At the begining of July, RCINY organized a US tour celebrating the release of The Romanian-American Jazz Suite by Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban Ensemble, a multi-movement work which combines Romanian folk music with American jazz. The concerts (in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston) and the CD received both an audience success and enthusiastic reviews from the American press:

• Los Angeles Times, July 5, 2008: 'Romanian-American' suite taps deep roots, by Don Heckman
  "American jazz and the music of Romania would not seem to have obvious linkages. But, as frequently happens when players from one improvising musical culture meet those of another, common ground -- even fascinating common ground -- is discovered. Which is exactly what happened Thursday night at the Jazz Bakery in the performance of the "Romanian-American Jazz Suite" by a six-piece ensemble uniting three Romanian players with three Americans. Their empathetic partnership was more easily achieved by virtue of the fact that all were experienced jazz artists. But what made the performance one of the more unusual musical encounters of the year was the blending of roots elements that filtered through each piece.."
  
• All About Jazz New York, July print version, 2008: CD review by Terrel Holmes (p19)
  "Translations of European folk songs into the jazz idiom certainly isn't new, but one would be hard pressed to find a better example of how it should be done than this."
  
• Jazz Times, August 2008 issue: CD review by Bill Milkowski
  
• AllAboutJazz.com, July 22, 2008: Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban: The Romanian-American Jazz Suite at the Jazz Standard, NYC, by Budd Kopman
  
• AllAboutJazz.com, July 22, 2008: CD review by Budd Kopman
• jazzreview.com, 2008: CD review by Thomas R. Erdmann
  
• The Sax Shed, 2008: CD review by Skip Spratt
  
• ejazznews, August 10, 2008: CD review by Glenn Astarita
  
• Hot House Jazz, July 2008: Winning Spins, by George Kanzler