Today is the official street date for New York-based saxophonist/composer Jon Irabagon's two new recordings, I Don't Hear Nothin' But The Blues Volume 2: Appalachian Haze with drummer Mike Pride and guitarist Mick Barr, and Unhinged with his quintet, Jon Irabagon's Outright!, on his own Irabbagast Records.

"I don't think I've heard anything quite like it," explains Free Jazz's Paul Acquaro in his review of Appalachian Haze. "If you can, find a copy of the recording, as the cover and inside art is as fun as the music is challenging and hypnotic."

DownBeat's Michael Jackson adds, "Some may deign to dismiss the almost 50 minutes of unrelenting skronk that constitutes the session as sophomoric, or at best testosterone overload. But Herculean would be better...this may rank even by his own standards as a monumental tour de force. Irabagon's valiant efforts to find common ground between wooden reed and metal guitar string take listeners on an exhilarating ride."

Unhinged, one of only seven recordings to receive DownBeat's highest five-star rating in 2012, has also been well-received by critics.

"There's a sincerity to this music that's refreshing," writes The Wire's Philip Clark. "You realise the sheer control Irabagon has over his musicians during a remarkable reworking of Paul Desmond's 'Take Five'. Gone is any trace of Dave Brubeck's vamp; Irabagon shifts the contours of Desmond's melodic line between harmonic centers, while his group envelope him with streaks of sound. This, as it turns out, is a still point in an album that overloads the senses with a rapid-fire turnaround shuffle of stylistic markers."

Something Else! reviewer S. Victor Aaron adds, "As a sort of musical chameleon, Irabagon’s essence is perhaps best exemplified by the self-described 'iPod-like genre shifts' displayed on his Outright! projects, where no matter what he plays, he plays it well. To listen to Unhinged is to understand why everybody who is somebody in jazz wants him to play in their band or on their record."

Irabagon will celebrate the launch of his new label and its first two releases with a two-night stand at Cornelia Street Café in New York beginning December 6th.

Learn more about Jon Irabagon at http://jonirabagon.com