Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Mimi Fox - Standards, Old & New
by Ric Bang, JazzScan
If you love guitar, this album is a must. This instrument isn?t often presented in a solo jazz format, as is the case with this release, but the artist rarely is as talented as Mimi Fox. She?s a New York City native who began her music career at age 9 playing drums, then switched to guitar a year later. The first album she purchased was John Coltrane?s Giant Steps, a choice that settled her musical future. She began playing and touring... read more
Rich Thompson - Generations
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
As this album?s title suggests, trios have been a mainstay in jazz for, well, generations. It?s a lot easier to gather simpatico musicians into a trio, than into a larger group. It?s an affordable combo; small clubs can?t foot the bill for larger groups. It also isn?t necessary to write the special arrangements required by bigger bands.
Rich Thompson?s trio is one of the newest.
Thompson?s career began in 1980, during the period when... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - No Bounds
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
The follow-up to a particularly successful debut album, No Bounds brings more of what could potentially be referred to as "contemporary" big band. Big band as a major force disappeared decades ago, and those playing now are almost entirely nostalgia-based groups playing the old standards. Chris Walden is one of a very few that has adapted the genre to fit some more contemporary ideas, and takes new directions with the large-scale format. Here,... read more
Ben Patterson Jazz Orchestra - Mad Scientist Music
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The esteemed trombonist, composer and arranger Ben Patterson brings along a large crew for these Big Band selections that are nothing short of powerful and swinging.
The animated presence of "We're Back, Baby!" opens with Shawn Purcell's meticulous guitar and Luke Brandon's bright trumpet adding much to the flowing climate, and "The Misinformation Age" follows with Chris Ziemba's mature keys and Mike Cemprola's well timed alto sax... read more
Hadley Caliman - Straight Ahead
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Hadley Caliman has had a long, distinguished career as a sideman, appearing on albums by Gerald Wilson, Bobby Hutcherson, Hampton Hawes, and Joe Henderson, among others, though he has had relatively sporadic opportunities to record as a leader.
His second CD for Origin indicates he may have found a regular outlet for his music, backed by the young trumpeter Thomas Marriott (who also records as a leader for the label and appeared on Caliman's... read more
EEA - The Dark
by Ken Dryden, Rovi, iTunes
EEA are a trio of jazz faculty members at the University of Nevada, Reno, consisting of saxophonist Peter Epstein, trumpeter Larry Engstrom, and pianist David Ake. The lack of additional rhythm instruments gives the players both plenty of freedom and responsibility, which they handle well. The trio's three group improvisations stand out with potent interplay, with the first sounding as if it could be used as a film soundtrack. Ake composed... read more
EEA - The Dark
by Thomas R. Erdmann, Jazz Review
EEA is constructed of three members from the Program for Improvisational Music at the University of Nevada-Reno. Saxophonist Peter Epstein earned his Bachelor's degree at the California Institute of the Arts and his Master's degree was earned where he currently teaches. During his professional career he has worked with artists like Bobby Previte, Brad Shepik, Ralph Alessi, Michael Cain, Ravi Coltrane, Mike Stern and Jim Black, to name a few.... read more
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by DUNCAN HEINING, All About Jazz
5-STARS Lenny Bruce might have skewered it with his skit, "Psychopathia Sexualis." Mike Myers' mildly misogynist poet might have parodied it in the movie I Married an Axe Murderer (1993). It has been dismissed as a late-fifties fad associated with the Beats. And, yet, the desire of poets and jazz musicians to combine their art forms has proven surprisingly durable.
Sometimes, the practice is just plain embarrassing and made worse by... read more
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