GRAMMY-NOMINATED – Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording

"… one of the essential big-band recordings of the ‘90s to date by a composer/arranger who has the promise to become a major voice."
– DOWNBEAT ***** (five-stars) – Thomas Conrad

"Composer arranger-bandleader maria Schneider continues to refine her considerable skills as a writer, producing some of the most atmospheric orchestrations this side of Gil Evans."
– CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Howard Reich (Best Music of 1996)

"These are beautifully crated tone poems, full of color and texture. The discreet ebb and flow of the three-movement suite, is the work of a great talent in the making."
– THE SUNDAY TIMES (England)

"'El Viento,' a skillful blending of colour and structure, is quite unlike anything else attempted by a jazz orchestra."
– BBC MUSIC – S.N.

"At the heart of the album is 'Scenes from Childhood,' a long, three-part suite with great contrasts of mood and pace. It builds tension in its first two movements only to release it in the glorious final movement, 'Coming About.' … This is some of the best big band music around."
– JAZZ RAG (U.K.) – John Eyles

"Schneider is one of the best composer/arrangers working today. This disc showcases her unusually mature skills as her exceptional band brings her musical vision to light."
– CREATIVE LOAFING – Gene Hyde (1996’s Best Jazz CD Picks)

"Schneider, 35, further stamps herself as a brilliant composer-arranger with this album of mainly commissioned work."
– RECORD – Ron Fox

"Big bands were supposed to have died decades ago, but have proven resilient. Some of the reasons why can be heard in Maria Schneider’s marvelous Coming About, her second album as a bandleader. In full flight – as in her arrangement of John Coltrane’s 'Giant Steps' or 'Bombshelter Beast' – there is no sound like it in jazz.

But not all is about sheer muscle and power – especially with Schneider. … Check out the elegance and subtle harmonic shadings in the title track, or the detail of her moving arrangement of “Love Theme from Spartacus.'

There are no vamp-till-you-dro' sections or grab-bag licks. Schneider understands her instrument and respects it. But she’s also fearless. Evans would have been proud."
– SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS – Fernando Gonzales

"Coming About is a document of a working band, tight and fluid. It features often mysterious music, a little eerie and mostly introspective. She likes engulfing textures, chords that billow. There’s very little shouting, and not much playfulness; this is earnest music. But the soloists consistently understand the material and keep their improvisations keyed to the arrangements; the improvisers sound as if they have played the material before, which gives the recording a sense of integration."
– THE NEW YORK TIMES