Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Robby Ameen - Live at the Poster Museum
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
There are pluses and minuses to all recordings, the attributes stacking up like cordwood due to the virtuosity of the musicians, the compositional value of the tunes and the basic, primary aim of the leader. In this case, the leader, virtuoso drummer Robby Ameen, blurs the line between Afro-Caribbean rhythms and swinging post bop jazz. His music mentions in a way, that the divisions we may see between the different elements of the music that... read more
Karrin Allyson - A Kiss for Brazil
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The esteemed vocalist, pianist and percussionist Karrin Allyson adds to her catalog of Brazilian sounds with these 10 adventurous tracks that recruit Rosa Passos, Vitor Goncalves, Yotam Silberstein, Harvie S and Rafael Barata.
The playful and cozy "Flor de Lis" begins the listen with Silberstein's warm guitar and Barata's frisky drums that complement Allyson's flowing vocals, and "Month Of March In Salvagor (Dunas)" continues the worldly... read more
Alex Graham - The Good Life
by David Franklin, JazzTimes April 2006
Altoist Alex Graham's The Good Life is easy-going, straightahead post-Coltrane hard bop executed with skill by all involved. Although released in late 2005, it was recorded less than three years after Graham's 1995 debut, Countdown. And it, too, includes Rick Roe on piano. This time, however the instrumentation is a basic quartet, and the bassist and drummer are the veterans Rodney Whitaker and Joe Strasser.
While the nicely varied program... 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
Pharez Whitted - For the People
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
Indianapolis-born trumpeter Pharez Whitted has kept a low profile in the new millennium. He's busied himself with teaching, attending to his duties as Director of Jazz Studies at Chicago State University, performing live and appearing as a sideman on a scant number of under-the-radar albums, but none of this has helped to boost his reputation beyond his Midwestern home base. His fourteen year silence between Mysterious Cargo (Motown, 1996) and... read more
John Stowell | Michael Zilber - Live Beauty
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Cool toned guitarist John Stowell teams up with saxist Michael Zilber and fronts a quartet along with John Shifflett/b and Jason Lewis/dr for a sophisticated set caught at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, CA back in 2012. Except for the free form and flighty duet between the two on the take of "My Funny Valentine" the band sticks to sophisticated originals which stretch out between 7-12 minutes.
The band has a fragrance similar... read more
Anthony Branker and Ascent - Together
by Dave Sumner, emusic Review
Trumpeter Anthony Branker has spent recent years focusing solely on composing and in the director?s chair, and its yielded as strong a discography as anybody?s in the last decade. In addition to his Word Play ensemble, Branker also has Ascent, which features a quintet of Mark Gross on alto & soprano sax, Ralph Bowen on tenor sax, Jonny King on Fender Rhodes, Kenny Davis on bass, and Donald Edwards on drums. Modern jazz that has roots in Jazz... 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
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