Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra - Groove Junkies
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS When it comes to big-band recordings, commitment and enthusiasm can go a long way toward assuring success. Those benchmarks are fully displayed on Groove Junkies, the third album by trombonist Ben Patterson's Washington, DC-based Jazz Orchestra. While Patterson's compositions and arrangements are not exactly straight ahead—there's an ample measure of funk, back beats and electronic effects to reinforce the customary... read more
Peterson-Kohler Collective - Winter Colors
by Peter Hoetjes, All About Jazz
4-STARS The Peterson-Kohler Collective is a marriage of both familial and Northwestern musicians. John Bishop, drummer and co-founder of Origin Records, unites guitarist Dave Peterson with his cousins, Lee and Rob Kohler, who play piano and bass, respectively. Also joining the group is the versatile saxophonist Brent Jensen. From the sense of isolation evoked by the album's cover to the music contained within, their debut recording is... read more
Anthony Branker & Imagine - What Place Can Be for Us?
by Jan Hocek, His Voice (Czech Republic)
In February, composer and conductor Anthony Branker released his eighth title on the renowned label Origin Records. The content of the new album is the ten-movement suite What Place Can Be For Us? about "seeking and finding a place that can be a refuge, a place of inclusion and belonging for people of color and people persecuted by oppression, war and hunger," as the author himself put it. And he is disappointed that he is not the United States,... read more
Corey Christiansen - Lone Prairie
by Deborah DeMoss Smith, Jazz Society of Oregon
This album may be a little different, but the fun of jazz is giving an ear to something that's not on the usual path. With tunes focused on the intense electric guitar and two keyboards, as well as the bass, drums and percussion, guitarist Corey Christiansen's Lone Prairie is indeed a bit off the path, yet still on the prairie.
A tribute to the American West, it contains 10 numbers, including traditionals and three originals by... read more
Lucas Pino - No Net Nonet
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
So there is hope after all. With so much jazz these days soaring into realms that are often uncharted and at times unfathomable, it is a pleasure to hear groups such as tenor saxophonist Lucas Pino's No Net Nonet, which are remarkably creative even as they adhere to the basic precepts of melody, harmony and rhythm. Pino's new album, apparently the first under his own name, is awash in likable tunes (seven written by Pino), performed with... read more
George Colligan & Theoretical Planets - Risky Notion
by Hobart Taylor, KUCI, Irvine, CA
Colligan is a renowned pianist composer who also whetted his chops on trumpet from time to time. On this new outing on Seattle's Origin label he switches to drums. He has worked with the great Jack DeJohnette and Billy Hart on some of his previous recordings, and some of it has rubbed off. He is a very melodic drummer, fluid, casual and precise. The tunes are slightly spacey post bop with some Latin Jazz whispers, and they are all killer no... read more
The H2 Big Band - It Could Happen
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
It does happen! Who doesn't like contemporary big band when it's played right and tight with all the top LA jazz cats on board? Grabbing you right out of the gate, this super sweet session comes on like a self contained show with vocalist Rene Marie dropping by to lend a few trademark touches of her own. An air tight and water tight date that has no cracks that have to be sealed, this is as sweet as these sweet sounds get. Check it... read more
Steve Million - Remembering The Way Home
by Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition
Pianist Steve Million has been connected to the Chicago jazz scene for twenty years and started issuing albums in the mid-90s, but Remembering the Way Home is Million's first solo piano venture. Although Million has worked in different settings, including a Monk tribute band, Remembering the Way Home finds Million returning to his classical roots, performing a dozen pieces firmly fixed in a third stream classical/jazz vein.
Most of the music... read more
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