Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Jaiman Crunk - Encounters
by Ian Patterson, All About Jazz
Seattle-based guitarist Jaiman Crunk hasn't taken half measures on Encounters, his debut as leader. In addition to marshalling over 20 top jazz musicians?cherry picked for specific roles?Crunk employs fourteen brass, woodwind and string musicians from the Seattle Symphony Orchestra on half the compositions. These four numbers in particular underline Crunk's notable compositional and arranging skills and he succeeds, as few do, in marrying the... read more
Brittany Anjou - Enamigo Reciprokataj
by Elzy Kolb, Hot House Jazz Guide (NYC)
Pianist Brittany Anjou divides her time between her Brooklyn home and a long-term gig in Kuwait, where she teaches jazz theory and more to kids and adults. "The students are hungry for jazz, and want to understand theory. Any time I travel and play abroad, people are really listening, it's like you're valued more there," she says. "In Kuwait, the people are focused on the melody. At house concerts, people care in a different way" than in other... read more
Marius Nordal - Ways of the Hand
by Butch Berman, Berman Music Review
It's getting hard to keep up with the breadth of material - and most of it, in my opinion, is very good - from Origin Records. Another group of great talented guys (as with Don Lanphere) - still never met face-to-face but have been musically acquainted since both (BMF and Origin) of our inceptions. Their current Seattle catalog is growing and is of superb quality and variety.
Such are two entrees I for some reason checked out back-to-back... read more
Benjamin Boone - The Poets Are Gathering
by Skip Heller, All About Jazz
BEST OF 2020 Saxophonist Benjamin Boone's The Poets Are Gathering (Origin) was maybe the most interesting new disc this year. Ever since Ken Nordine crossed swords with Chico Hamilton sideman Fred Katz to spawn the long-loved Word Jazz albums, the two disciplines have had mutual respect but an uneasy coexistence. Boone thrives on the uneasy, and here he is joined by eleven of the finest Central/Northern California poets for a... read more
Joonsam - A Door
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Joonsam is a bassist that brings together a wide palate of sounds and colors. The core trio with Aaron Parks/p and Nate Woods/dr are augmented by a rotating team of Ralph Alessi/tp, Ben Monder/g, and a handful of cameos. Wood rocks hard with Monder's guitar on "Zadrak" and the trio rustles to Alessi's horn on "Whirlwind." Reflective and quiet, "Love Trauma" is enhanced by Yeahwon Shin's vocals" and Chung Eun Han's bamboo flute reflects like a... read more
Jessica Williams - Songs of Earth
by Donald Elfman, New York City Jazz Record
The four artists (Jessica Williams, Denny Zeitlin, Arturo O?Farrill, Gabriel Zufferey) who make up this quartet of splendid new solo piano recordings are careful and thoughtful in their choice of both notes and spaces. The performances collected here are clearly about expression.
In concert at Seattle?s The Triple Door, on Songs of Earth Jessica Williams? concept and technique are grand and symphonic but fall, as she rightly says, into no... read more
Bobby Broom - Upper West Side Story
by Ken Dryden, All Music
One of the top guitarists of his generation, Bobby Broom's preferred setting is a small group, while he excels in the demanding trio setting with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins (with Makaya McCraven replacing him on three songs). Upper West Side Story includes nine originals, none of which is likely to become a jazz standard, but all of which are stimulating. "D's Blues" has an engaging hard bop hook that pulls the listener in... read more
Les DeMerle - Hot Night In Venice: Live at The Venice Jazz Club
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Recorded at the Venice Jazz Club in Italy back in 2014, this album is a swinging affair with drummer, vocalist and leader Les DeMerle leading a trio with Johannes Bjerregaard/p and Chris Luard snapping through some standards and occasionally joined by the big band era influence vocalist Bonnie Eisele on an anthological gig of American tunes.
In the trio format, Bjerregard taps into his inner Bobby Timmons for a gospel driven "Down By The... read more
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