'Distant echoes of Headhunters, Miles circa Filles De Kilimanjaro can be found on strong numbers such as the strapping jungle snapper 'Song of the replicants' and the slinky '2Miles'. Yet for all the upbeat energy running through the set, it is a beautiful rendition of Wayne Shorter's 'Diana', complete with an excellent string arrangement from Jason Rebello, that reminds us just how gifted a soloist Toussaint really is.' - KEVEN LE GENDRE. JAZZWISE MAGAZINE
'The Street Above the Underground is a release worthy of your attention, and one whos hold on you strengthens with successive listens.' -RONAN ABAYAWICKREMA - all about jazz.com
'The pleasure of this substantial CD are too numerous to absorb at first hearing: recommendation enough to buy a copy.' - JACK MASSARICK - EVENING STANDARD
'This is a well-proportioned record by an experienced band of professionals that contains brilliance, wit, verve and memorable, elegant sax lines.' - MIKE BRADLEY - THE TIMES
'Sometimes Toussaint manages to sound like Wayne Shorter playing against the textural subtleties of Weather Report; at other times one is reminded of a 70s Miles band when Byron Wallen takes on muted trumpet. Fast, ducking-and-diving mixes of funk and post-bop, such as his own composition 'Afro', suggest that Toussaint has broken out of the uneasy compromise stage to find a language that gracefully spans the gap between straight jazz and funk ­ and makes for some of his best solo playing on disc to date.' - JOHN FORDHAM - THE GUARDIAN
'The street above the underground is an important work insofar as it proves that Toussaint can make a "fusion" record without succombing to either the smooth jazz honeytrap or the nu skool impasse ie a soloist blowing over beats laid down by the latest hip urban producer.' 'One of the album's strong points is the coherence of Tony Remy's production; it's skilfully layered without being top-heavy, providing Toussaint with rich harmonic beds without overloading the mix. The Street... has the sheen of Remy's own Metamorfollow-G but it also has more grit; the technology is working for and not against the musicians here and the bottom line is that this is an album which, despite its high production values, impresses through the quality of the players.' - KEVIN LE GENDRE - ECHOES
'At first glance the track listing might tempt you to think that Toussaint has put together a smooth jazz set ­ since there are two covers of Stylistics songs here. But, make no mistake, his takes on "People make the world go round" and "Betcha by golly wow" won't get a lot of play on JazzFM. Toussaint transforms both songs into contemporary, real jazz workouts.' '...the music is hugely optimistic. (Rating 8/10) - BB ­ BLUES AND SOUL
'The trick for a ranking soloist is to tweak any formula in ways that highlight his or her particular talents, or at least do not submerge them. Here, Toussaint has been very largely successful'. - RONALD ATKINS - JAZZ REVIEW