Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Corey Christiansen - Dusk
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
The guitar man takes a steep left turn here as he wraps up his jazzy Americana trilogy with original tunes that seem to take smooth/summer jazz into some dark corners where there's a jazzy impression of southern gothic lurking around the next turn. There's a solid little history of modern jazz here lurking in the twists and turns that gives it the extra special sauce that really brings it together. Sharp, original work that grabs the... read more
John McLean - Better Angels
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A lot of good guitarists are recording these days, and John McLean is one of the better ones.
McLean, who works the Chicago area these days, has been performing for more than 25 years and has been involved in more than two dozen releases by other artists during that time. This is just his second album as a leader/composer/arranger.
Like so many of today's musicians, McLean is a multi-degreed artist; he earned his bachelor of music... read more
Joachim Mencel - Brooklyn Eye
by Sebastian Chosiński, Esensja (Poland)
Dreams are there to make them come true! Polish jazz pianist (also playing the hurdy-gurdy) Joachim Mencel dreamed of recording an album in New York for years, with American artists accompanying him. The assumption was that the music was also inspired by North America. All this was achieved in one fell swoop thanks to the publishing house "Brooklyn Eye".
In Poland, Joachim Mencel does not have to prove anything to anyone. For years,... read more
Bobby Broom - Bobby Broom Plays for Monk
by Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
Monk lives! Perhaps it can be said that Thelonious Monk has had many lives. Ever since the unique pianist established his repertoire in the 1940s and '50s musicians have, probably beginning with saxophonist Steve Lacy, taken up the task of covering the now infamous music. With Plays for Monk, guitarist Bobby Broom delivers one of the finest Monk tributes to be released in quite some time.
Best known for his work with Sonny Rollins, the... read more
Joel Miller - Swim
by Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa International Jazz Festival Concert Review - For his concert Friday night in the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival?s Great Canadian Jazz series, Montreal tenor saxophonist Joel Miller brought with him an A-list American ringer. The pianist in Miller?s quartet was not just any U.S. citizen. On the bench was no less than Geoffrey Keezer, a former wunderkind who has played at a world-class level for the last two decades. He and... read more
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by Tom Vitale, NPR - All Things Considered
Poet Philip Levine discovered jazz on the radio when he was a teenager.
"Like any young person, I wanted to find an art form that the older people in my family would reject, naturally you know," he said to me in a 2004 interview. "I had found T.S. Eliot in poetry: 'God, what kind of garbage is this?' You know. And I heard jazz — rhythmic, driving, sometimes very lyric — and it was very exciting."
Levine would be awarded a Pulitzer... read more
Randy Halberstadt - Parallel Tracks
by George Fendel, Jazz Scene
Hey, if you want to talk about Seattle's three or four best piano practitioners, you'd better put Randy Halberstadt on the list. Right around the top. I heard him a few years back here in PDX accompanying singer Meredith d'Ambrosio, and remember being duly impressed. Well, here's Randy with a couple more giants, Jeff Johnson, bass and Gary Hobbs, drums. This exciting trio works seamlessly together on standards like Moonray, In The Wee Small... read more
Hugo Fernandez - Cosmogram
by Tom Greenland, The New York City Jazz Record
Guitarist Hugo Fernandez, originally from Mexico, now based in Madrid, has released Cosmogram, his second date as a leader, with the help of countryman drummer Antonio Sanchez, Cuban saxophonist Ariel Bringuez and Spanish bassist Antonio Miguel. A relaxed set with hummable originals, all composed by Fernandez, the music is highly accessible with gentle surprises. Although he's the team captain, Fernandez is more of a midfielder at heart,... read more
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