Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Marius Nordal - Ways of the Hand
by Dave Nathan, All Music Guide
The title of this album, Ways of the Hand, does not refer to the trickery of a clever magician. Rather it describes the one of a kind styles and talents of the six piano artists to whom Marius "Butch" Nordal pays tribute on this his second release for the Origin label. It's too bad that these tracks aren't arranged in chronological order so one can see the connection between the mannerisms of each as well as the development of the art of... read more
Tim Jensen - A Mind For The Scenery
by Tom Ineck, Berman Music Review
Like much of the bountiful fruit harvested at Origin Records in Portland, Ore., Tim Jensen's "A Mind for the Scenery" challenges the listener from the get-go.
Jensen is a composer and reed player of eclectic tastes, versatility, technique and audacious creativity. He also is an arranger and a bandleader who knows how to surround himself with like-minded musicians capable of equal audacity. Take for example the opener, "Sausage," a squiggly... read more
Bob Sneider & Joe Locke - Nocturne for Ava
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Nocturne for Ava slips into noir territory?under night's cover, fedora pulled down low, trench coat collar up, immersed in a night of blurry neon glowing through a low misty fog, much in the fashion of its predecessor, Fallen Angel (Sons of Sound, 2006). Both sets celebrate noir classics and movie tunes written for or inspired by the darker side of the celluloid experience. They are moodily atmospheric, melancholic, and seductive, with a... read more
Metropolitan Jazz Octet - The Bowie Project
by Chris Baber, Jazz Views (UK)
Having recently pondered the ways in which Bowie's music related to jazz, it was a pleasure to receive this CD to review. Immediately, you are struck by the mixture of songs that the octet has chosen. There are, of course, well known tunes such as 'Changes' (track 3), 'Let's dance' (track 6), 'Life on Mars' (track 11), but also a host of tracks from albums across Bowie's career. This suggests to me that this is clearly a project developed... read more
Jim Knapp Orchestra - Secular Breathing
by Tobias Richtsteig, Jazz Dimensions (Germany)
(Translation)
In Seattle, in the northwest of the USA, a remarkable music scene flowers. The Grunge and Jimi Hendrix, also to jazz musicians such as Bill Frisell their homeland did not only find here. Trumpeter and Big band leader Jim Knapp seize its with the third album "Jim Knapp Orchestra" chamber-musical-complex aspects up, "Secular Breathing" is simultaneous; directly responding modern jazz.
Jim Knapp made itself as Bandleader and a... read more
Jessica Williams - Freedom Trane
by Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
John Coltrane tributes are not hard to find in the jazz world, and different tributes will celebrate different periods of the saxophone innovator's career. Some tributes pay homage to Coltrane's hard bop period (as in &"Giant Steps," &"Moment's Notice," and &"Lazy Bird"), others pay homage to his modal post-bop period of roughly 1960-1964, and some pay homage to his radically avant-garde free jazz period of 1965-1967 (the last few years of his... read more
Triocity - I Believe In You
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
4-STARS Here's a formula we've all seen before: take three musicians and let them loose on a program of standards and Great American Songbook chestnuts. It sounds all too simple and pedestrian, right? Guess again. When you're talking about the combined creative forces of multi-reedist Charles Pillow, bassist Jeff Campbell, and drummer Rich Thompson, the potential of said endeavor changes drastically. The whole is most certainly greater... read more
Rodney Whitaker - Outrospection: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Paul Simpson, The Answer Is In The Beat, WCBN
Rodney Whitaker, a Detroit-born musician and Professor of Jazz Bass and Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University, arranges several compositions by Lansing's Gregg Hill, with musicians from MSU's jazz faculty. The record was made under COVID lockdown with all the musicians socially distanced in different booths, but it still sounds cohesive. Whitaker's daughter Rockelle, who has a deep, sultry voice in the tradition of all the... read more
Looking for a specific review?
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.
Search Reviews:
Recently Added Reviews:
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Hanna Kay, Cult News (Paris)
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Budapest, Rudolf Radnai
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Dawn Clement - Dear Ms. Dearie
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Dee Dee McNeil, Making A Scene
Affinity Trio - New Outlook
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Michael Dease Big Band - Return Trajectory
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Brad Goode Quintet Feat. Ernie Watts - Live Your Dream: Live at North Street Cabaret
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect