Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Scenes - Destinations
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
4-STARS There are wondrous stories to be found in everything the eye can see, the ear can hear, and the imagination can dream up. Scenes - the trio of guitarist John Stowell, bassist Jeff Johnson, and drummer John Bishop - has been readily and steadily making that point for more than fifteen years, harnessing natural beauty and concocting chimerical designs that extol the virtues of elasticity, mutability, and high-level communication.... read more
Toby Koenigsberg - Sense
by John Ginn, Eugene Weekly
If you like your jazz on the harder-edged side, Toby Koenigsberg and his audacious henchmen might be just the cup of java you're looking for. Sounding a bit like Vince Guaraldi in overdrive, Koenigsberg drives his band into frenzied experiments that keep the experience lively and surprising. It's easy to imagine them playing to a room full of nodding beatniks murmuring, "Yeah, man, yeah. You're on fire tonight, man. Go, cat, go."
Formed in... read more
John Stowell - Solitary Tales
by John Barron, All About Jazz
An entire disc of solo, improvised guitar music could easily run the risk of sounding like one continuous tune. Fortunately, Portand, Oregon-based guitarist John Stowell applies enough depth and open-minded searching to his nylon-string guitar to keep things interesting throughout Solitary Tales. The eleven-track disc was recorded live at the home of master guitar luthier Mike Doolin, who builds guitars for Stowell. Relying heavily on... read more
Mimi Fox - This Bird Still Flies
by Andrew Gilbert, The Mercury News
BEST OF 2019 Vallejo guitarist Mimi Fox extends her reputation as one of jazz's finest solo practitioners with an eclectic set unified by her unabashedly open-hearted sensibility as she transmutes folk tunes, jazz standards, original compositions and popular songs into revelatory personal... read more
Sarah Partridge - Bright Lights and Promises: Redefining Janis Ian
by Annie Dinerman, Elmore Magazine
Jazz vocalist Sarah Partridge was only tinkering with the idea of recording one or two songs written by singer-songwriter Janis Ian, best known for her hits, "At Seventeen" and "Society's Child." Recently, from the stage where the teenage Ian herself sang in the 1960s, Partridge celebrated the release of her full CD of Janis Ian songs. Bright Lights & Promises will appeal to followers of entertaining and socially conscious jazz artists such as... read more
Hal Galper - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
by Jack Kenny, Jazz Views (UK)
Strange to think that the music on this album was recorded forty-four years ago. It does not seem like that: it has a freshness and immediacy. Pianist Hal Galper played for three years with Chet Baker. He also had a spell with Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods. The group on this album was probably his most successful and most artistically satisfying. Galper's exciting technique of quickening or slackening the rhythm, usually without... read more
Carlos Vega - Art of the Messenger
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS In case you didn't quite catch the "message" subtly embedded in the title of Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Carlos Vega's new recording, Art of the Messenger, here is a brief reminder that it was drummer Art Blakey who formed the Jazz Messengers in the mid-1950s and led the celebrated hard-bop ensemble until his death in 1990. The Messengers' roster of alumni reads like a Who's Who of Jazz Hall of Fame members.
With that in... read more
Mamutrio - Primal Existence
by Philippe De Cleen, Written In Music (Belgium)
Met Primal Existence geeft Mamutrio, bestaande uit (alt)saxofonist Lieven Cambré, bassist Piet Verbist en de nog maar 19 jaar jonge drummer Jesse Dockx aan dat jong en oud elkaar in de jazz prima kunnen vinden.
Ondanks de eerder klassieke bezetting (altsax, bas, drums) weet dit trio zichzelf op erg aantrekkelijke wijze in de kijker te spelen, al is het vooral de inbreng van het jonge drumtalent Dockx die de aandacht naar zich toe trekt.... read more
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