Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Scott Reeves - Portraits and Places
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
Great jazz orchestras are harder to find these days than the proverbial hen's tooth. The general public no longer desires to hear the music that made the Big Band years so fantastic, and established talents such as Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Stan Kenton and so many others. Groups like those are no longer cost-effective to work or tour with. Thankfully, a market still exists for the smaller... read more
John Stowell | Michael Zilber - Live Beauty
by Bill Milkowski, Downbeat
4-STARS The potent partnership of guitarist John Stowell and saxophonist Michael Zilber plays out on this highly interactive and adventurous set recorded before a live audience at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. Fueled by the remarkably empathetic Bay Area rhythm tandem of bassist John Shifflet and drummer Jason Lewis, Stowell and Zilber take their time and follow their muse quite freely throughout this intimate concert.... read more
Scenes - ...But Not Heard
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
ECM Records has been noted for its "Nordic Cool," school, from its many recordings of Scandinavian artists, with pianist Tord Gustavsen coming most readily to mind. Seattle's Origin Records has what can be called its "Northwest U.S. Cool" with recordings from bassist Jeff Johnson, saxophonist Hans Teuber , and the collective trio Scenes, with guitarist John Stowell, drummer John Bishop and, again, Jeff Johnson on bass.
Scenes' eponymous... read more
Anthony Branker & Imagine - What Place Can Be for Us?
by Jan Hocek, His Voice (Czech Republic)
In February, composer and conductor Anthony Branker released his eighth title on the renowned label Origin Records. The content of the new album is the ten-movement suite What Place Can Be For Us? about "seeking and finding a place that can be a refuge, a place of inclusion and belonging for people of color and people persecuted by oppression, war and hunger," as the author himself put it. And he is disappointed that he is not the United States,... read more
Jessica Williams - Songs of Earth
by John Henry, Audiophile Audition
I think this is the finest solo piano CD I?ve enjoyed in years! ***** 5-stars
Jessica Williams is one of the top jazz pianists playing today, and if you?re a jazz piano fan and not familiar with her work, remedy that right away. She had classical training and was the house pianist at San Francisco?s Keystone Korner for many years. Jessica has been a three-time Grammy nominee. She is currently based in Seattle, and this new CD... read more
Jim Gailloreto Jazz String Quintet - American Complex
by HRAYR ATTARIAN, All About Jazz
Chamber jazz or third stream - or whatever the amalgamation of western classical music and jazz is called - has had a handful of talented proponents sprinkled throughout the history of music. They have ranged from the more structured compositions of Igor Stravinsky to the looser improvisations of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Soprano saxophonist Jim Gailloreto has recently joined the ranks of these musicians.
On American Complex, Gailloreto is in... read more
Mamutrio - Primal Existence
by Hobart Taylor, KUCI - Irvine, CA
A funny thing about the trio form, whether it is a power trio in rock (The Police), Beethoven's piano trios, or the work of Bill Evans' trios, the perfect balance between figure and ground that comes to mind as you listen to ensemble and solo play intermittently to me just feels intimate and to the point.
This Belgian triad is spirited, precise in rhythmic attack led by drummer Jesse Dockx, supported by the full yet delicate bass playing... read more
Joel Miller - Swim
by John Kelman, All About Jazz
LIVE REVIEW: OTTAWA JAZZ FESTIVAL
June 22: Joel Miller Quartet, Ninety Miles and The Fellowship Band - If the first night of the festival was only tangential in its relation to jazz, the second night was proof that the Ottawa Jazz Festival is committed to bringing top quality jazz to the big stage at Confederation Park; they couldn't have put together a better triple bill. Still, if Canadian saxophonist Joel Miller, the all-star... read more
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