Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Joonsam - A Door
by Travis Rogers, Jr., JazzTimes
It's hard to improve on a trio that features Aaron Parks on piano and Nate Woods on drums but, when bassist Joonsam Lee was ready to release his debut album as a leader, he beefed up an already formidable line-up by adding Ralph Alessi on trumpet, Yvonnick Prene on harmonica, Ben Monder on guitar, and the fascinating additions of Yeahwon Shin on vocals and Chungeun Han on the bamboo flute. The trio, however, remains the core.
Released on... read more
Aaron Germain - Chance
by , Jazziz
Veteran Portland Bassist and composer David Friesen is a vital part of the Pacific Northwest jazz scene, and has recorded with the disparate likes of Stan Getz and Sam Rivers, Woody Shaw and Mal Waldron. Now, at age 72, he's released a two-disc set of original music, captured live with his Circle 3 Trio in performances in Oregon and Arizona, and in a studio session in Germany. Where the Light Falls, as its title suggests, presents a... read more
Kelly Sill / Jim McNeely / Joel Spencer - Boneyard
by Mark E. Gallo, Jazz Review
This is solid, straight ahead jazz by three masters of the craft. Covering a program of jazz standards, obscurities and originals, the principals never fail to impress. Opening with the Kurt Weill classic "Speak Low," pianist Jim McNeely, bassist Kelly Sill and drummer Joel Spencer each exhibit a mastery of their instrument throughout the nine selections. Dizzy Gillespie's classic "Con Alma" is given a medium tempo reading, Dave Brubeck's lovely... read more
Geof Bradfield - melba!
by George Kanzler, The New York City Jazz Record
Melba Liston, who died 15 years ago this month at 73, was to post-swing and bebop what Mary Lou Williams had been to the Swing Era, a woman who rivaled the most accomplished jazz arrangers and instrumentalists of her time. As a trombonist, she worked with greats of the later 20th Century, including Quincy Jones, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie and Randy Weston. She wrote big band charts for the latter two and her collaborations with Weston are... read more
Jon Alberts / Jeff Johnson / Tad Britton - Apothecary
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
An Internet search for the Fu Kun Wu Lounge in Seattle, Washington's Ballard neighborhood, reveals one patron's assessment of it as "one of the best kept secrets of the Seattle Jazz Scene." Many of the city's dynamic Origin Records stars perform in the converted Chinese herbalist's shop; players like pianists Bill Anschell and Marc Seales, saxophonist Hans Teuber and bassist Jeff "Free" Johnson. So how the lounge remains a secret is a... read more
Chicago Jazz Orchestra with Cyrille Aimee - Burstin' Out!
by Matt Marshall, All About Jazz
Covering the Great American Songbook can be tricky, thankless work for a singer. The options for handling the material just aren't as numerous (i.e., nigh infinite) as they are for instrumentalists. Severely warping a melody, chopping it up or getting rid of it altogether work perfectly well if you're blowing through a horn. But such abstractions of voice can seem forced or simply too weird within a straight-ahead format. There's scatting, of... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - No Bounds
by Matthew Singer, Ventura County Reporter
THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN:
Composer Chris Walden never wanted to be a star, but with No Bounds he may have no choice
When Chris Walden was growing up in Germany, his mother, a choir singer, would often rehearse at home. Thus, musicians were always around. And where there are musicians, there are instruments. That is where the future Grammy-nominated composer, ar-ranger and performer first laid eyes on his future. The natural reaction in... read more
Chris Walden & the LMR Jazz Orchestra feat. Tierney Sutton & Kurt Elling - Missa Iubileum Aureum: Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS First things first: there is no doubt that Chris Walden's reverential Missa Iubileum Aureum ("Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass") is beautifully written and wonderfully performed by the LMR Jazz Orchestra, St. Dominick's Schola Cantorum and cantors Kurt Elling and Tierney Sutton. Is it jazz? That is another question, one not so easily answered. While there are elements of jazz, they are incidental and generally overshadowed by the more... read more
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