Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Hal Galper Trio - Airegin Revisited
by George Fendel, Jazz Society of Oregon
There?s some real deep, thoughtful stuff going on here. Right off the bat, it seems that Hal Galper has taken a turn in the road since his more straight ahead days on the Concord label. His music is more angular, with increased emphasis on creative and sometimes complex improvisation and less attention to melody. I gotta admit, it?s often compelling listening. However, I had to work pretty hard to get to it. Take the opener, Gershwin?s classic... read more
Greta Matassa - The Smiling Hour
by Paul Freeman, San Jose Mercury News (Interview)
Seattle-based jazz vocalist Greta Matassa's father was a visual artist, a painter. And a serious jazz buff.
"My dad and I used to stay up until three in the morning, talking about the parallels between jazz music and abstract art," Matassa tells The Daily News. "They are very similar in the spontaneity of the way they're put together. You start with a structure in a piece of music. Or a subject matter in art. And then the act itself of... read more
Geof Bradfield - Our Roots
by Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
4 STARS Without the blues, there would be no jazz, and arguably, no rock-and-roll. Think about it, if there were no rock-and-roll, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who stole every American blues lick they could find in the 1960s, would have had to get real jobs.
Jazz musicians suffer no illusions that their music wasn't born of the African-American blues tradition and its music is unequaled when it deals overtly with this... read more
Scott Reeves Quintet - The Alchemist
by Edward Blanco, All About Jazz
Trombonist, composer and band leader Scott Reeves once performed a live concert at the City College of New York with his then quintet, which has now been documented as his newest offering entitled The Alchemist. However, new is not the operative word here, as this musical event took place on May 5th, 2005. While concentrating on compositions and recordings for his jazz orchestra over the last ten years, the pandemic provided Reeves with the... read more
Jordan VanHemert - Deep in the Soil
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Alto saxist Jordan VanHemert bops hard with a team of Terell Stafford/tp, Michel Dease/tb, Helen Sung/p, Rodney Whitaker/b and Lewis Nash/dr on his fun and festive release. Van Hemert's alto is confident and assertive, not unlike Cannonball Adderley, as on the swaggering gospel grooved "Hard Times" that has him going toe to toe with Stafford, and bouncing like ESP era Miles on "Call To Order". The alto goes bel canto, on "Everything Changes,... read more
Jordan VanHemert - Survival of the Fittest
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Tenor saxist Jordan VanHemert mixes and matches his rhythm team of Helen Sung/p, Rodney Whitaker/b and Lewis Nash/dr with a brass secion of Terell Stafford/tp-fh and Michael Dease/tb in various musical portraits. VanHemert's tone is a complete joy, rich and full of texture while relaxed and bel canto. Unsurprisingly the most endearing tunes are the collection of duets, as he goes mano a mano with Nash on the feisty "Softly As In A Morning... read more
Shawn Purcell - 180
by Paul Abella, WDCB
Guitarist Shawn Purcell is back with a new album, and he put together about as good of an organ trio as you could possibly put together in 2022, with Jason Tiemann behind the drums and Pat Bianchi in the hot seat. In this largely original program, Purcell comes out swingin' on "Cat and Mouse," and romps through a pretty varied set of 11 tunes. He clearly feels at home on the bossa nova-esque grooves of "Fond Illusion" and "A Long Stroll" and his... read more
John Bishop - Antwerp
by Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
Two Flemings and an American who form a trio and choose the title 'Antwerp' for their CD. It could give rise to a lot of jokes. Not so in this case. Pianist Bram Weijters, double bassist Piet Verbist and drummer John Bishop deliver a recording bursting with modern jazz with clear links to a familiar jazz past.
The story of this trio starts in 2008 during the famous Banff conference festival and workshops where the American trumpeter Chad... read more
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