Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Gabriel Rivera, Indie Boulevard
Chamber Jazz at Its Most Honest: MAJA JAKU's Blessed & Bewitched Earns Every Minute of Your Patience
Jazz criticism has long developed a convenient way of talking about vocal albums — and that way, for all its refinement, has become a trap. We know how to describe technique, school, influences. We know how to construct a genealogy — who studied under whom, who inherited whose intonations, in which city and in which year it all... read more
Aaron Immanuel Wright - Eleven Daughters
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Wander into the parking lot of a high school marching band field tournament, through a labyrinth school buses and picnic tables, into throngs of young musicians?teenagers in small packs cruising on foot, gossiping, flirting, maybe throwing a football around as a cold November dusk settles in?and there always seems to be a backdrop of percussion, impromptu practice sessions, the marimbas and the vibraphones ringing out. It's a sound that carries... read more
Brittany Anjou - Enamigo Reciprokataj
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
In which we find our fearless leader making a piano trio debut that goes somewhere else but really doesn't. Not willing to take on art for art's sake, this tyro that's sought out and studied with dyed in the wool pros shows that you don't need to microdose acid to expand your mind. Almost like taking the history of piano trio, putting it in a Yatzee cup and shaking it up to see where the future might lie, this amazing kaleidoscope of sounds just... read more
Ben Black - Mystery & Wonder
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect Reviews
The Seattle vocalist and songwriter Ben Black brings us 11 original songs here that are inspired by mysticism and meditation, and he's got an all star of musicians including Bill Anschell, Dave Peterson, Jeff Johnston, Mark Ivester, David Lange and Brenda Kay Neth along with him.
"Wonderland" opens the listen with Black's soulful pipes illuminating the frisky keys from Anschell and Peterson's spirited guitar work, and "Wind" follows with a... read more
Phil Kelly & The SW Santa Ana Winds - My Museum
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
To paraphrase the peerless Bard of Avon, a wind from any other clime would blow as hot -- or as cool. Last year, composer/arranger Phil Kelly happily introduced big band enthusiasts to the turbulent NW Prevailing Winds (Seattle) on the stormy album Convergence Zone; this year, he has empowered the cyclonic SW Santa Ana Winds (Los Angeles) to raise the barometric pressure and spawn another tempestuous tour de force, My Museum.
Knowing there... read more
Piet Verbist - Secret Exit to Another Dimension
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS In spite of its rather intriguing title (and those of several of its selections), Secret Exit to Another Dimension, by Belgian bassist Piet Verbist's well-schooled trio, consists for the most part of the sort of gentle, heartwarming jazz one might hear on a given evening in any number of upscale nightspots around the world. In fact, if guitarist Hendrik Braeckman were to be replaced by pianist Tamir Hendelman, Verbist's threesome... read more
Les DeMerle - Gypsy Rendezvous, Vol. 2
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Les DeMerle and his wife, vocalist Bonnie Eisele, released a previous album of Gypsy jazz-inspired pieces back in 2009 that showed some hints of greatness when DeMerle and Eisele were able to combine effectively with their Gypsy jazz counterparts, and a bit of musical confusion when they weren't able to meet in the middle. Here, the two factions work together much more cleanly. Where DeMerle and Eisele had a tendency toward power in the past,... read more
Brad Goode Quintet - That's Right!
by JIM TRAGESER, All About Jazz
With a fat, rich tone somewhere between French classical trumpeter Maurice André and the flugelhorn of Chuck Mangione, Brad Goode has the ultimate calling card for a jazz player: An immediately recognizable sound. The fact that he's also got an upper register to rival Maynard Ferguson makes Goode one of the most underknown of jazz players.
Joined by the great Ernie Watts on tenor sax, and a solid rhythm section of Adrean Farrugia (piano),... read more
Looking for a specific review?
This is just a small collection of the Origin Records reviews. Click here to view all reviews or try to Search for your favorite CD title.
Search Reviews:
Recently Added Reviews:
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Hanna Kay, Cult News (Paris)
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Budapest, Rudolf Radnai
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Dawn Clement - Dear Ms. Dearie
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Dee Dee McNeil, Making A Scene
Affinity Trio - New Outlook
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Michael Dease Big Band - Return Trajectory
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Brad Goode Quintet Feat. Ernie Watts - Live Your Dream: Live at North Street Cabaret
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect