Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
James Moody - 80 Years Young: Live at the Blue Note, March 26, 2005
by John Murph, DownBeat
To commemorate jazz legend James Moody's centennial birthday celebration, Origin Records releases the sanguine James Moody: 80 Years Young-Live At The Blue Note. The album captures both a March 2005 birthday party and a victory lap for Moody as he fronts a stellar and rotating cast of musicians that includes trombonist Slide Hampton, pianist Cedar Walton and alto saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera. The vibes are as relaxed... read more
Tim Davies Big Band - The Expensive Train Set
by Michael Barris, Downbeat
***1/2
Like the veteran Hollywood film and TV orchestrator he is, Tim Davies understands instinctively how to blend orchestral colors and textures to create moods, aligning himself with his hero, Nelson Riddle. Tonal and textural artistry abound on The Expensive Train Set, an ambitious endeavor that dwells largely in a meditative atmosphere with touches of melancholia. It features two Davies-led groups: a Los Angeles band of session... read more
Josh Nelson - The Sky Remains
by Bruce Crowther, Jazz Mostly
On this musical portrait of Los Angeles, pianist Josh Nelson takes inspiration from places and people and events that have added to the city's rich history. Instrumentalists joining Josh on this album are trumpeter Chris Lawrence, alto saxophonist Josh Johnson, clarinetist Brian Walsh, organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Alex Boneham, drummer Dan Schnelle, and percussionist Aaron Serfaty. Also heard are vocalists Kathleen... read more
Giacomo Gates - Centerpiece
by Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
Let's face it: Scat singing is an art best left to Ella Fitzgerald and very few others. But if a guy who spent 12 years in Alaska working as a bouncer and manning bulldozers wants to try, who are we to argue? Actually, Gates is one of the most extraordinary singers working in jazz today, the owner of a joyful baritone who has synthesized a host of influences - Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks and Sinatra among them - and turned them into something... read more
Kelly Sill / Jim McNeely / Joel Spencer - Boneyard
by Butch Berman, Berman Music Foundation.org
I was an only child born in Peoria, Ill., just a couple of stones' throw to Chicago, before we moved to Lincoln when I was one year old. My dad worked for my mom's family, selling jewelry and buying clothes for their store. He'd go to the market in New York semi-annually and fly to meet my mother and me in Chicago for our annual summer vacation. She and I would take the train to rendezvous there. When I was 10 and very much into baseball, they... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - East West Trumpet Summit: Coast to Coast
by Russell Perry, WTJU
Trumpet players Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott bring back their East West Trumpet Summit (New York - Seattle) for a third edition (2010, 2016). Unlike dual (often dueling) tenors, two trumpets sharing the frontline in a quintet is an unusual format, but in the hands of these pros, a productive one. Long-time friends, these players make more music than sparks as they move through a diverse playlist that ranges from Neil Hefti (Girl Talk) to Don... read more
Brittany Anjou - Enamigo Reciprokataj
by Ken Micallef, JazzTimes
There's a wonderful sense of becoming, of exploration and playfulness on Minot, North Dakota-born pianist Brittany Anjou's debut recording. She crams so much talent and energy into the album's 10 songs that you wonder if she'll ever come up for air. Enamiĝo Reciprokataj (Esperanto for "reciprocal love") is the daring work of a 35-year-old visionary. Though Anjou sometimes seems about to spin off her piano seat, she's ultimately a channel, a... read more
Bad Luck - Four
by Dave Segal, The Stranger
Inbox Jukebox Track of the Day: The Bitches Brew-like Zoner "Four" by Seattle Jazz Duo Bad Luck
Bad Luck, "Four" (Origin). Seattle duo Bad Luck—saxophonist/loop manipulator Neil Welch and drummer Chris Icasiano—have been making jazz fiery again over the last few years. They generate a lot of heat and fury for two people, and their live performances have been whirlwinds of inventive energy and technical mastery—chaos harnessed to... read more
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