In this strange, uncharted time that has us all so off-balance, this album is a place of refuge offering sustenance for our souls – as music should.
— Mandy Stefanakis, Loudmouth, Australia. February 2021
[The ishs/Allen Project,] the cutting edge contemporary jazz in Melbourne today, and the Inverloch Jazz Festival is so proud to have you here.
— Gary Russell, Inverloch Jazz Festival, Australia. March 2016
The ishs/Allen Project has the ability to bring new listeners into the world of jazz and unite them with veteran lovers.
— Sharni White, cargoART Magazine, Australia. July 2015
Both band leaders, pianist ade ishs and drummer Chelsea Allen, hailing from Melbourne, Australia, are very accomplished players, honing their techniques of their principle instruments through this contemporary/traditional jazz-fueled collaboration.
— Lola Johnson, Tom Tom Magazine, USA. April 2015
It’s a cracking album, that one. It’s called The ishs/Allen Project, a self-titled release from The ishs/Allen Project, and pretty much one of my favourite independent jazz releases that’s come out for some time. Really, really great energy to the whole of that one.
— Sammy Al, 89.7 Eastside FM, Sydney, Australia. April 2015
Sensational and colourful album… I play the pieces regularly whenever I present a contemporary jazz programme… Exquisite.
— Angela Jones, Inner FM, Melbourne, Australia. August 2014
Led by pianist ade ishs and drummer Chelsea Allen, with all but one composition by ishs and the remaining track co-composed with Allen, the Project have produced something not very common in jazz, an album that reeks of a positive vibe, very uplifting, almost joyful.
— Michael Prescott, Jazzwise Magazine, UK. March 2015
Piano trio albums don’t get much better than this beautiful new release from the ade ishs Trio. …. All the compositions are by ade, and they’re all very strong, and they’re all very beautiful.
— Ivan Lloyd, ABC Jazz, Australia. November 2013
The cover art for Melbourne pianist ade ishs’ new Trio album is of a dark deep lake, its surface untroubled, its edges calm and waveless.
Being a visual person, images often swim though my head while listening to music. This image appealed instantly as a perfect expression of the Trio’s music and especially of ishs’ playing — calm and settled on the surface, held in place by a spiritual gravity, its smooth face belieing the many cross currents interweaving and shaping the dark waters below.
Strength without force. Power without friction.
— John Hardaker, AustralianJazz.net, Australia. November 2013
Hypnotically mesmerising, the flow of delicacy, to the power, the dynamics and beyond, the harmonic development of notes and structure of composition is simply breathtaking, ade is by any measure pure musical brilliance.
— Darren Springthorpe, Live @ Baker Street, Melbourne, Australia. May 2013
ade ishs is one of the most engaging live jazz performers I have encountered. There is no distance between ade and his audience. Everyone is invited in and embraced by the charm of his personality, the accessibility and richness of his music and the fluidity of his improvisation which seems to respond not only to what is happening in ade’s mind and heart but to what is happening in the audience’s heart.
ade ishs’s music is dense and richly patterned but also inclusive and popular. Love of audience is where his jazz ethic is fresh. ade’s jazz is sunshine, exuberance and resolution. Pieces often evolve from soft single sounds into something deeply orchestral but there is a romantic logic to the composition and improvisation that we as interactants can sense but is not always expected. But there are surprises too. The pieces often fuse Asian and Australian references but do so naturally and without pretence. …
— Simon Williams, Inner FM, Melbourne, Australia. June 2012
I like the atmosphere of this album.
— Simon Williams, Inner FM, Melbourne, Australia. November 2011
ade ishs’s classical music background results into plus points, making this album mature without any overstatement.
— Harliza Keumala Fuady, Ozip Magazine, Australia. February 2010
Delightful, refreshing and uplifting are just some of the words that can be used to describe this musical smorgasbord of compositions presented through the medium of acoustic piano.
— Janet Mawdesley, Conscious Living Magazine, Australia. September 2009
I really like Morning Vision… Gives me goosebumps listening to it….
— Chloe, Voice of Jakarta Radio, New York, NY, USA. August 2009