Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Anthony Branker & Ascent - Blessings
by JazzTimes, JazzTimes Education
Anthony Branker is a music professor and the head of the jazz program at Princeton University. Although a trumpeter, Branker is best known as an educator, conductor and composer. On "Blessings," his second recording as a leader, Branker is the non-playing leader of a very impressive septet that interprets nine of his compositions.
Branker wrote these pieces a few years ago when he was serving on the faculty of the Estonian Academy of Music... read more
Pax Wallace - Language Arts
by Jason West, All About Jazz
It's a pity Pax Wallace will soon be leaving Seattle to take up residence in Europe. Luckily, the thirty-nine year old pianist/composer leaves us with some wonderful music representing much of his best work over the seventeen years that he has made Seattle his home.
Recorded in the autumn of last year, "Language Arts" offers ten tracks that cover the entire spectrum of Wallace's musical palette. Featuring top-notch musical contributors like... read more
John Adler - Confronting Inertia
by Laurance Vitters, Gramophone Magazine
New music breaking out of the acedemic world and into the nightclub. John Adler may not be a trumpet-playing beauty like Alieen Balsom or Tine Thing Helsch but the music he makes is but just the same. For this recording he and Tracy Cowden play seven new works commissioned for the "Confronting Inertia" project, which features trumpet works in classical forms written by jazz composers influenced now and then by usual suspects such as the... read more
Scott Hesse - The Stillness of Motion
by Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation
I have no doubt that jazz listeners in search of total-cool work in trio sessions will love Scott's splendid guitar work (he's joined by Clark Sommers on bass & Makaya McCraven on drums) on this ten-song gem. Tunes like "Blues Sketch" definitely bear out their title... super jazz, to be sure. The beauty of the trio's playing is that there's nothing rushed or forced... it sounds as though they're right there in your living room, playing it all... read more
John Bishop - Nothing If Not Something
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
****1/2 - 4 1/2 STARS
This is the Seattle sound at its finest. The trio, led by Origin Records founder John Bishop, has a subtle touch. The sound is dignified, but isn't afraid to let the sax wail a little now and then. In large part, the music gains something distinctive over East Coast jazz in its lack of a drive to highlight talent and knowledge merely for the sake of showcasing. In leaving behind the need to take off with a... read more
Robby Ameen - Diluvio
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
4-STARS Perhaps it's a flood of rhythm that the title and cover art refer to on this third leader outing from drumming dynamo Robby Ameen. A heavy hitter in Afro-Cuban circles for decades, Ameen's frangible linear Latin funk workouts, intricate rhythmic roadmapping, song-serving chops and good taste have earned him an overwhelmingly positive reputation. Everybody from musical polymath Rubén Blades to flutist Dave Valentin and pianist... read more
Rodney Whitaker - Mosaic: The Music of Gregg Hill
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
This is about the fourth album that has come across my ears focusing on the composing strengths of Gregg Hill. You know a guy has a lyrical style when almost half of the songs feature lyrics themselves, mostly brought on by vocalist Rockelle Whitaker. The remaining team of Tim Warfield/ts-ss, Rick Roe/p, Terell Stafford/tp-fh and Dana Hall/dr do wonders with these fresh formations. Warfield's soprano gives an earthy Yusef Lateef feel to the Afro... read more
Don Lanphere with New Stories - Home At Last
by Peter Monaghan, Earshot Magazine, January 2002
Time to take stock again of new Northwest jazz releases.
First, one that you will probably already have if you know that it's out, and that you may well buy without my encouragement once you learn that it is: Don Lanphere and New Stories' "Home At Last" (Origin). The master saxophonist, a sure-fire pleaser, seasoned over 50 years of topflight playing, performing and recording, is heard here with the Grammy-nominated New Stories trio of... read more
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