Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Geof Bradfield - Our Roots
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
Chicago saxophonist Geof Bradfield long has been drawn to the music of Lead Belly, and a while ago he got to do something about it. Invited by impresario Chris Anderson to pick a favorite album and perform its music at the Fulton Street Collective, Bradfield chose saxophonist Clifford Jordan's homage to Lead Belly, "These Are My Roots." But Bradfield felt free to reimagine the work according to his own tastes, the venture inspiring him to... read more
David Friesen - Structures
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Unlike other cats that have been playing forever and like to push the envelop, Friesen doesn't do things just to do them and seems to only unleash his releases when they are ready. Here we find him at the center of a double disc set of duets, each disc having a different duet partner of high quality. Intimate stuff that could be a recital but has too much blood flowing through it to come off that way, let's call it a master class with a jazzbo... read more
John Moulder - Bifrost
by John Kelman, All About Jazz.com
A longtime member of ex-Pat Metheny Group drummer Paul Wertico's trio, enough has already been written about John Moulder's double life as jazz guitarist and ordained priest. Bifrost is Moulder's follow-up to the ambitious and eclectic Trinity (Origin, 2006), where the guitarist's spirituality became a touchstone for music ranging from the ethereal to the grounded, and from elegant folklore to potent, angst-driven fusion. What makes Bifrost... read more
Tim Davies Big Band - The Expensive Train Set
by John Ziegler, Duluth Reader
The jazz big band is one of those dinosauric amalgamations that roamed the land in thundering herds back in the mid to late 20th Century.
From Fletcher Henderson to Lionel Hampton, from Count Basie to Duke Ellington, from Woody Herman to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, these large aggregations (usually 18 pieces) traveled up and down the highways and byways of this great land, spreading the gospel of jazz to listeners and dancers at... read more
The Jazz Police - The Music of Daniel Barry
by Bill Falconer, Jazz Review
You might expect a breath of fresh air out of the Pacific Northwest, but Latin jazz? The innovative Seattle-based Jazz Police orchestra provides both with charts composed and arranged by Daniel Barry. Barry has been associated with the band as a writer and trumpet player since 1987. The hallmarks of the Jazz Police and Daniel Barry are creativity and contrast. They are well matched.
Barry has an extensive grounding in Afro-Cuban and... read more
Cuong Vu - Leaps of Faith
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Trumpeter Cuong Vu built a reputation out of his original compositions and their high levels of ambience and envelopment of the listener. With Leaps of Faith, he moves into the territory of jazz standards. Applying sonic methods to constantly recognizable songs until they just break into unrecognizability. With a pair of electric basses, drums, and his own trumpet, Vu and his quartet start the album out by reworking songbook standards "Body and... read more
David Friesen Circle 3 Trio - Triple Exposure
by David Whiteis, JazzTimes
Expect no pyrotechnics. Bassist David Friesen, pianist Greg Goebel and drummer Charlie Doggett convey intense feeling through subtlety and craft, their finely honed chops on display to enhance the artistic excellence that permeates this set.
Friesen's bass servers as the primary rhythm instrument on most of these outings, establishing contexts that range from straight-ahead swing through modifies funk to Spanish-tinged, off center... read more
Benjamin Boone with the Ghana Jazz Collective - Joy
by Dr. Debra Jan Bibel, Amazon
Benjamin Boone, saxophonist and composer, is also a Ph.D. scholar. He previously released the two distinguished musical volumes of The Poetry of Jazz, and as a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow he has traveled to Moldova, Ethiopia, and most recently Ghana for study and music exchange. While in Accra, Ghana, he was astonished to hear mainstream American jazz but with West African tinge. In this album, The Ghana Jazz Collective — a quartet of... read more
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