Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Dan Dean - Songs Without Words
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Wanna know what heaven is going to sound like? Grab a hold of this album and you'll at least have a hint.
Dan Dean supplies layers of his voice as well as an occasional bass and whistle to this wonderfully arranged collection of "classic" classics. His wordless vocals create an ethereal mood that floats with sublime joy on Bach's "Air on a G String" while he makes you feel like you're in a dream on "The Sheep May Safely Graze." Dean creates a... read more
Greta Matassa - Favorites From A Long Walk
by Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times
SEATTLE'S HIDDEN GEM
If the vision of Seattle as grunge city and the spawning ground for acts such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and the Foo Fighters suggests that the only form of music with a significant presence in the city is rock, think again. Sunday's performance by Seattle singer Greta Matassa in Beverly Hills at a fundraiser for the Rising Jazz Stars Foundation offered convincing evidence of the high-quality jazz in the Northwest's largest... 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
Les DeMerle - Comin' Home Baby
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Drummer Les DeMerle leads a swinging band during a concert on a Celerity Eclipse Cruise Ship that toured from Copenhagen to Estonia. The crowd sure had a fun time between stops, as the team of DeMerle with Johannes Bjerregaard/p, Chris Luard/b and vocalist Bonnie Eisele keep the mood upbeat and swinging.
The recording itself is a bit tinny on the piano, but its hard to resist the bouncy instrumentals like "Shiny Stockings" and "Manteca" that... read more
Michael Dease - The Other Shoe: The Music of Gregg Hill
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Co-producer Gregg Hill has his compositions interpreted by the bold trombonist Michael Dease and the team of Virginal MacDonald/cl, Geoffrey Keezer-Luther Alison/p, Liany Mateo/b Colleen Clark/dr and a handful of guests. The addition of MacDonald's clarinet makes for rich ideas, as she's featured on the quirky "Wake Up Call" and her vibrato seduces on "Shorty's Tune". Dease has a horn that is big and brassy, going up and sown the scales on "The... read more
José Luiz Martins - Odyssey Mixtape
by Raul da Gama, Latin Jazz Network
There is extraordinarily little, by way of anticipation, that can prepare one for the ferocious energy of Odyssey Mixtape from the pianist and composer José Luiz Martins. The music detonates with the intensity of several suns exploding right out of the gate. The ferocity of the music owes much to the artist's experience with focal dystonia, a potentially career-ending condition.
Faced with such a neurological movement disorder... read more
Cuong Vu - Leaps of Faith
by Peter Margasak, Downbeat Magazine
★★★★
Trumpeter Cuong Vu moved back to his native Seattle in 2006 to teach, but five years later he's still working with the members of his long-running New York trio, drummer Ted Poor and electric bassist Stomu Takeishi. But on Leaps Of Faith, a gorgeous live recording made in Seattle in April 2010, he brings in second electric bassist Luke Bergman?a former University of Washington student of his who's now a regular... read more
Chad McCullough & Bram Weijters - Abstract Quantities
by Jerome Wilson, Cadence
A lot of classical and progressive rock motifs run through this CD in a set that creates quiet beauty out of simple figures in a way that suggests the music of Kenny Wheeler. Chad McCullough plays sweeping, melodic trumpet over stomping rock rhythms on "Billions" while "Mr Rubato" has the ethereal sweep of "In A Silent Way" as Bram Weijters' piano spills out under McCullough's gorgeous sound and John Bishop's drums storm in the back.... read more
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