Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Mike Denny Rick Mandyck Jeff Johnson John Bishop - Now...Here...This
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
Springing from a series of performances in Eugene, Oregon's art gallery walks, Now...Here...This is a studio recording attempting to mimic the dynamic of the live performances, minus the surrounding noise. The session was as a result unrehearsed and had no post-production. It's a very clean, very spontaneous sound. Mike Denny has a warm tone on the guitar throughout, which meshes well with Rick Mandyck's sax work (recorded not long before he... read more
Nancy Kelly - Be Cool
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The esteemed jazz vocalist Nancy Kelly brings along William Gorman, Houston Person, Jerry Weldon, Carmen Intorre Jr., Dave Stryker, Joe Carello and Charlie Sigler for these soulful standards, bop and pop tracks.
The frisky "Devil May Care" starts the listen with Kelly's charming pipes alongside Intorre Jr's scrappy drumming and Gorman's bright organ, and "Besame Mucho" follows with Person's rich tenor sax and Stryker's rhythmic guitar, which... read more
Rich Thompson - Less Is More
by Michael Nastos, Cadence
The modern mainstream, straight ahead jazz quintet is not a format completely exhausted in originality as proven by drummer Rich Thompson, his cast of famed all-stars, and local heroes. Keyboardist Gary Versace and trumpeter Terell Stafford are clearly the front-runners of this date, with Thompson and Jeff Campbell in solid support, and Doug Stone?s tenor as an occasional interesting flavor packet. An associate professor of music at the Eastman... read more
John Stowell | Michael Zilber - Live Beauty
by Jason Bivins, Cadence
Live Beauty is filled with fine, probing modern mainstream that has a wide rhythmic range of reference but a lyrical heart. From instrumentation to idiom, it's indebted to sessions from the likes of Abercrombie/Surman and Scofield/Lovano, two key points of influence that shouldn't require any positive elaboration. Stowell is based in Portland, and Zilber's from the East Bay, and it's nice that they're documenting their longstanding collaboration... read more
Kobie Watkins - Involved
by Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz
More recently recognized as a member of guitarist Bobby Broom's illustrious trio, Kobie Watkins has proven his savvy as a fearless drummer and now a leader on his debut Involved. Watkins is no neophyte. A native of Chicago who is also an educator, he was once dubbed in a newspaper article as "Teacher has Alter Ego as Jazz Musician" who has performed with the greats - Sonny Rollins, Arturo Sandoval, Fred Anderson and many others.
Mirroring his... read more
Florian Hoefner - Luminosity
by S. Victor Aaron, Something Else!
About a year and a half ago, German-born pianist/composer Florian Hoefner did what few up-and-coming jazz musicians would dare to do, and that was to pull out of the bustling scene of New Your City to relocate to a far-away place that shared an ocean but little else with his former home. But from the relative solitude of St. John's, Newfoundland, Hoefner found the right environment to raise his game, and for his third album Luminosity (released... read more
Meridian Odyssey - Earthshine
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Post bop jazz bordering on Weather Report-styled fusion is delivered by the adroit team of Santosh Sharma/ts, Noah Halpern/tp, Dylan Hayes/p, Martin Budde/g, Ben Feldman/b and Xavier LEcouturier/dr on this collection of band-composed originals. The instrumentation is traditional, but the feel is quite eclectic, with some clever tones by Budde that is reminiscent of vintage Yes on "Searchlight" while there are some misty soundscapes produced by... read more
Marcos Varela - San Ygnacio
by Terrell Holmes, New York City Jazz Record
Listen to Marcos Varela's San Ygnacio and its' clear that this bassist not only knows how to make excellent straightahead jazz, he makes it sound easy.
It's not surprising that the album is so good, considering those Varela has playing with him, all fine composers and arrangers themselves. All one needs to do is look at Varela's counterparts in the rhythm section: pianist George Cables, defined by his harmonic sophistication and... read more
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