Michigan bassist Rodney Whitaker gives tribute to the pen of fellow statesman Gregg Hill on this classy post bop album teaming the leader with Xavier Davis/p, Dana Hall-Randy Gelispie/dr, Diego Rivera-Marcus Elliot/sax, Randy Napoleon/g, Michael Dease/tb, Etienne Charles/tp and Rockelle Whitaker. The result is a lyrical mix of moods that keep a smile on your face. Ms Whitaker soulfully struts with Rivera's tenor on "New Sunday" and blossoms on... read more
Joey deFrancesco. Tony Monaco. Larry Goldings. Barbara Dennerlein. All at the forefront of the current generation of jazz organists and heirs to the mantle of Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland and Jack McDuff.
Oh yeah, there's one more notable: Sam Yahel. But with the release this week of his fourth effort Truth And Beauty, Yahel is making the case that there is still room for another distinctive voice in the well-established world of the Hammond... read more
Three storied improvisers get together to play the kind of intimate, grown up jazz that was the province of Bill Evans and others back in the '50s. Trust me, if they can play with telepathy, they can play composed music with their eyes closed. A tasty set throughout, it probably helps to be a grown up or have aspirational tastes to get the most out of this. Well done and cooking... read more
Drummer Clarence Penn's latest is a super hip and contemporary update on eleven Monk tunes. Along with saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, pianist Vega, bassist Yasuhi Nakamura, and Gerald Clayton on Rhodes for one track, Penn reworked Monk's tunes - sometimes shifting accents to create a new rhythmic feel, or disguising the tune altogether. In doing so, he has breathed fresh life into and offered new ways to hear compositions that everybody... read more
The influential Downbeat Magazine wrote about the disc "Whatever the game is a trio impresses with its multicolored diversity, and strongly marked musical personalities lend stigma original music. The depth of the harmonic solutions, intense rhythm, perfect, refined in detail the cooperation of musicians hypnotizes the audience ."
Led by the enthusiastic reviews, David Friesen, an American bassist who has worked with such greats as Sam... read more
A wonderful partnership began when Afro-Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz, then on a Norway tour with jazz clarinetist Don Byron, met Grete Skarpeid at the Voss Jazz Club. When the Norwegian singer-songwriter shared her material with Ortiz, he was completely won over, so much so it led to their working together on her debut album My Songs in 2016. Pooling their talents again, Beyond Other Stories features tens songs that blend her distinctive voice and... read more
As a leader, saxophonist Peter Epstein released three modern jazz CDs, one Portuguese CD, a solo sax record with some classical music and some improvisations, a fantastic world jazz album ("Lingua Franca"), and all this in a quite irregular time span, of which most ten years ago and not much lately.
He is a musician with broad technical skills, open to many genres, and that seems to have been his problem in creating a specific profile.... read more
"Scenes" features a cool-toned quartet, playing lanquid post-bop with traces of the Scofield/Lovano group (they even cover an earlier Sco tune "The Beatles"). Each player is harmonically and lyrically fluent, and the group empathy is good. Their chemistry is especially audible on the long Tyner piece, "Blues On The Corner," thought the whole album is a cohesive and well-done affair. Mandyck has the kind of grainy tone and fleet fingers that suit... read more
This is just a small collection of the Origin Records reviews. Click here to view all reviews or try to Search for your favorite CD title.
Karrin Allyson - A Kiss for Brazil
by Scott Yanow, LA Jazz Scene
Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra - Groove Junkies
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
Karrin Allyson - A Kiss for Brazil
by Eg'dio Leitão , Música Brasileira
Maddie Vogler - While We Have Time
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Alon Farber Hagiga with Dave Douglas - The Magician: Live in Jerusalem
by Jim Motavalli, The New York City Jazz Record
John Bishop - Antwerp
by Dorothea Gangel, Jazz'N'More (Switzerland)
Benjamin Boone - Caught in the Rhythm
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Last Word Quintet - Falling to Earth
by Ferdinand Dupuis-Panther, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
Martin Budde - Back Burner
by Ferdinand Dupuis-Panther, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
John La Barbera Big Band - Grooveyard
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect