Regarding the uncanny empathy that Opus 5 exudes on both of their Criss Cross recordings, bassist Kozlov says, “The greatest thing about this band is that we all have multiple backgrounds. Dave is really into rock. He recently turned me on to some rock bands which I didn’t hear when I was young, like Gentle Giant and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and it was an interesting discovery for me. Seamus is the same way. He even has his own rock band where he sings and plays guitar. And Donald spent his youth playing classical music but was also strutting on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. We also do some gigs together in Spain with this funk-flamenco project that he has. So there’s a lot of musical diversity in our backgrounds but also a common language between all. It’s hard to come up with a better quintet than this. For me, it’s almost like a dream team.”

“We’re not purists,” adds Edwards. “We’re not really stuck in an era of music, we’re more open- minded. We all have varied backgrounds, some of which have nothing to do with jazz. On the other hand, these guys are great improvisers and they know their jazz language very well, and they utilize it, not just on jazz music. It’s good to have a group that is so flexible stylistically, so that nobody feels crippled by any member in the group. You never have the sensation that maybe you shouldn’t do something on a given song. We don’t want it to ever sound forced or to sound like a concept record. We’re just leaving it up to the people involved and I think it’s coming together very naturally.”

If you can’t catch Opus 5 in concert, you can sample their uncanny empathy and scintillating improvisations on their two auspicious Criss Cross releases, Introducing Opus 5 and PentaSonic. This outstanding cooperative band is truly an aggregation worthy of wider recognition.