Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Darrell Grant - Truth And Reconciliation
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz.com
Pianist/composer Darrell Grant's Truth and Reconciliation might be categorized as "music to make the world a better place." A strong case could be made that all music -- indeed, all art -- has that purpose. Grant's aspirations in that direction here are more on-the-sleeve than you find on most musical endeavors. The results on the project are remarkable for their celebratory beauty and unadorned artistic truth.
The core of the music-making is... read more
David Friesen - A Light Shining Through
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The multi-instrumentalist David Friesen is joined by some excellent players for nods to the '70s thanks to these 16 organic and emotive songs.
"Little Ella Bella" starts the listen with Friesen's Hemage bass alongside Joe Manis' tenor sax and Alex Fantaev's percussion for the uniquely rhythmic opener, and "Time Through Light" follows with Friesen handling percussion alongside the sax from Manis that emits much warmth.
Further along,... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - Home Of My Heart
by Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition
Chris Walden is a film score writer from Los Angeles and at a young (for a big band leader) 38, has hit a home run with his big band Origin cd, Home of My Heart. Recorded at the venerable Capitol Studios in Hollywood and featuring the cream of the crop top LA session men, Walden's CD swings mightily and his big band connects on a mix of well known big band standards as well as Walden originals. The maturity level of Walden is impressive and the... read more
Paul Marinaro - Mood Ellington
by Tim Larsen, Jazz Views (UK)
Mood Ellington is one of the year's best jazz vocal albums — impeccably arranged, deeply felt, and sung with a baritone that knows these songs inside out.
Paul Marinaro approached Mood Ellington with a smart concept: take 25 Ellington and Strayhorn tunes and group them by feel — love songs, darker ballads, and the more grounded, grown-up material — then bring in 13 arrangers to give each tune its own color. The result... read more
Dawn Clement - Dear Ms. Dearie
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move
5 STARS
Dawn Clement, composer, pianist, and vocalist, returns with an album that's both warmly respectful and quietly bold: a tribute to Blossom Dearie, that one-of-a-kind composer, pianist, and singer who charmed bebop with her gentle wit and put her stamp on vocal jazz until her passing in 2009.
Lately, everyone seems obsessed with digging up old records, remixing the past, and chasing some kind of musical nostalgia. Clement... read more
Bug - The GADfly
by Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times
Thoughtful, provocative fare by a tight quintet of alto saxophonist Peter Epstein, guitarist Jeff Miley, keyboardist and principal composer James Miley, bassist Roger Shew and drummer Brian Hamada. They stride into the alt-jazz camp on spiky numbers like "Gadfly,"
"The Ballad of Ned Flanders" and the hard-hitting "Dark Matter." The buoyant "Wishfull Thinking" and the swinging "Tumble," built on flowing unisons between Epstein's alto and Jeff... read more
Bill Anschell - Improbable Solutions
by Kira Grunenberg, DownBeat
4-STARS There's an irony to how the music on Bill Anschell's Improbable Solutions comes together. The album demonstrates patience and careful rumination more than instant gratification. Moreover, knowing that these nine pieces were selected from more than 20 emphasizes how Improbable Solutions is about taking one's time, and it's in that spirit that the record is best enjoyed.
"Ambulator" makes this point well. The core piano trio... read more
Walt Blanton / Tony Branco / John Nasshan - Monuments
by Forrest Dylan Bryant, JazzTimes, July/August 2008
Listeners who associate the concept of free improvisation with harsh chaos or impenetrable obscurity will be pleasantly surprised by this Las Vegas-based trio, which wanders amiably through seven open-ended yet even-tempered pieces. This grounding is largely due to drummer Johhn Nasshan, who sticks closely to bop-based rhythms and keeps even the knottiest excursions in the pocket. Branco's piano pulls in the opposite direction, with deep... read more
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