Origin Records Reviews

Marius Nordal - Boomer Jazz
by George Fendel, Oregon Jazz Society

Marius Nordal is one of those virtuoso pianists who can spin you around in your chair and make you rue the day you ever started taking piano lessons. I know this to be true because I own his first two albums for Origin, and I've heard his Tatum-esque exploits on both. He has complete command of the piano, and you can't reign him in, so don't try. And, by the way, it's all very musical and lots of fun! This time around, Nordal tackles the music... read more

Dan Dean - Songs Without Words
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

TOP TEN OF 2017 - And lastly - something not jazz: Bassist Dan Dean has created a set of sounds as innovative, in its way, as the 1968's Moog synthesizer-driven Switched on Bach (Columbia Masterworks, 1968), from the forward thinking Walter (Now Wendy) Carlos. Crafting a polar opposite of sorts of the legendary Carlos set, Dean - with just his bass and his overdubbed voice - shapes a gorgeous, soaring, ephemeral sound, drawing from Bach,... read more

Amit Friedman - Unconditional Love
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz

Once upon a time, jazz, an American creation, was confined for the most part within its borders. But that was once upon a time. Today, any barriers that once kept jazz within a prescribed realm have long since vanished, and the music Americans once embraced as their own has flourished around the world, performed with increasing awareness and dexterity by artists who have built upon the patterns created in the land of its birth to weave colorful... read more

Phil Kelly & The SW Santa Ana Winds - My Museum
by John Tapscott, amazon.com

A certain strain of modern big band jazz writing has emerged over the past quarter century which is incredibly detailed, complex and sometimes awe-inspiring. Yet it often lacks warmth and memorable melodies, and nearly creates a barrier between the music and the average jazz listener. Thankfully, composer/arranger Phil Kelly, while not simplifying his music at all, has chosen another route. His music, as evidenced by the 2006 recording "My... read more

Matt Jorgensen + 451 - Another Morning
by Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz

Also on Origin is Matt Jorgensen +451, one of the most impressive live jazz bands in this region, with the potential to impress far afield. Their live performances are at times stunning -- supertight and driving. On disc, as live, the quartet has great confidence. Listening to them, you really do believe that there is every reason why their sound is arrayed their way, which, when you think about it, is a most curious thing.

Another... read more

Florian Hoefner - Luminosity
by Mike Greenblatt, Classicalite Magazine

Luminosity is when acrylic colors retain their freshness. Luminosity by the Florian Hoefner Group on Origin Records does just that as well, for it is here that the German-born pianist Hoefner, on his third all-original quartet CD, puts the Masters Degree he earned at the Manhattan School of Music to good use.

Hoefner, 33, must be as intense as his music. He composed all eight tracks while in solitude on and off the beautiful beaches of St.... read more

Laurie Antonioli - The Constant Passage of time
by Various - Hot Box Feature, Downbeat

HOT BOX FEATURE, May 2019

Combining her own compositions with a handful of rock tunes from the past 50 years, Antonioli and her sextet have crafted an album that invites the listener into questions about patriarchy and capital, and the ties that bind us as Americans. Her voice, tall, proud and unpretentious, deserves to be more widely heard.
- Giovanni Russonello

There's no denying the supple persuasiveness of Antonioli's... read more

Ted Moore Trio - The Natural Order of Things
by Georges Tonla Briquet, JazzHalo (Belgium)

The jazz trio with piano, bass and drums is the most traditional line-up and also with the greatest number of pitfalls. Veteran Ted Moore knows how to frame it all stylishly and with a sense of finesse.

As a drummer, Moore knows the tricks of the trade to insert the appropriate dynamics at the right times. The way he does this, for example in 'The Natural Order Of Things' ("what's in a name"), is pure craftsmanship. First invite and seduce... read more

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