Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Clarence Penn - Monk: The Lost Files
by William F. Beran, Amazon
5 STARS Monk Reimagined There are lots of albums out there of Monk's music interpreted by other musicians, but there is none like this one. Clarence Penn brings his own sense of rhythm to Monk's lines and the music comes out like something totally new and fresh. A reminder, if we needed one, of just how great and timeless the music of Monk is. Plus a nice liner note by Clarence of how he thought he lost the entire... read more
Matt Jorgensen +451 - Hope
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Do they still give out Grammy Awards for best cover art? If so, here's a nominee: a peaceful retriever in repose, chin on the floor, captured in a sanguine tone on Matt Jorgensen + 451's Hope.
A great cover, of course, does not a successful CD make. It's the music.
The music on Hope -- sax and rhythm section outing with additional sax on five of the eleven tunes, with the warm tones of a trombone on another -- falls into that familiar... read more
John Stowell and Dave Liebman - Blue Rose
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
RINGER OF THE WEEK If you're not a sucker for duet albums, maybe THIS one will change your mind. Acoustic guitarist John Stowell sits down by the fireplace with Dave Liebman for a collection of duets that sounds like a conversation between masters of their craft, which is exactly what it is.
Liebman, who is better known for being a bit on the left of center side of music, reigns in like a stallion while delivering deft performances on... read more
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by Michael Jackson, Downbeat
4-STARS Like a whiskey aged in charred casks, not a gin - which Pulitzer-winning poet laureate Philip Levine at first taste thought was hair tonic - this collection of world-weary words framed by quick-witted saxophonist/composer Benjamin Boone should be taken neat and steep sampled. Levine grew up in Detroit, and as a teenager during the '50s worked in car manufacturing plants. His general cynicism about the workplace is at odds with... read more
Thomas Marriott - Urban Folklore
by Andrew Luthringer, Earshot Jazz
"The job of a musician is to illustrate the human condition." On his latest album, ace trumpeter Thomas Marriott lays out his musical ethos. Marriott conceived the nine original tunes on Urban Folklore as musical story-telling, evocations of shared human experience.
While knowing the underpinnings behind Marriott's musical concepts may deepen the experience, it's not required to revel in the music itself - vigorous post-bop,... read more
Dave Slonaker Big Band - Intrada
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
Don't be put off by the name. Intrada, composer / arranger Dave Slonaker points out, is "a musical form often composed as a prelude, overture or fanfare," one whose upbeat phrases give rise to an exhilarating curtain-raiser on Slonaker's initial big-band recording. Rest assured this is a world-class ensemble and there's no doubt whose steady hand is at the helm: Slonaker wrote every number save the standard "It's Only a Paper Moon" and... read more
John Bishop with Jeff Johnson, Rick Mandyck, John Stowell - Scenes
by Dave Nathan, All About Jazz
With this Origin label release, the fruitful Northwest music scene continues to manifest high caliber jazz music sessions. This time it's the 8 year-old trio of John Bishop, Jeff Johnson and Rick Mandyck enhanced by guitarist John Stowell, for more than an hour of modern and progressive jazz. The play list is certainly an attractive one combining three originals with standard and jazz classics. Stowell. who worked with David Friesen for seven... read more
Scott Burns - Passages
by Alex Marianyi, All About Jazz
Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Scott Burns has said that he practices each exercise, pattern, or whatever else he may be working on until he gets it perfect. Five times in a row. The results of this type of practicing couldn't be any more obvious than on Passages, release by Origin in 2006. Through this rigorous study, Burns has sufficiently assimilated the sounds of the great tenor players that have come before him in order to produce his own... read more
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