Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Bobby Broom - Bobby Broom Plays for Monk
by Joe Bendel, J.B. Spins
Like an ambitious ice-skating jump, interpreting the music of Thelonious Monk carries a high degree of difficulty for jazz artists, but those who nail it, are guaranteed to make a lasting impression. Yet, Bobby Broom makes it sound easy as pie on Bobby Broom Plays for Monk, his refreshingly laidback new CD tribute to the legendary composer-pianist.
Though he was only twelve years old when Monk retired from music in 1973, Broom could claim an... read more
Alex Graham - The Good Life
by Butch Berman, Berman Music Review
With "The Good Life" and an entirely different back-up ensemble, Alex Graham has done it again, and in spades. Recorded back in 1998, this is truly a dynamite piece of work from beginning to end. It's another no-frills, straight-ahead jazz album played to perfection, and a song selection to match. Alex on alto, flute and clarinet is brilliantly supported by this trio of solid senders.... read more
Dan Dean - Songs Without Words
by Chris Lunn, Ancient Victorys
This is an unusual and special project. Dan Dean is known for his own groups, recording and mixing, and his collaborations with Tom Collier. I first encountered his works with a couple of different groups at the Other Side of the Tracks in the mid 70s along with his work with Collier, with whom he has been musical buddies even in their teenage years. His bass work and sound is found in many recording groups and engineers, because of Dean's... read more
Shawn Purcell - Oblivity
by Az Samad, Az Samad Lessons
The growth of a creative jazz guitarist is not only in how one improvises or performs, but in the music that they release, traditionally via albums. The change that we hear in an icon such as Pat Metheny from Bright Size Life (1976) to MoonDial (2024) documents his spirit of exploration and his aesthetics over a long career.
Social media in particular has made many musicians chase views and virality instead of building a clear creative... read more
Randy Halberstadt - Parallel Tracks
by George Fendel, Jazz Scene
Hey, if you want to talk about Seattle's three or four best piano practitioners, you'd better put Randy Halberstadt on the list. Right around the top. I heard him a few years back here in PDX accompanying singer Meredith d'Ambrosio, and remember being duly impressed. Well, here's Randy with a couple more giants, Jeff Johnson, bass and Gary Hobbs, drums. This exciting trio works seamlessly together on standards like Moonray, In The Wee Small... read more
Scenes - Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival
by Michael Rietmulder, Seattle Times
20 BEST SEATTLE ALBUMS OF 2022
14. Scenes, "Variable Clouds: Live at the Earshot Jazz Festival"
It's a welcome sign that live music has been "back" long enough for live albums to trickle in among the deluge of post-lockdown releases. Recorded last year at Town Hall during Seattle's preeminent jazz festival, this long-running quartet (featuring Origin Records co-leader John Bishop on drums) delivers a set of post-bop that could clear... read more
Peter Erskine & The JAM Music Lab All-Stars - Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner
by Luca D'Alessandro, Jazz'N'More (Switzerland)
4-STARS The film music composers Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Max Steiner left their hometown of Vienna in the early 1930s to seek their fortunes in California. Many years later, in the late 1970s, Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine encountered Korngold's work for the first time when Joe Zawinul suddenly played a Korngold melody on tour. This sparked a fascination in Erskine that continues to this day. Peter Erskine, with the all-star... read more
John Stowell - Solitary Tales
by Chris Robinson, Earshot Jazz
John Stowell's album Solitary Tales is all about exploration. On most of the album Stowell plays a nylon string acoustic/electric guitar that has a classical sound. In fact when Stowell isn't playing swung or bebop lines, he almost sounds as if he's improvising in a classical guitar fashion. In this way, Stowell makes full use of the idiomatic possibilities of the guitar. This is even the case when playing his electric, such as on Ornette's... read more
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