Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Jordan VanHemert - Survival of the Fittest
by C. Michael Bailey, Wild Mercury Rhythm
We needn't consider jazz as only a product of the Ease and West Coasts. The American interior also provides its share of splendid jazz music and musicians. An example is tenor saxophonist Jordan VanHemert. Born in Cheongju, South Korea and raised in Holland, Michigan, VanHemert took up alto saxophone at 11, eventually gravitating to the tenor saxophone in high school. Following a degree in music from Central Michigan University and graduate... read more
Hal Galper & the Youngbloods - Live at the Cota Jazz Festival
by Dick Metcalf, Improvijazzation
I've reviewed Hal's excellent jazz piano work here quite often over the many years I've been writing reviews... this July, 2017 release shows his total dedication to the art of jazz... he's joined by Nathan Bellott on alto saxophone, Dean Torrey playing bass and David Frazier doing drums, in one of the best "live" jazz recordings of 2017... as you listen to the opener, "Speak with a Single Voice", you'll hear what "professional" really means...... read more
John Wojciechowski - Focus
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
John Wojciechowski plays soprano, alto and tenor saxes as he leads a post bop team of Ryan Cohan/p-key, Dennis Carroll/b and Dana Hall/dr through a mix of originals and standards. His tenor sound has an autumnal Coltrane tone to it, be it on the gently melodic "Focus" or the dramatic and aggressive workout with Hall on an unorthodoxly outside "In Your Own Sweet Way." Hall also gets a chance to deliver some tribal drum work on "Call of the... read more
Josh Nelson - The Sky Remains
by Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy (Germany)
Mit diesem für diverse Grammies nominierten Album lerne ich einen Pianisten in LA kennen, der Sängerinnen wie Natalie Cole und Sara Gazarek ins rechte Licht rückt. Es ist schon sein sechstes als Leader, nach zuletzt "Discoveries" (2011) und "Exploring Mars" (2015). Nach diesen beiden SF-Konzept-Alben wendet er sich, quasi als Engel über LA, seiner Heimatstadt zu mit ihren Brücken, Tunneln und Treppen, dem Genius loci, mit kleinen Mahnmalen... read more
Greta Matassa | Clipper Anderson - And to All a Good Night
by Doug Ramsey, Rifftides
To ears accustomed to hearing the same holiday songs again and again, Matassa's and Anderson's repertoire is fresh. The composer and lyricist credits include familiar names?Johnny Mandel, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Victor Young, Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini and Irving Berlin. But the Mandel-Bergman "A Christmas Love Song," Bacharach's and Hal David's "Christmas Day" or Bill Mays' and Mark Murphy's "November in the Snow" have not been played ad... read more
Todd Bishop - Little Played Little Bird
by Rebecca Ruth, WYCE Music Journal
Accomplished photographer, landscape oils painter and drummer, Todd Bishop, may be familiar to you because of his group, Pop Art 4, which is dedicated to exploring commercial music of the 60s and 70s. (Such as Todd Bishop Pop Art 4: 69 Annee Erotique: Music of Serge Gainsbourg.) Except for the classic "Lonely Woman", you've likely not heard most of the songs on Little Played Little Bird. That's because band leader,... read more
Diverse - Diverse
by Brian Shaw, International Trumpet Guild
The core of Diverse was initially composed of four young musicians who were enrolled at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. After winning the 2008 Gene Harris Jazz Competition in Boise, Idaho, the quartet became a quintet with the addition of pianist John Brewer. This, their debut recording, documents a collaborative collection of all-original material written by members of the group and showcases each... read more
Dan Cray - Outside In
by Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail
Outside In is the title of the sixth album by the pianist/composer Dan Cray, his second recorded in quartet. Regarding the lineup, and in comparison to Cray's previous work, Meridies, the saxophonist Noah Preminger was replaced by Dayna Stephens, while the drummer Mark Ferber and his longtime bassist Clark Sommers keep laying down the foundation.
Favoring a laid-back posture and a liberating spiritual freedom, the recording... read more
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