Baritone saxist Aaron Lington creates some wondrous moods on a collection of mostly duet sonatas with pianist Victoria Lington on this collection of modern compositions. Lington's tone and range are highly impressive, sounding almost like a string section on a solo performance of "Wings" that reaches highs and lows with the ease of a trapeze artist. The collection of duets are dominated by two modern pieces, the Concerto for Baritone Orchestra... read more
Enjoyable straight-ahead jazz guitar trio. Hesse develops a pleasantly talkative mode on his guitar. The bass and drums duo of Clark Sommers & Makaya McCraven clearly speak Hesse's... read more
Rob Lockart is Texas born and educated at teh Eastman School Of Music; he completed studies at teh Banf School. He has lived and worked in New Orleans, New York and Los Angeles, where he now resides and teaches.
His musical experience includes jobs with the Woody Herman Orchestra, Doc Severinson's Big Band and performances with numerous smaller groups headed by well-known artists such as Clark Terry, Joe La Barbara and Mel Lewis. Lockart... read more
My favorite jazz label is back with something you don't hear every day. The Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra goes much further than the average big band. In fact, this isn't a big band in the accepted sense. It's more akin to an orchestra doing movie music. When the opening track starts, you'll think you've wandered in to a mid-70s Airport film being scored for a main title. Well, maybe not quite that extreme, but there's something about the... read more
4 STARS Without the blues, there would be no jazz, and arguably, no rock-and-roll. Think about it, if there were no rock-and-roll, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who stole every American blues lick they could find in the 1960s, would have had to get real jobs.
Jazz musicians suffer no illusions that their music wasn't born of the African-American blues tradition and its music is unequaled when it deals overtly with this... read more
Inbox Jukebox Track of the Day: The Bitches Brew-like Zoner "Four" by Seattle Jazz Duo Bad Luck
Bad Luck, "Four" (Origin). Seattle duo Bad Luck—saxophonist/loop manipulator Neil Welch and drummer Chris Icasiano—have been making jazz fiery again over the last few years. They generate a lot of heat and fury for two people, and their live performances have been whirlwinds of inventive energy and technical mastery—chaos harnessed to... read more
Top 10 Innovative Jazz CDs of 2009
Chicago drummer Hall has recorded prolifically on uncounted recordings, but with "Into the Light" he finally emerges on CD as bandleader. The recording illuminates Hall's expressive breadth as composer and dynamism as leader. Throughout, he inspires top-notch work from trumpeter Terell Stafford, saxophonist Tim Warfield Jr., keyboardist Bruce Barth and bassist Rodney Whitaker, all of whom give Hall just about... read more
Nuance and soul are both earmarks of Dawn Clement's Break (Origin Records) where the pianist is joined by a fine rhythm section of bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Matt Wilson.
Clear, assured, nimble, and muscular articulation - in the manner of a Phineas Newborn Jr. - is matched to some of the varieties of thought and feeling that he, too, submerged just below the surface of fresh styling.
Clement sings on a few of the tracks.... 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.
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
Martin Budde - Back Burner
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
Alon Farber Hagiga with Dave Douglas - The Magician: Live in Jerusalem
by Dan Ouellette, Jazz & Beyond Intel
John Bishop - Antwerp
by Ed Sapiega, Jazz Views (UK)
Benjamin Boone - Caught in the Rhythm
by Michael van Gee, Jazz'n'More (Switzerland)
Maddie Vogler - While We Have Time
by Dorothea Gängel, Jazz'n'More (Switzerland)