Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Jeff Johnson - Tall Stranger
by Susan Frances, JazzTimes
Tall Stranger is the fourth release from bassist Jeff Johnson as a bandleader and improvisational artist. Recorded on May 31, 2002 at the Cat House in Seattle, Washington, Johnson along with saxophonist Hans Teuber and drummer Billy Mintz create a free flowing exchange of musical ideas that traverse a wide array of eclectic-clad composites. The trio displays a boundless imagination which transforms their instrumentals into various shapes and... read more
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Scott Yanow, Los Angeles Jazz Scene
An excellent trumpeter with an attractive sound, a wide range, and a real feel for advanced hard bop, Jared Hall is heard in top form throughout Hometown. His fourth album as a leader and third for the Origin label, this set teams him with tenor-saxophonist Troy Roberts (whose inventive and fiery solos sometimes come close to stealing the show), pianist Ben Markley, bassist Michael Glynn, and drummer Kyle Swan.
The seven selections include... read more
Jerry Heldman - Revelation(s)
by Paul de Barros, Seattle Times
This double CD fills in a long lost missing link in Northwest jazz history. Recorded live in 1973 and 1974 at various small venues in Portland and Seattle, the music is played by a quartet led by the late, legendary - but seldom-recorded - Seattle pianist (and bassist) Jerry Heldman, who from 1965-68 presided over the Llanghaelhyn, a coffee house on Eastlake located in the turreted, fairy-tale building by the University bridge.
Heldman, who... read more
Scott Reeves - Portraits and Places
by Editor, NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
Big band jazz composers may be the most pure artists in all of music. These people do what they do strictly out of love. When you're done paying the band - if in fact there IS anything to pay the band with- there is absolutely no money in writing original big band jazz. Even the universally respected Maria Schneider survives on Chamber Music America grants. So it would be a little misleading to say that the last time this blog caught a show by... read more
Thomas Marriott - Flexicon
by Andrew Gilbert, Seattle Times
Seattle trumpeter Marriott tips his hat to horn heroes Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis without ceding his own identity as a melodically inventive composer and consistently incisive improviser whose lines simmer anxiously without boiling over. A top-shelf cast featuring pianist/keyboardist Bill Anschell, bassist Jeff Johnson, drummer Matt Jorgenson, saxophonist Mark Taylor and vibraphonist extraordinaire Joe Locke (on two tracks) brings... read more
Dan McCarthy - City Abstract
by Georges Tonla Briquet, JazzHalo (Belgium)
The Canadian vibraphonist Dan McCarthy likes to color outside the lines. For example, on 'Let's Start The Show' he introduced a banjo into his musical universe, while 'Constellation' was a duo album with pianist Gordon Webster, all about free improvisation. On 'Epoch' he was joined by Steve Swallow, Ben Monder and Mark Feldman. "City Abstract" is a logical and equally adventurous sequel to which he casually honors Carla Bley ("Bleyto") and Gary... read more
Bongwool Lee - My Singing Fingers
by Dave Sumner, Bird is the Worm
Sometimes you just want to sit back with a piano trio recording that plays it nice and straight, and patiently dives into a melody to explore every inch. The debut from Bongwool Lee will definitely fit that need. The pianist straddles that middle ground where old-school jazz bleeds into the modern post-bop, and so the music is always plenty lively even when it grows increasingly contemplative. Bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Kendrick Scott... read more
Josh Nelson - Exploring Mars
by Hobart Taylor, KUCI, Irvine, CA
A concept album that begins with a jazz bed under a reading from Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles" and continues with a variety of styles to evoke mental images and imaginings of the "red planet". I like the offbeat ballad "How I Loved You on Mars", the Metheny like "Sojourner","Memnonia Quadrangle", a guitar meditation, and "Spirit" A reprise of the first cut without the Bradbury narration and with a fine trumpet... read more
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