Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Florian Hoefner - Luminosity
by S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!
About a year and a half ago, German-born pianist/composer Florian Hoefner did what few up-and-coming jazz musicians would dare to do, and that was to pull out of the bustling scene of New Your City to relocate to a far-away place that shared an ocean but little else with his former home. But from the relative solitude of St. John's, Newfoundland, Hoefner found the right environment to raise his game, and for his third album Luminosity (released... read more
Q.E.D. - yet what is any ocean...
by Jerome Wilson, Cadence
A lineup of vibes, trombone, and piano sounds like it has the potential to go strange places but the group on 'Yet What is Any Ocean...' does not. INstead this trio goes over well-worn Latin/Exotica patterns with Chris Stover's trombone braying and laughing over a dancing vibes and piano rhythm, but does it with a quiet class, best displayed on the rocking samba rhythm of "Prize and Battlefield." It's not all danceable stuff though. "Waltz"... read more
Jim Knapp Orchestra - It's Not Business, It's Personal
by STEVE GRIGGS, Earshot Jazz
IN MEMORIUM - 1939-2021
James "Jim" Donald Knapp Jr. died at Cambridge Senior Care in Kirkland, Washington on November 13, 2021. He was born in Chicago on July 28, 1939 and given the same name as his father. His mother Mildred was from a musical family.
"For a kid, you're not often used to seeing adults being very happy. You know, there's usually something wrong," Knapp recalled in an oral history recorded in the Seattle Jazz Archive of... read more
Carl Schultz - The Road to Trantor
by D. Glenn Daniels, The Jazz Page
Carl Schultz's The Road to Trantor explores a spacious, modern jazz landscape shaped by his work on tenor saxophone and flute, supported by compositions that draw from both acoustic and electronic ideas. Guitarist Tim Wendel, pianist Adam Benjamin, bassist Zack Teran, and drummer Alwyn Robinson form the core ensemble, with Schultz's writing steering the group through open, shifting structures that balance form and freedom. The blend of... read more
Hadley Caliman | Pete Christlieb - Reunion
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Hadley Caliman recorded a few albums in the 1970s then didn't record as a leader for several decades until after retiring from his teaching job, then came a series of CDs issued by Origin, of which this is the third. This reunion with fellow tenor saxophonist Pete Christlieb marks their first opportunity to play together since the mid-1960s, aside from one brief meeting in the forty plus year stretch leading up to this record date. Many two... read more
Jessica Williams - Songs of Earth
by Bob Doerschuk, Downbeat, December 2012
It takes guts to walk out onstage with nothing but a piano, your imagination and trust that you can bring the two together in fruitful combination. On Songs Of Earth, Jessica Williams takes up this challenge, which was recorded live over several nights at the Triple Door in Seattle. The album overall cases a mood of somewhat sad reflection. Minor keys predominate. Certain technical devices crop up again and again--tremolo octaves in... read more
Greg Yasinitsky - YAZZ Band: New Normal
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
A proven swinger rallies his troops up to the fact that the tracks they started before Covid got started will have to be finished remotely if they are to be finished at all. This is one leader that doesn't have to worry about getting fragged by friendly fire as they rise to the challenge. Sounding delightfully seamless, this hard charging crew makes it easy to say that big band is hear to stay. A real pulse pounder that feels like a throw... read more
Allison Adams Tucker - WANDERlust
by Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes
Californian Allison Adams Tucker is far from the first artist to parlay an album-length playlist into an around-the-world travelogue. But she comes by the concept more honestly than most, having circled the globe multiple times, performing everywhere from Tuscany to Tokyo, all the while developing credible fluency in six languages. Nor has her musical maturation been strictly linguistic. She began singing at age 5, in her native San Diego, and... read more
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