Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Bruce Barth Trio - Dedication
by Josh Jackson, WRTI/WBGO Fall Jazz Preview 2022
Bruce Barth, who teaches at Temple University, is himself an earnest and dedicated student of the music. The pianist's understated manner has kept him a secret in plain view for decades. Look no further than Dedication, a collection of original material shaped for his trio with bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Montez Coleman, whose recent, untimely death partly inspires the album's title. There are also bright tributes to McCoy Tyner and Tommy... read more
Clarence Penn - Behind the Voice
by Editor, Modern Drummer
Drummer Clarence Penn has spent much of his career playing with jazz singers like Betty Carter, Little Jimmy Scott, and Diana Krall. He has also played with jazz conceptualists like Dave Douglas, Stanley Clarke and Adam Rogers. His new recording combines these parts of his career on an interesting conceptual record of pop and rock songs written by (or inspired by) some of the great rock and pop drummers. Penn arranged all the compositions with a... read more
Jordan VanHemert - Nomad
by Jane Kozhevnikova, All About Jazz
4-STARS After his previous album, I Am Not A Virus (Big Round Records, 2021), inspired by the ongoing fight against racial prejudice, Jordan VanHemert releases Nomad, continuing to explore and embrace his Asian American identity. As the liner note says, this album is a celebration of Korean culture "through the melodies of both ancient & contemporary folk & children's songs, distilled through a modern jazz aesthetic."
The opening... read more
Dave Slonaker Big Band - Shifty Paradigms
by Jonathan Widran, The JW Vibe
The opening line of Grammy nominated composer/arranger Dave Slonaker's liner notes for Shifty Paradigms, his melodically and harmonically imaginative, rhythmically intense and stylistically diverse third album, says it all about his lifelong devotion to the realm: "Since my middle school days, the sound of big band has intrigued me."
One of Hollywood's most in demand arrangers and orchestrators for more than 30 years, his diversity is rooted... read more
Dana Hall - Into the Light
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Working out with Terell Stafford's crew in tow, this sounds like a date that would have been right for Maxjazz if it wasn't so left leaning. A well traveled drummer that knows how to give the rest of the crew some, Hall has an affinity for civil rights era jazz but plays it like he's in the present looking forward rather than standing still on the progressive shores of 1964. A first class set of sitting down jazz, Hall's long over due solo... read more
Rich Thompson - Less Is More
by Jack Goldstein, Blogcritics.org
Less is More, Rich Thompson?s sequel to last year?s trio album Generations, has the drummer following the same general formula in the choice of material, but now working with a larger ensemble. Straightforward modern harmonies, driven by dynamic percussion, applied to a mixed repertoire of jazz classics interspersed with a few original pieces is the recipe. Like they say, if it?s not broken, don?t mess with it.
Thompson, a music educator who... read more
Kelly Brand Nextet - The Door
by Tim Gault, Chicago Jazz.com
Ding Dong. The ring of a doorbell starts the latest offering from Chicago pianist Kelly Brand. This noted Chicago mainstay here provides an invitation for us to hear a set of mostly new compositions from her pen. A couple of other cuts on the CD also employ some sort of sound effects to briefly frame the mood of these tunes. So we are offered a clever (but thankfully not kitschy) concept to draw us initially across the threshold. Once you enter,... read more
Brad Goode - Polytonal Dance Party
by Cicily Janus, Rocky Mountain Jazz
Taking a risk is difficult no matter what field of art you choose. In Brad Goodeʼs new release, Polytonal Dance Party, there are abundant risks taken from the first track to the last. Exploring the more avant-garde side of his repertoire, Goodeʼs work on this album is a far cry from his previous albums, such as, Toy Trumpet and his collaborations with Von Freeman. The inside out qualities of the other recordings are set aside and not... read more
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