★★★★ “[The] concept is compelling, allowing us to focus on the jaw-dropping precision and invention of Weiss’ meticulously constructed pieces and to also hear how musicians as astonishing as Zenón and Mitchell deal with them in real time.”
- DownBeat, Peter Margasak

★★★★ “The twenty wildly free and engrossing tracks of Even Odds have a resolute consciousness that is hard to defy."
- All About Jazz, Mike Jurkovic

★★★★
“Weiss' music, call it an exercise or an experiment, nonetheless is engaging and magnetic music.”
- All About Jazz, Mark Corroto

★★★★ “The listener finds themselves right in the middle of the creative process.”
- Jazz ‘n More, Christof Thurnherr

★★★★ “Drummer and composer Dan Weiss emerges as a rhythmic magician on his captivating new album, Even Odds, infusing every beat and spark with profound meaning and context. With a rare ability to craft narratives through music, Weiss collaborates with saxophonist Miguel Zénon and keyboardist Matt Mitchell to deliver an intriguing collection of six written compositions and provocative improvisations. On the latter, he provides risk-taking, magnetic rhythmic tapestries on top of which his trio mates create freely.”
- JazzTrail, Filipe Freitas

★★★★ "The innovative American percussionist/composer Dan Weiss had long been making absorbing jazz out of composing group music from drum patterns outward. Even Odds deploys these methods in even bolder ways. ... Weiss keeps making unique contemporary sounds from the creative vicissitudes of mixing planning, intuition and chance."
- Jazzwise, John Fordham

"Weiss has such a composerly way of organizing sound, so much attunement to harmony and synergy ... Weiss built the tunes on this album around fragmentary rhythmic prompts — like the shard of rudimentary bebop shrapnel that sets up 'Bu,' his love letter to Art Blakey. Check out the serve-and-volley intensity between Mitchell and Zenón. Bonkers!"
- The Gig (Substack), Nate Chinen

“The composed pieces are intricate, like all of Weiss’ drumming. The improvised pieces take Zenon and Mitchell to unexpected places … a high level of skill and trust. … challenging but rewarding. … High points of musical excitement.”
- Adult Music Podcast, Mike & Russ

“Fabulous … unpredictability is the session’s guiding principle. The pieces that dart furtively from first note to last are the most compelling, but when the musicians settle into a melody, the beauty verges on heartbreaking.”
- Bandcamp Daily, Dave Sumner “The Best Jazz on Bandcamp”

“Weiss, a rhythm-keeper with a taste for the adventurous, writes pieces from the kit up…. The tracks range from the bopping (‘It Is What It Is’) and gracious (‘Nusrat’) to the funky (‘Too Many Outs/Runner-Runner’) and free (‘Bu’) with several brief drums only bits scattered throughout. … Even Odds is inventive and compelling.”
- Big Takeover, Michael Toland

“You could think of those 14 compositions as a series of etudes for improvising trio, exercises that, like Chopin’s efforts in the form, combine daunting technical demands with the most sublime artistry.”
- John Chocano

“...a drummer full of imagination… It’s this playful feeling that comes through in this album.”
- Le Soir, Jean-Claude Vantroyen

“Throughout the trio courses through shifting rhythmics, dynamics, and emotions. Strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride.”
- Making a Scene, Jim Hynes

“Acclaimed, adventurous drummer Dan Weiss debuts his extraordinary new trio on Even Odds, a brilliant album featuring six traditionally composed pieces and six daring improvisations.… music that’s at turns surprising, often thrilling, and always engrossing. On Even Odds, Weiss throws the sonic, rhythmical dice and hits a resounding jackpot.”
- Monarch Magazine, Will Walters

“Intentional, intelligent, and very enjoyable.”
- Musica Jazz, Alberto Bazzurro

“Surprising, intriguing, challenging.”
- New York City Jazz Record, Thomas Conrad

"The album title reflects gamesmanship and the game of rock, paper, and scissors depicted on the cover is an apt representation of the trio’s playfulness. Even with three different ideas expressed simultaneously, the resulting music is rarely discordant, more often harmonious, but always fascinating. Finding a balance between unfettered freedom and traditional structure, the fervently episodic Even Odds has vivacious appeal."
- Point of Departure, Troy Collins

Interviewed Dan but his tape was all garbled and he decided not to redo. Sorry!
“Miguel Zenón’s sax tends toward the staccato and pianist Matt Mitchell arpeggiates with jagged lyricism, so that Even Odds can sound like a three-man rhythm section or a witty conversation between friends.”
- The Racket, Keith Harris

“Even Odds is a game in twenty moves now extemporaneous and impulsive, now studied and measured, with only the extraordinary inventiveness and acumen of three virtuosos always triumphing, ready to grasp, develop and improvise a melodic idea, an arpeggio, a rhythmic pattern. Or to mold into living, sonorous matter common feelings (Fathers and Daughters), absurd and tragic news events (The Children of Uvalde), figures of great masters of the past (Max Roach, Art Blakey, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). An AMAZING lesson in creative jazz.”
- Rockerilla, Elio Bussolino

“Weiss’ drumming is powerful and nuanced. Mitchell and Zenon’s interaction is equally captivating. … Experiencing the album repeatedly offers discoveries of what was missed on each prior listen. Even in the jazz world, that’s an unusual trait and testament to Weiss’ musicianship and musical daring.”
- Something Else!, Preston Frazier

"Weiss's trust in his collaborators' creative impulses is amply rewarded by the depth of expression in their responses. Add Dan Weiss to the short list of outstanding composing drummers, alongside the young Tony Williams, DeJohnette, Motian, and Sorey.”
- Stash Dauber, Ken Shimamato

An overflowing fountain of creativity.”
- Jazz Tokyo, Hiromi Kudo“

“The richness of the ideas, melodies, and rhythms that Dan Weiss creates with more than a little help from his friends Matt Mitchell and Miguel Zenón, is worth exploring time and again.”
- Step Tempest. Richard Kamins

“Drummer-composer Dan Weiss named this band, and its bracing new album, with a mind geared toward gameplay. Most of his music for the group builds on complex miniatures that his brilliant conversation partners, pianist Matt Mitchell and alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón, are free to expand upon through spontaneous interplay. It’s a recipe for moment-to-moment excitement…”
- WRTI, Nate Chinen