Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Dave Hanson - Blues Sky
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
If you are drawn to albums that immediately immerse you in a refined, poetic atmosphere, this one is for you. It stems from a particularly captivating artistic approach, during his week-long residency at the Dazzle Jazz Club in Denver in 2024, Dave Hanson took the opportunity to highlight both his piano playing and his arrangements for a small ensemble. The result is this quartet recording, his first in such a format. Joined by saxophonist Wil... read more
Doug Beavers 9 - Two Shades of Nude
by Ric Erben, Jazz Junction Review
Trombonist Doug Beavers has released an outstanding album that features spirited arrangements and soloing upon original compositions as well as music from other jazz composers. In Phil Woods parlance, this is a "little big band" as the instrumentation achieves a rich tonal pallet, sounding both tight and loose at the same time. Beavers has played in the Mingus Big Band and toured with Eddie Palmieri; and has found inspiration in the works of... read more
Anthony Branker & Imagine - Songs My Mom Liked
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Composer and Arranger Anthony Branker puts together a free thinking team of Donny McCaslin/ts-ss, Philip Dizack/tp, Fabian Almazan/p, Linda May Han O h/b, Rudy Royston/dr, Pete McCann/g and Aubrey Johnson/voc for a collection of originals dedicated to his mother and her battle with dementia.
The atmospheres range from uptempo pieces like "Praise" that feature McCaslin in a shrieking mood to an elegiac "Sketches of Selim" with a lovely aria... read more
Scott Hesse - The Stillness of Motion
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Another jazz educator that hasn't let the classroom go to his head, this Chicago string bender sounds like he came from Indianapolis, if you know what I mean. Seamlessly sweet stuff by a cat that gets around but should still get out more, this is some of the best hands jazz guitar can be in. Loaded with chops that never go overboard even when ringing out the most wild lines, this set makes you feel like some CTI stuff just leapt over the... read more
Chad McCullough & Bram Weijters - Abstract Quantities
by Mathilde Löffler, Jazzenzo (The Netherlands)
'Abstract Quantities' is het derde album van het Amerikaans-Belgische Chad McCullough & Bram Weijters Quartet. De trompettist en pianist ontmoetten elkaar tijdens een internationale workshop in Seattle en bouwden met toevoeging van contrabassist Piet Verbist en slagwerker John Bishop aan een succesvolle staat van dienst bestaande uit twee albums en concerten in de Verenigde Staten en België.
De inventieve en veelzijdige composities op... read more
Metropolitan Jazz Octet - The Bowie Project
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Lester Bowie, so I picked this one up with eagerness — only to discover that it's actually a jazz tribute to David Bowie. Well, no worries, I'm also a big David Bowie fan, so I cued the disc up with only slight trepidation. "Slow Burn" and "5:15 the Angels Have Gone" both adapted themselves nicely to the balladic arrangements, but in my mind the test was going to be "Changes" — and I was startled... read more
Paul Marinaro - Mood Ellington
by Jonathan Widran, The JW Vibe
First let it be said of renowned and hip, ever so stylish Chicago based jazz Paul Marinaro that he's the only cat in the genre to follow a tribute to David Bowie (The Bowie Project with the Metropolitan Jazz Octet with another, more bold, ambitious and expansive one to Duke Ellington.
In the spirit of Dave Grusin's 1993 instrumental gem Homage to Duke and Joe Jackson's #1 Billboard jazz album The Duke, Mood Ellington explores the vast... read more
Dan McCarthy - City Abstract
by Nigel Jarrett, Jazz Journal (London)
A young vibraphonist couldn't wish for more in the way of plaudits than an endorsement from Gary Burton. In part it's a measure of how jazz vibes playing has divided roughly into two phases: first, it involved hitting the instrument's bars as a drummer might, then a generation later coaxing from them arabesques of sound by almost disguising how such sounds are produced.
The multi-mallet approach changed everything. The vibraphone became not... read more
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