Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Chris Walden Big Band - No Bounds
by Brenton Plourde, www.jazzreview.com
Hailing from Germany, Chris Walden has combined the two elements of European big band with classic American big band to release a great album.
What really stands out here are the two tracks "People Will Say We're In Love" and "Smile." Both are sung by vocalist Tierney Sutton, the Milwaukee born, Los Angeles transplant who really brings those two songs to life. The album starts off with Walden's version of the David Foster 2006 Winter Olympic... read more
Jeff Johnson - Tall Stranger
by John Barron, All About Jazz.com
Bassist Jeff Johnson has built a stellar reputation in jazz circles, having worked with pianists Hal Galper and Jessica Williams and appearing on over two-dozen recordings for the Seattle-based Origin Records. For his fourth release as a leader, Tall Stranger, the Seattle-based Johnson, along with saxophonist Hans Teuber and drummer Billy Mintz, delivers an intriguing set of stripped-down compositions, emphasizing a free-form approach to group... read more
Rodney Whitaker with the Christ Church Cranbrook Choir - Cranbrook Christmas Jazz
by Derrick Bang, Jazz Scan
Speaking of music in the church, Christmas-themed jazz worship services seem to be gaining traction across the country. The Rev. Bill Carter, who holds forth at the aforementioned First Presbyterian Church of Clark's Summit, has led his Presbybop combo in a Christmas Eve jazz concert for many years now.
A few states west, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, famed jazz bassist Rodney Whitaker and his sextet have made a tradition of joining the... read more
Tim Jensen - A Mind For The Scenery
by Dave Dupont, One Final Note
On A Mind for the Scenery, Tim Jensen proves himself to be a multiple musical threat. He composed eight of the nine tracks, one including lyrics, and he arranged all of them. He performs on seven different reed instruments, unveiling them all within the first six tracks. And he even does a little singing. This cat deserves a couple union cards at least! For all his undeniable talent though, his insistence on putting this breadth on display... read more
Human Spirit - Dialogue
by Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times
Trumpeter Thomas Marriott joins alto saxophonist Mark Taylor, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Essiet Essiet and drummer (and Origin label head) Matt Jorgensen on this solid, cooperative live album. Marriott and Taylor make a formidable frontline on such modernist fare as Jorgensen's turbulent "Ridgecrest," Marriott's uptempo "Song for Samuel" and his blistering hard-boppish romp "Pelham Gardens." The band settles into a soulful groove on... read more
Dawn Clement - Break
by Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz
Nuance and soul are both earmarks of Dawn Clement's Break (Origin Records) where the pianist is joined by a fine rhythm section of bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Matt Wilson.
Clear, assured, nimble, and muscular articulation - in the manner of a Phineas Newborn Jr. - is matched to some of the varieties of thought and feeling that he, too, submerged just below the surface of fresh styling.
Clement sings on a few of the tracks.... read more
speak - Speak
by Matthew Miller, New York Jazz Record
For all of his sonic manipulations, kinetic energy and creative focus, trumpeter Cuong Vu never strays far from a strong melody. It is a unifying element in a professional career that has spanned nearly 20 years with his own idiosyncratic groups and associations with artists like Pat Metheny, David Bowie and Laurie Anderson, among many others. On two new releases, Leaps of Faith and Speak, Vu is joined by a coterie of like-minded musicians who... read more
Toby Koenigsberg - Sense
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
On Sense, pianist Toby Koenigsberg's trio offers up a wistful and straightforward take on the American Songbook classic "My Foolish Heart," including a poignant, spare reading of the familiar melody. However, everything else on the disc pushes the boundaries.
The trio opens and closes the set with tunes by the New York-based trumpeter Andre Canniere: "Thirteen Species" and "Realizing." Both, like much of this material, have a mildly (and... read more
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