Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Matt Otto - Umbra
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
This music—nine Matt Otto originals—has the feeling of shadowy sounds. Shapes without defined borders emerge. On the opener, "Little Things," the core trio—the leader plus bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer John Kizilarmut—are joined by Fender Rhodes player Matt Villinger and guitarist Alex Frank. The electronic resonance gives the sound an alluring and shadowy blur, as does the guest guitarist.
Saxophonist Matt Otto boasts a large... read more
Bridge Quartet - Night
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
The Bridge Quartet consists of tenor saxophonist Phil Dwyer, pianist Darrell Grant, bassist Tom Wakeling, and drummer Alan Jones: Night is the second volume of their work together over a two day period in 2007, complicated by Dwyer being delayed at the U.S.-Canada border on his way to Portland. There's a bit more energy in this recording than their earlier release, since it is before a live audience. The quartet really stretches out on several... read more
Andrea Brachfeld - Brazilian Whispers
by Sam Norris, London Jazz News
Flautist Andrea Brachfeld's CV reads like a who's who of Latin jazz. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, and a recipient of some of the genre's most prestigious accolades (including the 2006 Chico O'Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award), she has recorded and/or performed with such luminaries as Paquito D'Rivera, Tito Puente, Slide Hampton and Wallace Roney. In a career spanning four decades she has released eight albums under her own name... read more
Florian Hoefner - Luminosity
by Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition
Musical storytelling which mixes compositional originality with instrumental brilliance. Stepping outside one's comfort zone is a time-honored tradition in jazz. Pianist Florian Hoefner - born and raised in Germany and who finished his jazz education in Manhattan - took that journey a bit further than most. In 2014, he relocated from NYC to the isolated city of St. John's in Canada's farthest easterly province, Newfoundland. Not a... read more
Michael Dease - Found in Space: The Music of Gregg Hill
by MICHAEL STÜRM, Jazz Podium (Germany)
In Europe, Gregg Hill is a musical nobody, but in the USA, the composer has cult status, especially in jazz circles. There are musicians like bassist Rodney Whitaker, who have already released three recordings of the man from Michigan's compositions. Hill's fan group also includes trombonist Michael Dease.
This is the second time he has devoted himself to Hill's music on a complete album. What makes this music so special? Gregg Hill, that... read more
Jeff Johnson - Suitcase
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Who let these white guys loose in the church basement? Johnson and his long time improv pal, Hans Teuber, opens the lens to let some other youngbloods join the fun. Not quite arts council music, this is hipster improv done right, but even a Friday night show for this would be a sausage fest, y'know what I mean? It sounds like they know how to give the art jazz fan just what they are looking... read more
David Weiss Sextet - Auteur
by Lance Liddle, BeBop Spoken Here (UK)
There have been a lot of excellent albums dished up for review this year and already the contenders for Album of the Year are amassing.
Auteur is one guaranteed to be in the shake-up. It's the kind of music I had in mind when I first started blogging all those years ago - bop, hard bop, post bop and beyond (albeit not too far beyond).
In his notes, Weiss states that, just like in politics, jazz has no middle anymore. adding that, unlike... read more
Deep Blue Organ Trio - Wonderful!
by Owen Cordle, JazzTimes
In my well-worn copy of the third edition of the 'All Music Guide to Jazz,' Stevie Wonder is mentioned 42 times--more than Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen or Cole Porter. It was inevitable that jazz musicians would discover Wonder. For the generation that came of age in the mid-60's through the '70s, including members of the Deep Blue Organ Trio, Wonder was in the air. And so it is that organist Chris Foreman, guitarist Bobby Broom and drummer... read more
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