Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Deep Blue Organ Trio - Folk Music
by Rick Anderson, Notes, June 2008
The "organ trio" format is one of the most venerable and fiercely defended combo configurations in jazz. Organists are generally adamant that no bass is needed, and take pride in being able to provide running basslines themselves using the pedals of the Hammond B3 organ (the preferred instrument in this configuration) while playing melody and chordal accompaniment on the manuals?and soloing, of course. This trio, comprised of organist Chris... read more
Brent Jensen - More Sounds of a Dry Martini
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
So it only took the sax man 20 years to do a follow up to his tribute to Paul Desmond. You want him to repeat himself too much or something? A delightfully classic after hours set of another heaping helping of Brubeck standards with the Desmond touch, this sitting down/thinking man's jazz outing hits all the right notes and then some. Because all the songs are familiar, it plays like comfort food from the right bistro. A swinging, tasty... read more
Purna Loka Ensemble - Metaraga
by K Knox, Amazon
Heard a track from this on my local pubic radio station and was so blown away I had to park the car in order to give it my full attention and find out who the players were. East Indian violin of the highest caliber intertwined with equally virtuosic violin rooted in Western classical, Appalachian blues and Celtic reels, all grounded with gorgeous bass and tabla. The compositions are intricate and compelling, the playing is dazzling. The best... read more
Dave Glenn - National Pastime
by Chris Van Hof, International Trombone Association Journal
Dave Glenn's 2009 release explores the intersection of two truly American creations: baseball and jazz. Glenn is clearly a gifted trombonist and composer, who after years of working in New York City now teaches jazz at Whitman College in Washington state. Those New York years saw him playing with Gerry Mulligan; Blood, Sweat, and Tears; and countless others. Fruitful musical collaborations resulted, too including the outstanding musicians... read more
Giacomo Gates - Centerpiece
by Joe Lang, New Jersey Jazz
Jazz vocalist and terminal hipster Giacomo Gates just keeps getting better and better with each recording. "Centerpiece" (Origin 82428) finds Gates backed by Harold Danko on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, Greg Bandy on drums, Vincent Herring on alto sax and Vic Juris on guitar. Gates has many assets, among them a rich and flexible voice, a natural sense of swing, the ability to scat musically and logically, and an attentiveness to lyrics that is... read more
Hadley Caliman - Gratitude
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise, June 5th, 2008
If you've never heard of tenor sax player Hadley Caliman, you're forgiven; I lived and worked in Los Angeles for more than 35 years, and I didn't encounter him....and that's where he made his name from the 1950s through the '70s.
As soon as he graduated from high school, he began to play in numerous jazz clubs located along Central Avenue. His idol was Dexter Gordon, with whom he studied, and Caliman played so much like him that he got the... read more
Kiki Valera - Vivencias en Clave Cubana
by Joe Ross, Roots Music Report
5-STARS Kiki Valera opens his debut album with "Mi Son," a tribute to Son Cubano, the music that originated in eastern Cuba in the late 1800s by black and mulatto musicians, and then incorporated both African and Spanish elements as it gained universal appeal. We learn that the music comes from the hills ("mi son viene de la loma"), has lyrics sung with grace, poetry, rhythm, love ("gracia y poesia, ritmo y amor") and if you want to... read more
David Friesen with Orchestra and Quartet - Testimony
by Mattie Poels, Music Frames (Holland)
In a beautiful concert we hear jazz bassist and pianist David Friesen from the Ukraine together with his quartet and the National Academic Symphonic Band of Ukraine.
On the album Testimony we hear two concerts that were both recorded in the Ukraine (Kiev) where the bassist, pianist and arranger David Friesen comes from. Friesen is a master of themes: catchy melodies that sound familiar and worldly. His timing is reminiscent of that of the... read more
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