Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by John Pietaro, New York City Jazz Record
The tendency of poets to break out of the twodimensional boundary is often seen as a post-War phenomenon, yet poetry was oral long before written language emerged. The African-American jazz tradition, begotten from a brutal melding of divergent cultures, cast a certain boundlessness. The music's central swing and bop allows the poet to emote and embellish with shifts in meter, stress, dynamic, repetition and surely through improvisation.
The... read more
Hal Galper / Reggie Workman / Rashied Ali - Art-Work
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Hal Galper's recordings always have an adventurous spirit, and the live CD Art-Work is no exception. The veteran pianist, joined by bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Rashid Ali (both veterans of John Coltrane's bands, though not at the same time), launches into a furious exploration of Duke Ellington's simple riff blues "Take the Coltrane," though Galper incorporates dissonance into the introduction and quickly builds steam as he takes the... read more
Scott Reeves Quintet - The Alchemist
by Icrom Bigrad, Jazz Sensibilities
Trombonist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Scott Reeves is returning with a new album called The Alchemist via Origin Records. The album is a recording of a 2005 live performance at The City College of New York, NYC by the Scott Reeves Quintet, with Reeves on alto flugelhorn, alto valve trombone and electronics, guitarist Russ Spiegel, pianist/keyboardist Mike Holober, bassist Howard Britz and drummer Andy Watson. The set comprises one... read more
Paul Marinaro - Mood Ellington
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
4-STARS In an era when most jazz vocalists seem to chase innovation through phrasing acrobatics or pop-inflected crossovers, Paul Marinaro's new double album feels almost radical in its restraint. The Chicago baritone approaches Duke Ellington's canon not as a museum piece but as a living, breathing songbook, reimagined through thirteen of today's leading arrangers, yet rendered with a reverence that evokes the golden age of the American... read more
Ben Thomas Tango Project - The Hat with the Grin and the Chuckle
by Eric Olson, Earshot Jazz
Not quite an accordion, nor exactly an oversized harmonica, coming off somewhere between a blown reed instrument and a bowed string, the indelible, somewhat nasally bandoneon — the melodic mainstay of traditional tango music — is frequently a clarion call to the dancefloor.
But not always! On The Hat with the Grin and the Chuckle, the newest album from the Ben Thomas Tango Project, the bandoneon functions as the most outspoken member of a... read more
Lower Monumental - Mayday Session
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
Two-thirds of the group formerly known as Flatland return for a new debut with this one, a recording of a live improv session on one of Seattle's better avant-garde radio stations. The music is relatively similar to that of Flatland, with the notable removal of a bass and addition of a sax, courtesy of Saul Cline, a session player occasionally with Matt Jorgensen + 451. The atmosphere is particularly spacey here, but generally aims for the... read more
Kim Richmond / Clay Jenkins Ensemble - CrossWeave
by Online review, CD Universe
For those not familiar with the Kim Richmond/Clay Jenkins Ensemble, this disc is an excellent introduction into how jazz sounds when the rhythm section is real (non-synth) and the arrangements pull the horns together in a rhythmically complex yet harmonically clean unison that has become the trademark of Kim Richmond's arrangements. "Trouble Shooter" has an almost film-noir Johnny Mandel flavor with a frenetic tension that builds through the... read more
Mark Zaleski - OUR TIME: REIMAGINING DAVE BRUBECK
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The saxophonist Mark Zaleski pays homage to his mentor, Dave Brubeck, across these 7 tracks, where Jon Bean, Mark Cocheo, Danny Weller, Oscar Suchanek, Michael Mayo, and his brother, Glenn Zaleski, put a modern twist on old songs.
"Blue Rondo á la Turk" leads the listen with a very unique, rhythmic delivery that's quite smooth and stylish, and displays quivering sax prowess alongside Weller's bouncy bass and Glenn Zaleski's key acrobatics,... read more
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