Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Joel Miller Sienna Dahlen - Dream Cassette
by Raul da Gama, The Whole Note
On Dream Cassette, Dahlen teams up with an extraordinarily gifted multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, Joel Miller who, in each of 12 original songs here, has tempered his arsenal of sophisticated compositional resources with fond and haunting reminiscences reflecting the contours of New Brunswick's rich and yet starkly dramatic cultural landscape. The mostly unfamiliar tunes serve as unifying devices, which in the hands of Miller and Dahlen,... read more
Matt Otto - Red
by David Franklin, JazzTimes April 2006
If Paul Desmon was, as he proclaimed, the "world's slowest alto player," then Matt Otto may be the world's quietest tenor man. On the eight originals that comprise Red, Otto's dynamics rarely rise above the level of an intimate conversation. His delivery is so relaxed and subtle that even the intake of breath is sometimes audible. But although Otto doesn't strut, he does quietly demonstrate an admirable control of his instrument and of chord... read more
Peter Erskine & the JAM Music Lab All-Stars - Bernstein in Vienna
by Felix Amador, Jazz Ese Ruido (Spain)
Leonard Bernstein's approach to jazz in works such as West Side Story has moved many musicians to play his songs and perpetuate them as standards. In the album we are listening to today, several of his best-known songs are reviewed with a Viennese line-up belonging to the JAM Music Lab University, directed by the pianist Danny Grissett and "starring" such a special guest as Peter Erskine, a drummer whose legend goes back a long way (in... read more
Tim Davies Big Band - Dialmentia
by Ken Dryden, All Music
Big-band jazz arrangers are looking to cover new ground while occasionally saluting earlier icons. Drummer Tim Davies contributed the arrangements and seven originals for his debut Origin CD. Davies' writing for the brass and reeds in his setting of Gabriel Faur�'s "Elegy" is first-rate, also showcasing Andrew Shulman's cello, and bass clarinetist Jennifer Hall. His take on the Duke Ellington staple "Caravan" (re-christened as "Caravan... read more
Michael Waldrop - Origin Suite
by David Cohen, Jazzenzo (Netherlands)
Composer, percussionist and vibraphonist Michael Waldrop defines music as follows: "a serious ordering of sound that strives to send messages to the listener, which can not be communicated by spoken or written language". From someone who has formed such clear thoughts about nature and the task of music one is inclined to expect a lot of good things.
The 'Origin Suite' amply satisfies these expectations. Waldrop guides the listener through a... read more
Bobby Broom - Bobby Broom Plays for Monk
by Bob Weinberg, Miami Jazz and Blues Examiner
On the heels of a similar Peter Bernstein project, Sonny Rollins sideman Bobby Broom takes an imaginative stroll through the Thelonious Monk songbook with his trio of bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins. Of course, there's the novelty of hearing a guitar trio play Monk (the pianist never recorded with guitar, although apparently bootlegs exist of a 1940s jam with Charlie Christian at Minton's), but beyond that, Broom is an extremely... read more
Alison Ruble - Ashland
by Brad Walseth, JazzChicago.net
Ashland is a street in Chicago that runs almost continuously from the far north near Rosehill Cemetary to 183rd Street in far south Homewood - (with a few interuptions) a route that cuts a swath through many different cultural neighborhoods. The word could also be interpreted as a "land of ashes" - a place where things are burned to provide warmth from the chill, or memories of lives and loves lost are turned to ash through the violence of fire.... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - Return of the East-West Trumpet Summit
by Chris Spector, Midwest Review
It worked before and it works even better again. Right in the pocket of all the great trumpet duos of the past, this is a high octane outing in which the fire never runs out. Smoking and hard charging throughout, it's amazing how much of a joyous racket so few cats can stir up when they stir it up together. Hot... read more
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