Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra - The Endless Search
by Don Mather, MusicWeb International UK
Jimmy Heath is one of the great tenor saxophone players in jazz and he is also a very skilled arranger and composer. He has played in many of the most famous groups in jazz as a sideman and soloist and also served many, including Dizzy Gillespie, as composer/arranger. From his soloing on this record alone it is easy to see why he has such an enviable reputation. His improvisations are exquisite and worth the price of the album on their own. The... read more
Gene Argel - Luminescent
by Tree Palmedo, Jazz Society of Oregon
Four decades into his career, Gene Argel has finally dropped his debut album. Recorded with some of Seattle's finest players, Luminescent is a bridging of Argel's original home -- he grew up in Tacoma -- and his adopted one, the island of Maui, where Argel has lived since 1982. There's a lot of catching up to do, and the album does its best to cover years of ground: some tracks are swinging, others funky, others haunting tributes to the... read more
Bill Anschell - Shifting Standards
by Carol Banks Weber, Festival Peak
I'm a Bill Evans type of listener. For me, a musician's touch says more than a fantastic cavalcade of impressive, overly complicated notes, impossibly juxtaposed against a harried orchestra of one. If you can make me feel down to my bones, you've got me.
Seattle's beloved jazz pianist Bill Anschell is cool, because he can do both: move and impress, touch and flash, tone and stack — often on a forgettable, throwaway standard everybody... read more
William Thomas - Notes From A Drummer
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
As with many of the artists on Seattle's Origin label, William Thomas is an excellent jazz drummer. Here on his debut as a leader, the Portland native spends an hour of quality time with his set, but more important to the album is the time he spent with his score sheets. The feature here is the quality of composition that he's been able to put together a number of times, culminating in a series of quite worthwhile numbers. As is not necessarily... read more
Kelly Sill / Jim McNeely / Joel Spencer - Boneyard
by Phillip McNally, Cadence Oct-Dec 2007
Jim McNeely is of course one of the reigning masters of mainstream Jazz piano, with a pedigree that includes time with the Jones-Lewis Band and with Joe Henderson. I first heard him behind Stan Getz on a night when he stole the show from the fussy saxophone maestro. On "Boneyard" he is, as you would expect, tasteful, neat, in the pocket yet never glib. His playing is particularly lovely on "Naomi" and "in the Wee Small Hours," where his touch is... read more
Chenxi Pan - This Very Moment
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Vocalist and composer Chenxi Pan creates a fresh path of material, melding her Chinese heritage with 21st Century jazz sensibilities on this collection of original musical water colors. She's joined by Nathan Nakadegawa-Lee/ts-cl, Shaonan Su/p, George Grydkovets/g, Nicolas Bond/b, Anders J ulsgaard/dr, Pete Cook/vi and Julie Kim/cel in mix and match fashion.
The string team is used gorgeously, creating elliptical tones for Pan's soft and... read more
Don Lanphere with New Stories - Home At Last
by amazon.com, amazon.com
You don't have to be from the Northwest to appreciate this Seattle legend. He played with Fats Navarro and Charlie Parker in the 40's and returned to recording in the 80's. Don had a buttery tone in that mellow zone somewhere between Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. The only other player who had this kind of sound was Bud Johnson - like melting amber, warm honey. Lanphere mixes master technical craftsmanship with the taste and wisdom of an... read more
Ira Sullivan & Stu Katz - A Family Affair - Live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase
by George Fendel, Jazz Society of Oregon
At the Otter Crest Jazz Weekend, I once had the amazing experience of witnessing Sullivan alternate between brassy things and reedy things. The only other guy I can think of who plays trumpet and saxophones really well is Seattle's Jay Thomas. Many remember Sullivan from a lengthy partnership with trumpeter Red Rodney. But live at Joe Segal's Jazz Showcase in his native Chicago, Sullivan rekindles a boyhood friendship with vibist Stu Katz. To... read more
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