New York Music Daily An Eclectically Catchy Big Band Album by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Players
February 2021
“You hardly need special powers of observation to enjoy this big band’s energy, and catchy themes, and pervasive sense of humor.”
Chicago Jazz Magazine Gradient album review
May 2020
“Gradient is delightful and intriguing. What it lacks in thematic cohesiveness it makes up for in vibrant diversity and charismatic talent. Thanks in great part to Dorhauer’s inventive leadership and stimulating writing, the album showcases the orchestra as both an energetic and electrifying whole as well as a hotbed for individual virtuosity.”
Jazz Views Gradient album review
May 2020
“HUP are something of a Chicago institution, as well as being a distinct anomaly – a 17-piece big band specialising in original compositions and arrangements by the band members, who have managed to survive and thrive since 2011 playing regular shows around their home town. They’ve evolved a sound that’s contemporary and broadly pop-based, but stake out a different territory to acts like Snarky Puppy.”
KSZU Stanford Gradient album review
April 2020
“The horn section is distinctive, the soloists all have something to say, and the rhythm section is versatile. There’s little reference to the past, and the band is constantly looking forward and pushing the envelope of what is possible.”
Variable D Postulate Ensembles Projects
podcast interview
February 2020
Talking Jazz Episode 148
podcast interview
November 2019
AudPod Episode 36
podcast interview
April 2019
WDCB Chicago-Area Heisenberg Uncertainty Players Make Music Outside the Big Band Box
radio interview
September 2018
DownBeat Swing for the Fences: New Suite Fuses Jazz, Baseball
review of We Tear Down Our Coliseums
July 2017
“When the Heisenberg Uncertainty Players at the end of “We Tear Down Our Coliseums” launched into a reprise of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” over a New Orleans second-line beat, traditions of American sports and music were braided together inseparably.
We may tear down our coliseums or move on from big band foundations laid down by Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie. Yet in baseball and jazz the game remains the same: Swing for the fences, play with verve, take chances, be a team, exploit surprises. Using these strategies, the Dorhauers and Heisenberg Uncertainty Players are on track to scoring big, successful seasons, maybe eventual pennants.”
Bird is the Worm The Round-up: Looking to the future, we saw the past stretched out before us
review of We Tear Down Our Coliseums
July 2017
“This live performance just this year at Elmhurst College’s Mill Theater of his baseball stadium themed project displays plenty of the quirkiness to be found in his compositions, and it’s the kind of thing that leads to all kinds of fun. But what I adore most about this current recording is how he threads the most lovely melodic tones through the thick warmth of the big band pieces.”
The Leader ‘Coliseums’ Honors History of Baseball
review of We Tear Down Our Coliseums
July 2017
“The entire performance serves as baseball history lesson, as Dorhauer takes the audience back-in-time and presents them with his interpretation of the sounds he associates with many unique ballparks.”
Chicago Tonight 10 Things to Do This Weekend: March 30 – April 2
March 2017
WTTW’s Chicago Tonights recommends We Tear Down Our Coliseums in their 10 Things to Do This Weekend
JazzProfiles review of Emergency Postcards
June 2013
“This is Jazz in the 21st century: these players hear the music differently. The music of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Players takes from the Jazz tradition while at the same time synthesizing influences and inspirations from disparate, contemporary musical sources – something that Jazz has done throughout it existence.”