Various press clippings for the JoAnne Pow!ers Trio and related groups:

"On "Explosive Improvised Device" from their new album Food for Thought, the threesome displays both taste and control as Pow!ers arcs from speculative, almost playful bursts on tenor to frenetic, full-on blowing that at times warms the blood to the boiling point. Drummer Paul Baker deserves special credit for exploring every timbre and texture of his kit. Whenever he taps a rim, caresses a cymbal or works up an anxious explosion of battery work on his kit, his percussive statements are in perfect synch with Pow!ers energy. Bassist Jennifer Pendur is equally sympathetic, and the deep, groaning approximations of whale song she delivers in the middle the tune underscore how remarkably organic Pow!ers trio can be."
--Tom Laskin, MadTracks, The Daily Page, Wednesday 02/13/2008 link

"Leading a blistering sonic attack nearly 80 minutes long, fire-blowing saxophonist JoAnne Pow!ers has certainly made a raw, powerful statement with her new trio release from Unofficial Records. Citing influences from the early vanguard of free jazz saxophone to underground radicals like Japan's Kaoru Abe, Pow!ers unbridled approach combined with her acute sense of rhythm and flow provide for a remarkably executed outing as leader of this focused and inspired trio. Furthermore, her improvisational approach is also based on Middle Eastern and Indian modality, a fact which subtly adds depth to her voice. Drummer Paul Baker['s] understated performance also gives Pow!ers the freedom to carry out her improvisation without the erratic sonic bombardment of many similar free jazz sessions. Food for Thought will certainly serve as an eye-opener for many fans of the genre, as Pow!ers puts forth a delightfully unpredicatable trio sound."
--Mike Szajewski, WNUR-FM Jazz Picks of the Week: January 28, 2008 link

We even have a rave for JoAnne's busking:
"JoAnne Powers is as good a street musician as I've heard anywhere."
--"formerly famous music critic" for the L.A. Times and Rolling Stone, John Mendels(s)ohn, The Isthmus, January 25, 2008

"This Madison-based improv combo kicks off the new Food for Thought (Unofficial Records) with a spray of jagged notes and pelting impacts that's so ferocious you almost want to check your face for schrapnel-the track is called "Improvised Explosive Device", and it more than earns the title. The band draws on a wide range of styles, though, and the next tune "Explosive Improvised Device", evolves from contentious agitation into something more delicate, even harmonious. Percussionist Paul Baker gently rubs his drumheads while Jennifer Pendur bows her bass, and their long, sighing tones seem to envelop and comfort the muttering tenor sax of bandleader JoAnne Pow!ers. At both extremes the group's playing is alert and compelling, informed by a passionate engagement with the history and politics of improvised music: the sections of "Three for Malachi," the sprawling suite at the record's heart, memorialize Art Ensemble of Chicago bassist Malachi Favors Maghostut, freebop trumpeter and community arts advocate Malachi Thompson, and concert archiver and peace activist Malachi Ritscher."
--The Chicago Reader, January 17th, 2008 link

"Powers can bend and twist the soul of a sax like few others dare to try - at least in Madison, a city seriously lacking in the area of avant garde jazz. Powers and her trio more than make up for it."
--Dane101.com, December 7th, 2007 link

"Local jazz saxophonist Powers can play it straight, but she really makes things happen when she steps into the free zone."
--The Isthmus, Madison, Wisconsin, December 7, 2007 link

"Madison free-jazz reed multi-instrumentalist JoAnne Powers seems ready to make her mark ... Powers reveals a startlingly vast range of expressive textures and strong technical facility on the disc."
--Kevin Lynch, The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, December 6, 2007

"The JoAnne Powers Trio brings high energy free jazz with a heavy dose of improvisation from Jennifer Pendur on bass, Paul Baker on drums and percussion and Pow!ers herself abusing the hell out of her saxophone in all the right ways."
--Jesse Russell, Dane101.com, December 6, 2006

"Pow!ers possesses an immense tone. Her broad vibrato, penchant for multiphonics, and tendency to push whatever sax she's playing to the edge of its range brings to mind Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann."
-- Bill Meyer, "Signal to Noise, the Journal of Improvised and Experimental Music," Winter 2004

"For those with more adventurous tastes, try the No Earth Trio, a "free-jazz/experimental" group playing Friday at Mother Fool's Coffee House. The female trio is the sort of group you can regularly hear at Mother Fool's: fearlessly creative and heedless of conventional music."
-- Kevin Lynch, The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, November 3, 2003