Browse some recent OA2 Reviews.
Andrew Oliver Sextet - 82% Chance of Rain
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
For a sophomore release, Andrew Oliver's merry band of Portland-area musicians gathered an incredibly wide mix of stylistic ideas. The album opens with simple post-bop wanderings that touch just slightly into the mainstream ideas of '70s jazz in the opening bars of "Inattentive Attendant" before building into a showcase of solos across the instruments. With the following "Public and Republic," however, the group moves into full-fledged rock... read more
Liam Sillery Quintet - Minor Changes
by Paul Oberlin, Jazz Review
This is Liam Sillery's debut album, a tribute to his mentors who include Red Rodney and Joe Henderson. Sillery plays trumpet and flugelhorn and has been active in New York for some time. He also attended the University of Florida and the Manhattan School of Music. The supporting musicians include David Sills (tenor sax), Jesse Stacken (piano), Thomas Morgan (bass), and Richard Huntley (drums). I have not heard Sillery's name or any of his... read more
Danny Green - Altered Narratives
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS Pianist Danny Green took a big step up in the piano trio rankings with 2014's After The Calm (OA2 Records). The San Diego-based group focused in on a distinctive and beautiful set of Green originals and recorded them with a continuity of mood and an ebullient brio - like three guys who knew what they were doing in an art that demands nuance and delicacy sitting beside - in time's flow - a rise and fall of robustness of... read more
Stan Bock & The New Tradition - Feelin' It
by Jerome Wilson, Cadence
Feelin' It demonstrates that there is still a lot of life in the notion of marrying strong funk and r'n'b grooves to Jazz. Tim Gilson's bubbling electric bass is crucial in maintaining the drive. He grounds both the strutting funk of "Feelin' It" and "It's Not That Easy" as well as the broad, crawling pace of "Let's Fall In Love", a tune enlivened by Stan Bock's and Renato Caranto's soloing. "Up In The Air" has a choppy New... read more
Rich Pellegrin - Three-Part Odyssey
by Marc Johnson, Sea of Tranquility
"Pianist Rich Pellegrin makes his debut as a bandleader with an ensemble comprised of some of the most exciting and forward-looking musicians of Seattle's younger generation: saxophonist Neil Welch, trumpeter R. Scott Morning, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, and drummer Chris Icasiano. Three-Part Odyssey takes the listener on an epic journey through hypnotic grooves, expansive meditations, stark robotic textures, warm moments of rare beauty, and... read more
Kronomorfic - Entangled
by Maurizio Zerbo, All About Jazz / Italia
Armed with a solid musical education, saxophonist David Borgo and drummer Paul Pellegrin have put their volatile expressiveness in the service of a highly stratified concept in terms of rhythm and harmony. It is primarily Pellegrin's drumming style that's imprinted on the identity of Entangled.
The polycentricity of his rhythmic drumming and irregular metric development adds a vagueness to the flow of the sound. The interest of the... read more
Carrie Wicks - Maybe
by Carol Banks Weber, AXS
In a city with so many jazz singers, Carrie Wicks somehow manages to stand out. Seattle's Wicks doesn't do a whole lot of gigs or albums. But what she does is concentrated and sure, a heady mix of unorthodox, intelligently chosen covers and deeply wrought originals - wrapped in an unlikely package of quiet solitude. That is, until she steps up to the microphone.
As equal a songwriter as she is a musician's singer, Wicks quietly presents a... read more
Mason Razavi - Quartet Plus, Volume 2
by Domi, Republic of Jazz
The interesting thing Razavi does on this second 'quartet' outing is show that you can be a classically styled guitar jazzbo without having to show that you can chase the ghost of Wes and catch him. Firmly his own cat, this solid program of mostly originals is right in the pocket of great playing making for great listening. A real winner of a set, this is the kind of stuff that fools you initially into think it's dinner music but gently elbows... read more
Looking for a specific review?
This is just a small collection of the OA2 Records reviews. Click here to view all reviews or try to Search for your favorite CD title.
Search Reviews:
Recently Added Reviews: