Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Bobby Broom - Song And Dance
by Glenn Astarita, ejazznews
Guitarist Bobby Broom is one of the few jazz artists who can spin a pop standard into a deeply personalized musical statement. The artist's broad musical vernacular serves as a rock-solid foundation, enhanced by his enviable technical faculties. Nonetheless, Broom's longtime gig at Pete Miller's Steakhouse in Evanston, Illinois looms as just one anecdote within a rather distinguished career, hearkening back to his days in New York.
Broom's... read more
Ben Patterson - Push the Limits
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
A spark plug in several big bands of long standing, the bone man really fans the flames when he kicks it out on his star turns with his own crews. Opening this proceeding with an original 10 minute tour de force, Patterson brings it hot and heavy making his mark and tattooing your ears. A really fierce cat that ain't afraid to use his claws. Hot stuff... read more
Darren Johnston - Life in Time
by Michael van Gee, Jazz 'N' More (Switzerland)
There are always surprising CDs, such as the new one by trumpeter Darren Johnston from Brooklyn with his well-rehearsed trio from Chicago. Together with saxophonist and bass clarinetist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall, he plays ten very varied compositions (six by Johnston, four by Bradfield). The mix of ballads and uptempo pieces never lets you get bored or miss a harmony instrument like the piano or guitar. On the... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott bring their trumpets to these jazz-fueled pieces that celebrate Fats Navarro, Howard McGhee, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw's recordings, and they've got Orrin Evans, Michael Glynn and Roy McCurdy along for the ride.
"One Day at a Time" opens the listen with the bright brass and McCurdy's swift drums making for a lively and melodic landscape, and "I Told You So" follows with Evans' meticulous piano helping... read more
Nnenna Freelon - Time Traveler
by Matthias Kirsch, Gina Loves Jazz (Germany)
It's her eleventh album to date and her first since "Homefree" came out back in 2010. Nnenna Freelon sounds as fresh and graceful, jazzy and soulful as ever and in most cases on her beautiful new disc, even better than ever before. Harking back to her "Listen" (1994), "Shaking Free" (1996) or "Soulcall" (2000) days when she released collections of soul classics mixed in with standards and originals, usually with style and imagination and a... 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
Dan Dean - 251
by Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition
Electric bassist Dan Dean might not be well known by general jazz fans but he has extensive credits as a sideman for Ernie Watts, Diane Schuur and others; has contributed to television and film music; and is a music educator and an author of instruction books. Other artists, however, regard him with respect and four accomplished keyboardists are involved in Dean's latest outing, 251, a series of bass/keyboard duets.
The album title alludes to... read more
Steve Million - What I Meant to Say
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS A word that springs to mind when listening to pianist Steve Million's quartet is "tasteful." If the music sounds congenial as well, that is probably because "four friends" are performing it. Two of them (guitarist Steve Cardenas, drummer Ron Vincent) were among the Kansas City-based friends who comprised Million's quartet in that city before he moved to New York in 1981; the "new friend" is bassist John Sims who started gigging... read more
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