"Duane Eubanks was in his late 20s when he made his recording debut as a leader with My Shining Hour, a hard bop/post-bop date that recalls early to mid-1960s Blue Note. Although derivative and not overly original, the music is well executed and generally satisfying. As a trumpeter, Duane Eubanks favors a tone that falls somewhere between Miles Davis and Clifford Brown-influenced trumpeters like Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Eubanks swings plays passionately, but on some of the more introspective material, he almost sounds like he could be playing a flugelhorn. Though Eubanks' interpretations of "I Love You" and "Dear Old Stockholm" are competent, the CD's most memorable moments come when he embraces his own compositions. The melancholy "Lonelyism," the congenial "Can't Wait 'Til Dawn" and the moody "Clairvoyance" show Eubanks to be a thoughtful composer who doesn't simply write lines -- he writes melodies." (Allmusic).
"Like most musicians in the new mainstream of today's jazz world, pianist Orrin Evans uses composition to create modern challenges for modern impovisers. This would also include the drum thwacks that constitute part of the line of "Captain Black." Further, the playing here is consistently top-shelf. Evans often plays percussively, playing clusters, even pounding the piano. But that's hardly all he does. He can play gently and lyrically, or he can spin a long, swinging line. Although he sometimes alludes to Monk, Orrin Evans is very much his own man. Like saxophonist Ralph Bowen is. Heard here on alto and soprano sax rather than his customary tenor, Bowen reveals a lush, warm sound, almost as if he were trying to combine Eric Dolphy with Benny Carter or perhaps Lucky Thompson. Finally, J.D. Allen should be singled out for his warm, deeply moving tenor sax playing on "Song For My Father." He and Evans play the Horace Silver classic as a duet, that may be the highlight of the album." (Marc Meyers, AllAboutJazz)
