. Listening to this record, we find ourselves regretting not having attended such a concert. In an era when many live albums seem excessively polished or emotionally distant, this one retains intact the danger and unpredictability that once defined the greatest jazz concerts.

This is live jazz at its finest: vibrant, human, spontaneous, and profoundly collaborative.

Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE

PARIS-MOVE, May 27th, 2026

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To buy the album

Musicians :
Bobby Selvaggio – alto & soprano saxophone, all compositions/arrangements
AJ Kluth – tenor saxophone
Bettyjeane Quimby – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Tommy Lehman – trumpet/flugelhorn
Zach Warren – trombone
Zakk Jones – electric guitar
Kevin Martinez – electric bass
Zaire Darden – drum set 

Tracklisting :

1. Meltdown (feat. AJ Kluth)
2. I.C.U.R.1.2. (feat. Zakk Jones & Tommy Lehman)
3. Six Degrees of Separation (feat. Zakk Jones)
4. Chelsea’s Smile (feat. Kevin Martinez)
5. Schizophrenia (feat. Zakk Jones & Zach Warren)
6. Galapagos (feat. Zakk Jones, Zach Warren & Zaire Darden)
7. Finger Painting (feat. Zakk Jones & Zaire Darden)
8. Moving to Brooklyn (feat. AJ Kluth, Tommy Lehman & Zakk Jones)

Recorded August 2nd, 2025
Recorded Live at the Bop Stop at the Music Settlement
Recorded/Mixed/Mastered by Ian Z. Anderson
Assisted by Benjamin K. Warsaw
Produced by Bobby Selvaggio
Financial support by the Aurora School of Music/Vera Holczer-Waroquet
Record jacket design by Allison Levato

Bobby Selvaggio’s Red Rhinoceros: Schizophrenia — Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival (BLU Jazz+), August 26, 2017:

 

Bobby Selvaggio’s Red Rhinoceros: Fingerpainting — Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival (BLU Jazz+) , August 26, 2017: