Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Big Neighborhood - Neighbors
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
This sax/bass/guitar/drums quartet struck me on first listen as a group that Steely Dan might hire for a recording session. The sound is crisp and clean, modern, with sharp lines and well-defined, ear-grabbing tangents. And democratic, as opposed to a sax-in-front-of-a-rhythm section affair. Then I heard some Pat Metheny shadings when guitarist David White brings the guitar synthesizer into the mix; but the sound is friskier than Metheny's, the... read more
Bobby Broom - The Way I Play: Live In Chicago
by Owen Cordle, JazzTimes, July / August 2008
If you want a jazz definition of "stretching out," listen to this live album, in which we find Bobby Broom's long-time trio elongating and compressing familiar melodies and the beat in exploratory fashion. Without trying to pin jazz down, it's tempting to say this is the way jazz should be, at least in terms of inventiveness. The music and the modus operandi are fascinating.
The album originated when one of Broom's former students presented... read more
Hal Galper - O's Time
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
50 years in, Galper has done an enviable job of keeping jazz piano trio fresh, creative and insightful. Even when playing a chestnut, it's not about playing pretty for the people, it's about making them sit up and listen, and he does it without hitting you over the head. Successfully taking bop into the new century, Galper is on the money throughout with restless creativity that draws you in and keeps you there. Well done... read more
Bobby Broom - My Shining Hour
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
Every city tends to take its own jazz treasures a bit for granted, notwithstanding the respect they generate across the country and beyond. With My Shining Hour (Origin Records), to be released Aug. 19, guitarist Bobby Broom reminds us of his stature as soloist and bandleader. Fronting a trio with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Makaya McCraven, Broom stands front and center - and benefits enormously from this high exposure. Rarely... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast
by Dick Metcalf, Contemporary Fusion Reviews
If you're in love with smokin' hot trumpets, you'll find this release from Ray and Thomas to be very much to your liking... the best way to get acquainted with these high-energy and high-talent players is to SEE them.
Personally, I fell in love with this June, 2023 album immediately... a variety of styles in the songs they chose, and penetrating energy from the very first note to the last bar.... read more
Jeff Johnson - Suitcase
by John Barron, The Jazz Word
Jeff Johnson exudes an effervescent warmth from the bass. Utilizing both upright and electric, the Seattle veteran's approach is both intriguing and enticing. His latest for Origin Records, Suitcase, is a musical journal of sorts, with original pieces inspired by a career of travels and diverse experiences. Long-time collaborator Hans Teuber, who takes up saxophone, bass clarinet and alto flute on the session, is a sensitive interpreter who... read more
Joe Locke - Subtle Disguise
by Raul da Gama, JazzDaGama
Despite the word "subtle" in it title Joe Locke is almost completely all brimstone and fire on Subtle Disguise, but this is far from the anger that he is almost certainly fighting against in America. Rather it's the lyric kind of "rage, rage, against the dying of the light" that the great Welsh port Dylan Thomas urged in his great villanelle "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night". In reality, while Mr Locke has a singular, sinewy approach to... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - Home Of My Heart
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
One doesn't often hear a big band album in which the arrangements literally steal the show. Here's one where they do. Make no mistake, German-born composer/arranger Chris Walden has mustered a world-class ensemble for his debut album, abundantly equipped with staunch team players and killer soloists; even so, it is his superlative charts that carry the day and earn the blue ribbon.
Simply put, Walden is a terrific arranger who readily... read more
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