Sooner or later you knew someone would be crazy enough to feature the contrabassoon performing popular jazz standards. Well, here it is, Contradiction, the CD, puts the contra out in front and in your face with studio orchestra, various jazz combos and in trio setting with marimba and jazz guitar. Foolishly flying in the face of ferocious industry niche marketing, it includes smooth jazz pieces and one piece whose category is definitely murky. Some may think they know what a contra sounds like and some may even be willing to admit knowing what one looks like, but this CD will shake such preconceptions to their foundations. Contradiction features the delicately fluid contrabassoon stylings of Allen Savedoff, the wickedly witty arrangements of Kim Scharnberg and the musical talents of many of LA’s finest free-lance freeway warriors. Los Angeles Times - by Howard Reich Jazz contrabassoonists never have been exactly in high demand, but that hasn't stopped Savedoff from releasing a thoroughly charming recording on which he defies the presumed limitations of the instrument. Bringing a touch of humor to practically every track, he swings buoyantly on a whimsical merger of Leonard Bernstein's waltz "I Feel Pretty" and James Brown's famous shout "I Feel Good" to come up with "I Feel Pretty Good." The idea may sound farfetched, but the combination of Kim Scharnberg's witty arrangement and Savedoff's double-reed virtuosity produces a carefree music that can't help but make the listener smile. Great music-making doesn't always have to be deadly serious, a point that Savedoff makes with nearly every joyous phrase he plays. Rating: 3 Stars Howard Reich is jazz critic at the Chicago Tribune, a Tribune company. © Los Angeles Times