Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Hal Galper & the Youngbloods - Live at the Cota Jazz Festival
by Raul da Gama, JazzdaGama
It should come as no surprise that Hal Galper would be an enormously attractive mentor to younger musicians. Indeed, this is exactly what this live performance is made of: sparks that are ignited by the pianist, with the emerging fire stoked by a group of new-generation musicians comprising alto saxophonist Nathan Bellott, bassist Dean Torrey and the percussion colourist David Frazier. This repertoire is fashioned from old and relatively newer... read more
Dana Hall - Into the Light
by Brian Baker, City Beat
Dana Hall isn't merely a Jazz drummer ? he's a magician who elicits the same jaw dropping reaction with a kit and sticks that David Copperfield gets when he makes aircraft carriers or the Statue of Liberty vanish.
The gifted rhythmatist started out by earning a degree in aerospace engineering at Iowa State before getting his Bachelor of Music from New Jersey's Paterson College and his Masters in composition and arranging from DePaul (he's... read more
Laurie Antonioli - Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
The concept of a jazz-informed program of Joni Mitchell tunes isn't exactly novel anymore. Herbie Hancock's high profile River: The Joni Letters (Verve, 2007) took home two Grammy Awards; vocalist Tierney Sutton got some well-deserved attention when she put her own spin on Mitchell's work with After Blue (BFM, 2013); somewhat under-the-radar releases from artists like David Lahm and Rachel Z have made something of an impact on a... read more
Alex Graham - The Good Life
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
A quick trip to multiple reedman Alex Graham's web site finds his sound compared to Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, and Horace Silver, but a couple of spins of The Good Life tells you that these reactions must be referring to the band's collective sound. Graham plays alto sax, flute, and clarinet -- the latter two reeds on the opener only-but he's an alto saxophonist first and foremost on this outing. His tone on that main horn sounds like Jackie... read more
Sam Yahel - Truth And Beauty
by Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News
What you've got here are some smart things Generations X jazz musicians have been doing in record studios lately - some of the cream of Generation X in the Sam Yahel Trio's "Truth and Beauty".
The liner notes on "Truth and Beauty" (thank you, John Keats) are by generational valedictorian and pianist Brad Mehldau, who tells us he and Yahel were New York Jazz arrivals together from 1988 to 1990. He admits that while "flexibility is a hallmark... read more
Sean Michael Giddings - Red Willow
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
A piano trio led by a neo hippie that doesn't look like he would make originals that sounds like Charlie Brown music. If his opening Charlie Brown riffs don't grab you (and they will), there's plenty more stuff here that will. Spending the last decade as sidekick to a host of biggies, the pandemic forced him to realize it's time to shine his own star. Taking the chops he honed in the 1 a.m. Lab Band and pointing them toward the future, he... read more
Bobby Broom - Song And Dance
by Brad Walseth, www.JazzChicago.net
Bobby Broom is a traditionally grounded guitarist in the vein of Wes Montgomery, early George Benson and Grant Green. Originally from New York, Broom has made his home in Chicago since the mid-80s and has developed a considerable following from live gigs with his trio, as well as the Deep Blue Organ Trio and many others. He has worked with Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Kenny Burrell, Dave Grusin, Hugh Masakela, Tom Browne, Stanley Turrentine,... read more
Brad Goode - Polytonal Dance Party
by Mike Joyce, Jazztimes, May 2009
"When I started asking musicians to read these chords, they wanted me to go away and die," Brad Goode tells fellow trumpeter John McNeil in the liner notes to the harmonically twisted Polytonal Dance Party. McNeil's witty observations and the accompanying lead sheets underscore the challenges that Goode's recruits faced--and ultimately surmounted. Still, it has to be said that listeners with a low tolerance fo otherworldy harmonic schemes... read more
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