"Tragically Hip" pays homage to maestros of music from guitarist Jimi Hendrix to pianist Cecil Taylor and even revisits Gil Scott-Heron."

"So won't you come here to my mountain, and dig the groove I spin, and I'll send you back with a pocket full of stardust ... and your name whispered on the lips of the wind."

"If true poetry is: wanting to see the world, to see it better, then this is a sparkling work ... naked and pure, Grenier is a fine conjurer of sinewy imagery. Balgochian's technique is flawless and his expression is deep and soulful."
Black Leather & Connies: "throws a sarcastic blow at the bling and posturizing of modern fashion with brutal precision"
Flux: "bass provides a dark and shadowy backdrop for the hauntingly recited poem."     Free MP3 Download
Dragon Flys: "metaphors dripping with irony"
Revolution: "the crowning glory of this book and CD"
Raul da Gama, jazzdagama.com
"a sonic hologram, drenched in a beat cool sound ... radical veteran poet and spoken wordist Jane Grenier's collaboration with bassist Albey Balgochian. Delivering an understated yet electrically charged energy. Available as an electronic download, includes a printed book." Katie Bull, NYC Jazz Record
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Tragically Hip "Spoken word hits out at social wrongs over dynamic bass"

An album from New York-based Zenbeatz, bassist Albey Balgochian--also bassist to Cecil Taylor--and spoken word performer and poet Jane Grenier. The album comprises poems written and read by Grenier, while Balgochian's bass (often paired with an over-dubbed track) provides the musical counter-part and backdrop to the words, the effect resembling Alban Berg's Three Pieces on the devastation of the first world war.
Grenier pronounces the truth like a Delphic oracle, while Balgochian's double bass drives the music in interstellar fashion, a virtuosic bassist (he is also leader of the three bass group Bassentric), and has recently recorded another bass and spoken-voice album, with prominent Nuyorican poet and academic Miguel Algarin in 2011. On "Tragically Hip", Balgochian's bass paints a swirling picture, both inspiring conscious thought and stimulating the senses, his palate scoping from avant-classical arco (bow) playing to vibratoed and held high-pitched harmonics to provide a lush backdrop of bent notes, slides and harmonics. "Tragically Hip" is an eloquent portrayal of twenty-first century blues. Balgochian is a virtuosic bassist (he is also leader of the three bass group Bassentric), and has recently recorded another bass and spoken-voice album, with prominent Nuyorican poet and academic Miguel Algarin in 2011. A virtuosic bassist, his intense wizardry, inspires conscious thought and stimulates the senses.Balgochian's double bass drives the music in interstellar fashion, while Grenier pronounces the truth like a Delphic oracle." Simon Harper, Jazz Times

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"a body of work that take us from tragic to somewhere hip" Amir Bey, The New Times Holler
Mayo Yamaguchi, Fay Victor, Francois Grillot, albey Balgochian, Ken Filiano, Jane Grenier
Summer Bass Pleasure. Several performances have been memorable in the past few weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed "Tragically Hip," the poetry of Jane Grenier improvised with Albey Balgochian's musical concepts and his acoustic bass approach. Experiencing the performance is vital, but seeing the words on the page with Albey's art adds a dimension otherwise unavailable. I thank them for sharing both." Gloria Ware, Wilbur Ware Institute

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"As long as the world has had poets there have been those who have a transparent vision of our existence." Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
The CD (and accompanying book) titled Tragically Hip is not as much an oxymoron as it is a curse. As long as the world has had poets (meaning language) there have been those who have a transparent vision of our existence. Some of those poets have collaborated with musicians to illuminate our times. It may have started with Kenneth Patchen, whose pacifist poetry fought imperialism, then Jack Kerouac and his beat immersion into bebop, that hipped kids to jazz. The collaboration is a natural one, like the roots of hip-hop, words unsung are great liberators. Bassist Albey Balgochian has presented jazz and poetry in multiple groups. Here he invites poet Jane Grenier to read her poems to his musical accompaniment. The pair draw from both improvised jazz and hipster spoken tradition. They trod an updated version of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" with "The Revolution," a tome that now includes our sanitized Mid-East wars and corporate greed. The war comes home with "Cerial Killer Moms." 'Cerial' being a mashup of cereal and serial. The Death does not come from bombs here, but high fructose corn syrup IEDs. Balgochian's bass is as expressive as a poet's voice. Their marriage of tone and poetry in this EP is timely, yet not quite of the times.
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