Origin Records Reviews

Scott Hesse - The Stillness of Motion
by Paul Abella, Music Lounge - WDCB, Chicago

Chicagoan Scott Hesse's got a new trio with bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Makaya McCraven, and they have a new album out on Origin called The Stillness of Motion. For those of you familiar with Jeff Parker's trio, the sound will be familiar - a ripping and supple rhythm section playing alongside a guitarist with an impossibly dry tone that makes each jaw dropping run sound clear as a bell. Wayne Shorter's "Dance Cadaverous" gets a... read more

Josh Nelson - The Sky Remains
by Nick Davies, London Jazz News

The Sky Remains is pianist Josh Nelson's tribute to his hometown Los Angeles. Each of the album's 10 tracks is a story around a theme with references to the city. From songs like Run, which is the story of runner Mack Robinson who came second in the 200 metre dash at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, to Pacific Ocean Park about the nautical theme park located on a pier in Santa Monica. Every song is a story: lesser known and mysterious tales delivered... read more

Don Lanphere - Like A Bird
by Robert Spencer, Cadence

Don Lanphere recorded in the late Forties with Fats Navarro and Max Roach, and his tenor sound is rooted in the note choices and approaches of that era - which sounds as if he would be much more remote than he actually is, since most "mainstream" jazz players of our day play the same way. Imagine, by the way, what might have happened at Minton's when Lanphere was a kid if someone had come in with a tenor sound copped from Coleman Hawkins records... read more

ZurHub - Countryside Motorways
by George Harris, Jazz Weekly

Consisting of Mattan Klein/fl, Eqequiel Hezi Jait/g, Itay Simhovich/p-key, Assaf Hakimi/b and Dani Benedikt/dr-perc, the band Zurhub gracefully bops and swings through an album of lithe originals. There's a nice collection of sambas and bossas that have Klein blowing like a summer breeze over Jait's strums on "Feliz" and" Bat Ya'Am" while "Overlooked" has him cascading like a gentle waterfall. Benedikt digs in with Simhovich's keys and a funky... read more

Sam Yahel - Truth And Beauty
by Chris Robinson, Downbeat, September 2007

Truth And Beauty, Sam Yahel's fourth offering as a leader, finds the organist joined by Joshua Redman and Brian Blade, two of his closest collaborators. The trio is incredibly tight, which comes as no surprise given their time spent playing together in the Yaya3 collective. Redman plays superbly throughout; in Rollins-esque fashion, he builds several of his solos from a melodic fragments, developing it into a complete statement. Yahel... read more

Oscar Hernández & Alma Libre - The Art of Latin Jazz
by Raul da Gama, Latin Jazz Network

This music suggests that the robust health for one of the longest and most enduring musical influences in Jazz is in good hands. The good 'doctor' in charge of the check-up is none other than the celebrated composer, arranger and producer Oscar Hernández whose other full time job is as pianist of the equally celebrated Spanish Harlem Orchestra. As always, Oscar Hernández brings an elegant swing to the ten pieces of music on The Art of... read more

Dan Dean - 251
by Richard Leiter, Keyboard Magazine

Seattle-based bassist Dan Dean is no stranger to Keyboard magazine: His sample libraries have won 3 Key Buy awards and he's played with piano heroes like Dave Grusin, Bill Mays, Joey deFrancesco and scores more. On "251" (think jazz changes) Dan invited four stellar piano buddies into the studio for a fantastic romp through ten standards and a George Duke original that will teach you how to play ballads, swing and funk duets with a bassist.... read more

Carl Schultz - The Road to Trantor
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly

Playing tenor sax and flute, Carl Schultz creates a kind of soundtrack to an as yet unwritten science fiction move on this creative and evocative album with Tim Wendel/g, Adam Benjamin/p-key, Zack Teran/b and Alwyn Robinson/dr. As expected, the intergalactic themes are, well, spacey, as Wendel and Benjamin go where no man has gone before on "Journey" and "Psychohistory", and the electric noodles veer around the machinations of "Caves Of Steel".... read more

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