"Mapping new coordinates for the modern ensemble. A masterclass in how compositional discipline can actually unlock total improvisational freedom."

"The best hour of contemporary jazz I've heard this year."

"It's a shock to discover that this is only Adkins' second CD as a leader because it's a remarkably mature and confident set featuring eight self-penned tunes, all of which confirm the saxophonist as a jazz composer to watch."

"A gigantic album from an extraordinary "new" tenor saxophonist. Rotator is absolutely essential listening for anyone who loves tenor saxophone. An important new voice has arrived."

"This is real music."

"He displays a powerful vulnerability: the sound sometimes seems on the verge of breaking, yet it never actually does, creating a beautiful sense of tension. Just listen to “Loop” to be convinced—and it swings hard."

"This continues all the way to an extraordinary lyricism, marked by tempos that are almost unsettlingly slow, full of suspense and restrained urgency. Remarkable in an age of hysteria and vanity." — Philippe Carles.

"Adkins' distinctive saxophone voice is best captured by the Bernese dialect word verjäst—deeply and authentically steeped in jazz. One can detect distant echoes of Joe Henderson, Warne Marsh, and Joe Lovano in his playing. The rhythm section, meanwhile, responds with exemplary sensitivity to the richly nuanced conception of its young leader."

"All the tracks on this CD are strong and successful both in performance and composition; there are simply no weak pieces, and the musicians’ individual skill on their respective instruments, as well as their interplay, is remarkable. After listening through all the material the quartet had recorded, Motian said to Adkins: “I wish all my records came out like this.”"

"And there is one more remarkable fact: every composition bears Adkins's signature. Nothing has been purchased, borrowed, or copied. Everything is original. You can hear it. — Tilman Urbach."

"That so much individuality and independent-mindedness results in music that is at once coherent, intense, and by no means inaccessible is rightly as much of a marvel as the fact that Michael Adkins has not been documented on record more often. — Mischa Andriessen."

"The elegant Forena tacks in a more circumscript emotional direction, spreading a calming cool to its companions brazen burn. In the aftermath of an audience with this album, the hype machine seems for once to be right on target with the truth. - Derek Taylor."

"There's a near telepathic interplay among all four and an elastic sense of time. Pieces seem to expand and contract as they evolve, and there's a sense of events unfolding in a logical way - Craig Premo."

"Where calm asserts itself in Adkins world might be heard in the jewel-like Forena, the lyricism of which resembles Charles Lloyds with its roots in Coltrane's ballad voice, some of the best models to be sure, and all the more noteworthy for how fully Adkins seems to have sublimated his initial inspirations - Stuart Broomer."

"This album looms as one of those unanticipated surprises of the year. It’s modern jazz with a distinct flair, all enamored by the instrumentalists’ deeply personalized stylistic attributes - Glenn Astarita."

"The music is about more than simply searching for an individual voice. The title track illustrates this balance between free combinations and an impressionistic mode of expression, as when Adkins seems almost to blow out his profound existential doubts."

"A very fine album — like a bridge between classicism in form and modernity in its originality of conception and structure - Thierry Girard."