Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Kelly Brand Nextet - The Door
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
An album of originals (plus one stray Wayne Shorter number), pianist Kelly Brand's The Door is a nice set of contemporary Chicago jazz. This is nightclub jazz at its best, with attention paid to the compositions and the details, a fine set of backing musicians, and an able leader directing the activities. The compositions are never too complex, but never so simplistic as to be predictable. Brand's playing is careful, never quite reaching for the... read more
Jessica Williams - With Love
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Successful musicians play "the truth." If you want to hear some truth there are certain artists you can seek out. Thelonious Monk couldn't play anything but the truth, right from the beginning. Pianist Jessica Williams came upon the truth - a purer form of it, at least - after experiencing "the fix of Illness" that she has discussed on her website and in interviews. Her first "fix" came about via her struggle with hypothyroidism, and... read more
Bill Anschell - Improbable Solutions
by ERIC OLSON, Earshot Jazz
It takes all of five bars for a ring modulator to slink, unassumingly, and rather unexpectedly, into the opening track of Seattle-based pianist Bill Anschell's newest work. A few seconds on, when guitarist Brian Monroney flicks his strings like Avi Bortnick on one of John Scofield's Überjam records, the album title falls into place: Improbable Solutions. There's no saying what "problem" this excellent album is bent on solving, but its... read more
Ray LeVier - Ray's Way
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
New York-based drummer Ray Levier contends for debut CD of the year with Ray's Way. He's assembled an all-star cast, including two of the finest guitarists plying the six string trade: John Abercrombie and Mike Stern, on five and four cuts respectively.
Levier's drumming has a "serve the music" approach that can be subtle or assertive, and often quite rock-influenced, as on the Mike Stern-penned "You Never Know," a tune that recalls Mark... read more
Tom Rizzo - Day and Night
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
The arranging is a star feature on this album as well, though in this case the ten-piece ensemble is led by guitarist/composer Tom Rizzo. (The arranger is trombonist Nick Lane, who also plays on the session.) The program consists of a few originals but focuses on standards like "So In Love" and Wayne Shorter's "Infant Eyes," with a few curveballs thrown in: a slightly noirish version of Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City," a swamp-funk... read more
Roxy Coss - Restless Idealism
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
Of course, when it comes to joyful and powerful swing, it's hard to beat composer and saxophonist Roxy Coss, whose second album is an all-original sextet session and a pleasure from start to finish. She blows out of the starting gate with the straight-ahead bop number "Don't Cross the Coss" (a wry reference to the way in which people tend to get her last name wrong), then settles into midtempo with the harmonically craggy "Waiting," then gets... read more
Keigo Hirakawa - Pixel
by Suzuck, My Secret Room (Japan)
Keigo Hirakawa is an Ohio-based pianist, composer, and doctor of engineering. This album is science and jazz, I was told by an acquaintance who has connections in the United States.
Instead of traveling from Japan to the US for recording and playing with local players, this album was made possible by his career as a jazz pianist in the US for more than 20 years. Although he lives in Ohio, the new album is centered around players from... read more
Marcos Varela - San Ygnacio
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4-STARS Bassist Marcos Varela, Houston-bred and now New York-based, opens his recording debut, San Ygnacio, with a big, brash version of the standard, "I Should Care." His rhythm section is rounded out by veteran pianist George Cables and drum icon Billy Hart, so a free swinging zest is expected, and delivered. Logan Richardson on alto sax makes it a quartet, with tart tone and stretched notes that bring the legendary alto saxophonist... read more
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