Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Bruce Williamson - Standard Transmission
by Kyle O'Brien, Jazz Socitey Of Oregon
Saxophonist Williamson and pianist Lande played together nearly four decades ago, but the Bay Area musicians went separate ways. Their musical connection never faded. The opener finds both players taking upbeat solos on a tune that walks back and forth between waltz and swing, Rodgers & Hart's "I Didn't Know What Time It Was." Joe Henderson's "Mamacita" is a fun, Latin-influenced number that gives Williamson a chance to show off an angular alto... read more
Benny Powell - Nextep
by George Fendel, Oregon Jazz Scene
Benny Powell can hand you a resume with the likes of Basie, Jones-Lewis, Heath, and Benny Carter to name a few. This time out, however, it's Benny's own band with TK Blue on reeds, Sayuri Goto, piano, Essiet Essiet, bass, Billy Hart, drums. The group begins with a New Orleans-like street march called "Free to Be Me." It seems to set the pace for the remaining nine originals by various band members. For the most part, there's a nice, laid-back,... read more
Anthony Branker - Beauty Within
by Jay Hunter, Nippertown (Albany, NY)
2016 TOP 10 Composer/arranger Anthony Branker doesn't play on his own pieces; like Maria Schneider, he's got people for that. But where Schneider literally needs an army to paint her pastoral pictures, Branker employs an uber-tight quintet of notorious killers to conjure music that soothes your soul one moment, then goes for your throat the next - on the same tune! The front line of saxman Ralph Bowen, guitarist Pete McCann and pianist... read more
Dudley Owens | Aaron Immanuel Wright - People Calling
by Kyle O'Brien, Jazz Society of Oregon
This disc was mastered in Corbett, Oregon, but the two main players are from Chicago and New York, respectively. Saxophonist Owens and bassist Wright lead this modern jazz outing. It's an introspective disc for the most part, full of ballads and burners, like the tender "Magnolia," the pensive "Prayer," and the slow sizzle "Book of Revelations." It's a sophisticated recording, but Owens occasionally goes old school with his sound, honking out... read more
Corey Christiansen - La Proxima
by Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazz Halo (Belgium)
On his latest CD 'La Proxima' the American guitarist Corey Christiansen links a modern sharp sound to Cuban polyrhythmics.
By delving into various grooves and rhythms, he inevitably ended up with African roots and traditions. Hence towards Cuba is another logical step. Christiansen himself admits that he had not pretended to make an Afro-Cuban record. He just gets his inspiration from it and then does his thing with it.
He flirts openly... read more
Paul Ricci - The Path
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move
5 STARS
Paul Ricci's Path: A 29-Year Journey Toward a Borderless Jazz
It took 29 years, 17 collaborators, and a lifetime of travel for composer and guitarist Paul Ricci to complete Path. In an era of instant releases and compressed creative cycles, this jazz-fusion album arrives as a quiet rebuke to speed, an argument for patience, accumulation, and the slow maturation of ideas across cultures and continents.
The project... read more
Carlos Vega - Bird's Ticket
by Hobart Taylor, KUCI.org
Vibrant, in the pocket, and cliche free this release is straight ahead small ensemble jazz with Latin tinges. Saxophonist Vega's compositions are delicate, nuanced, sophisticated, and intimate. Up beat tunes like "A Confluence in Chi-town" or "The Wizard" are compelling brain ticklers, and the mini-suite "Taurus on the Run" and "Taurus and Virgo" featuring the personable trumpet performance of Victor Garcia stand out. This is a rich and... read more
Hugo Fernandez - Cosmogram
by Scott Yanow, Downbeat
4-STARS Born in Mexico, guitarist Hugo Fernandez spent time studying in the U.S. before settling in Spain. Cosmogram features Fernandez and his international quartet (Cuban Ariel Bringuez on tenor and soprano, bassist Antonio Miguel from Spain and American drummer Antonio Sanchez who also originated from Mexico) performing eight of the leader's post-bop originals. While Fernandez's straightforward guitar solos and Bringuez's... read more
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