Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Ben Thomas Tango Project - The Hat with the Grin and the Chuckle
by Paul Rauch, Seattle Jazz Beat
Dr. Ben Thomas is an impossible musician to forget, once he makes a first impression. This is the case whether you are witnessing his virtuosity on the vibraphone in a jazz or Brazilian music setting or performing in a tango ensemble on bandoneon. There is the music of course, with melody and harmony seemingly exiting his instrument in free flight, pushing aside time and space and settling in as something as natural as the air that fills the... read more
Tito Carrillo - Opening Statement
by Lloyd Sachs, WDCB - Chicago
Origin Records may be based half a country away in Seattle, but it has become the mainstream Chicago jazz label, documenting our scene in recent months with terrific albums by the Deep Blue Organ Trio, Geof Bradfield, Dana Hall and Bobby Broom. A few weeks ago, I reviewed an Origin album by Chicago legend Ira Sullivan and Windy City crony Stu Katz. Yesterday, Origin kept the ball rolling by releasing the impressive debut of Chicago... read more
Phil Kelly & The SW Santa Ana Winds - My Museum
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise
Phil Kelly is a bit of an anachronism: a drummer who's also a prolific jazz composer and arranger.
He has written literally hundreds of charts for dozens of groups. His first CD for Origin - "Convergence Zone" with a Seattle-based band he calls the NW Prevailing Winds - was nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award. Having succeeded in the Pacific Northwest (Kelly lives in Bellingham, Washington), he decided to change locales for his next... read more
Rich Thompson - Less Is More
by Grady Harp, amazon.com
It is not often that the lead man in a group is a drummer but that is most assuredly the case with drummer Rich Thompson who is the driving force behind this propulsive quartet recording that features a choice selection of tunes and exceptional soloists.
This is one of those albums that has it all - the transitional sound
for the 'old-timers' who have loved jazz forever as well as for the
avant garde who groove on new... read more
Dudley Owens | Aaron Immanuel Wright - People Calling
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Owen Dudley / Aaron Wright Band's People Calling, in the best possible sense, doesn't settle into any category. The title tune, introduced early and reprised at the end of the disc, walks a line between the spirituality-steeped sound of saxophonist John Coltrane's classic sixties quartet and the soulful and catchy style of vocalist/songwriter/producer Curtis Mayfield. The result is stirred with social consciousness, with drummer Clif... read more
Rodney Whitaker - Common Ground: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Editor, Jazz Chill
Common Ground is the first of five CDs that bass maestro Rodney Whitaker intends to release in 2019 in acknowledgment of his fiftieth birthday year. It's his seventh album, and embodies the musical values that Whitaker has projected on antecedent dates like When We Find Ourselves Alone, from 2014; such turn-of-the-century gems as Winter Moon, Ballads and Blues: The Brooklyn Session and Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow; and the critically acclaimed... read more
Bridge Quartet - Day
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise
The Bridge Quartet is another of the many fine groups to have started in the Pacific Northwest.
Drummer Alan Jones, a Portland, Ore., native, has been involved with several other excellent combos over the years, and he was the catalyst for this organization. He's joined by Canadian saxophonist Phil Dwyer; bassist Tom Wakeling; and pianist Darrell Grant, another Portland mainstay.
These guys hooked up over a weekend, planning to play a club... read more
Joachim Mencel - Brooklyn Eye
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Playing both piano and hurdy-gurdy, Joachim Mencel creates a wide variety of atmospheres with his post bop team of guitarist Steve Cardenas, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Rudy Royston. Colley and Royston are most flexible here, creating a circle dance on the dramatic "I'm Yo Man", mixing suave brushes and beat on "The Things" and rocking out with Cardenas on "The Last Of The Mohicans". Mencel's piano touch is modern and confident here, while... read more
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