Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Upper Left Trio - Cycling
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
It's hard to put the finger on what makes for a successful piano trio set. Some of jazz's bona fide great keyboard players turn in less than inspired efforts, sets that just don't hold the listener's interest for the duration of an hour of music. It's probably the worst criticism that can be made of a recording - that it just doesn't hold interest. And the piano trio format can be particularly unforgiving.
And having said that, the other... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - Full-On!
by Jim Dupuis, !Earshot (Canada)
TOP TEN RECORDS OF 2014 Thankfully there are still some big bands out there and Walden has put together a bunch of fine musicians to play his varied arrangements. The band can jump from the movieish sounding "Bailout" to pop and country covers of Stevie Wonder and Hank Williams. Like the 1940's this big band has a rotating cast of vocalists that nicely fit their songs. Vocalists include Carol Welsman, who sings "Hey Good... read more
Piet Verbist - Secret Exit to Another Dimension
by Rick Anderson, CD HotList
I'll be completely candid here: this isn't my favorite jazz album of the year, or even the month. But I'm recommending it because I don't see it as my job simply to share what I like — it's my job to hip you to good music, and this album is objectively excellent, in terms of both the playing and (even more so) its structure and conception. Bassist Piet Verbist leads a trio that includes guitarist Hendrik Braeckman and drummer Lionel Beuvens,... read more
Gabriel Guerrero & Quantum - Equilibrio
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Pianist Gabriel Guerrero leads a team of Seth Trachy/sax, Will Slater/b, Felix LEcaros/dr ad guests Fun Chern Hwei/str and Guillermo Barron/perc through a collection of well constructed originals. There is a rich elegance to much of the work, with "Present Moment" including creative work by Slater, while the bassist digs in deep for the leader on "Belong". Hwei's strings agonize on "Permanent Diversion Part II" and Barron percolates under... read more
Dominic J. Marshall - Spirit Speech
by Luc van Gaans, HiFi - Netherlands
Jazz pianists are like red wine, they should mature to taste mature and fuller. But Dominic J Marshall proves that rule does not always apply. Living in the Netherlands, the pianist came from Scotland in 2012, yielding a promising second CD with Icaros. Now he again makes a particularly strong CD, and while he is a young 24 years, at that young age he is already a very mature wine. To which grand cru does this lead?
Just like... read more
Peter Erskine & The JAM Music Lab All-Stars - Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner
by Peter Erskine, All About Jazz - Liner Notes
Hollywood called...
...and Max Steiner was the first of this dynamic duo to answer, arriving there in 1929, initially working for the RKO Studios as an orchestrator and then as a composer. This was not his first affiliation with Hollywood, however; he functioned as Fox Studio's musical director, adding live music to silent films presented in New York theaters where he had already established himself on Broadway. The call to come west must have... read more
David Friesen Circle 3 Trio - Where the Light Falls
by Martin Z. Kasdan Jr., Louisville Music News
David Friesen's working trio, with pianist Greg Goebel and drummer Charlie Doggett, has released a 2-disc live set, with guest guitarist Larry Koonse on nine of the nineteen tracks. The trio tracks are from a 2013 set in Germany and a 2014 set in Portland, OR, with Koonse added for a 2013 date in Tempe, AZ. On disc, the songs switch back and forth between trio and quartet; all are composed by the leader. Opening the first disc is the bright and... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - East-West Trumpet Summit
by Ron Wynn, JazzTimes
This Ray Vega/Thomas Marriott dual trumpet release emphasizes collective interaction, cohesive ensemble presentation and the spirit of teamwork embodied in the title, though there are also plenty of times during the eight songs where differences in style and approach are evident despite the fact they're playing identical trumpets. Both men are superb melodic interpreters, and the session's program choices, which include renditions of Horace... read more
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