Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Tim Davies Big Band - The Expensive Train Set
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
Tim Davies, who led a big band in his native Australia before relocating to Los Angeles in 2000, reprises that experience on parts of The Expensive Train Set, returning home to supervise his Melbourne ensemble on four selections, presiding over his Los Angeles-based band on four others, and somehow managing to blend the two groups together as one on the ambitious title song, which Davies calls "the centerpiece of the album," as well... read more
Dave Slonaker Big Band - Intrada
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Dave Slonaker fronts a big band in which he does almost all of the composing, arranging and conducting. No small job when you consider the band has a reed section that includes Bob Sheppard and Brian Scanlon, a trumpet section with Wayne Bergeron, Clay Jenkins and Ron Stout, a trombone section with Bob McChesney and a rhythm team with Peter Erskine on drums. Material ranges from free and flowing pieces such as the loose "Timelessness" and... read more
Mimi Fox - Standards, Old & New
by Lee Hildebrand, East Bay Express
Playing solo jazz guitar ain't easy. Unlike piano, on which an unaccompanied musician can do bass lines and/or chords with the left hand and melodies with the right, solo guitar affords few such possibilities, unless the picker uses the tapping technique associated with Mimi Fox's friend Stanley Jordan. On her third solo album out of nine releases, Fox employs the traditional method of fretting with her left and picking with her right as she... read more
Michael Dease - MSU Jazz Trombones: Spartan Strong
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move
5 STARS
Michael Dease ranks among the most luminous trombonists of his generation. Over the course of a career defined by stylistic range and artistic rigor, he has collaborated with figures as diverse as Christian McBride and Alicia Keys. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2025 and a senior figure in the renowned jazz department led by Rodney Whitaker at Michigan State University, Dease has been instrumental in reinforcing the... read more
Brent Jensen / Rob Walker Quintet - Art of the Groove
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
It seems fitting that Art of the Groove came out in mid-May, about a week before the late Miles Davis's birthday. The set spends some time -- and spends it well -- saluting the late trumpeter, most notably on the opener, with "Straight From Miles." Flugelhornist Rob Walker wrote the tune with phrases from the '58 recording of Davis's take on Thelonious Monk's "Straight, No Chaser." If this one doesn't have you thinking of Davis's '58 Milestones... read more
Mark Zaleski - OUR TIME: REIMAGINING DAVE BRUBECK
by Tom Henry, The Blade (Toledo)
Perhaps we need to start off by saying what isn't on this Dave Brubeck tribute album.
There's no "Take Five."
Though composed by saxophonist Paul Desmond, it was recorded by Desmond, Brubeck, and other members of the Dave Brubeck Quartet on July 1, 1959, for what became the group's legendary album, Time Out.
A worldwide sensation, "Take Five" catapulted Desmond and the rest of Brubeck's group into the stratosphere of fame. It became the... read more
Hal Galper Trio - Airegin Revisited
by Philip Booth, Jazziz
Hal Galper, the well-traveled pianist, educator and author, is best-known for his decade-long residency with the Phil Woods Quintet. In 1990, he began earnestly focusing on the art of the trio, heading a touring group with bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Steve Ellington. With John Bishop replacing Ellington in recent years, Galper has worked on refining a rubato style of collective performance, an approach that's about nothing if not the... read more
Brent Jensen with David Sills - Stay Cool
by Steve Sando, Mr. Lucky
The Brent Jensen/David Sills Quartet quite cleverly revives the West Coast Jazz sound on the disc Stay Cool (Origin Records 82403). Honestly, we were expecting next to nothing and then found ourselves running over to the stereo to turn up the volume once the recording got started. West Coast Jazz, in certain circles, has the reputation for being the 1950s equivalent to white rap. "Certain circles" continue to take all the joy out of jazz. We'll... read more
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