Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Kiki Valera - Vivencias en Clave Cubana
by Paul Rauch, Earshot Jazz
The legacy of Cuban cuatro master Kiki Valera began with one of the most influential bands in the history of Son Cubano—La Familia Valera Miranda. The current Seattle resident has released an album of twelve original compositions on the highly regarded Origin Records label.
Valera's innovative approach to improvisation is well within the Son tradition, the music and dance of the eastern hill country of Cuba. There is however, a freedom and... read more
Charlie Ballantine - East by Midwest
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, East By Midwest, by Charlie Ballantine and it's great! Opening with Storyteller, a lush, instrumental ballad, Charlie Ballantine on guitar crafts a beautiful melody, saturated with reverb and tone. Joined by Quinn Sternberg who's bass work is active and Dan Weiss on drums who keeps it light but effective makes for a brilliant opener. Monk's, Trinkle Tinkle, has real forward thrust... read more
Chad McCullough Bram Weijters - Urban Nightingale
by Dave Sumner, Bird Is The Worm Jazz Blog
Following on the success of their 2011 collaboration Imaginary Sketches, trumpeter Chad McCullough and pianist Bram Weijters display with their latest release Urban Nightingale that they are truly a perfect match creatively.
Despite originating from opposite ends of the globe, the two have a symbiotic connection from both a perspective of group interplay and also personal voicing. Illustrated right from the first notes of... read more
Hal Galper / Jeff Johnson / John Bishop - Furious Rubato
by Ken Dryden, All About Jazz.com
Hal Galper's aptly named Furious Rubato, finds the pianist opening the listener's ears by stretching the tempo of the tunes and frequently seeming to be playing independently of his rhythm section without ever losing sight of the harmony within each song, approaching free jazz but never abandoning post-bop. He's accompanied by bassist Jeff Johnson (who has worked with Galper regularly in the past) and drummer John Bishop, both of whom excel in... read more
Geof Bradfield - Urban Nomad
by Thomas R. Erdmann, Jazz Review.com
Chicago based saxophonist and composer Geof Bradfield was originally born in Houston, Texas. Following high school, he moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University's famous jazz program before moving on to earning a master's degree at CalArts. From there, it was on to New York where he lived from 1994 to 1997. After teaching at Washington State University for three years, it was back to Chicago where he works as one of the areas more... read more
Joachim Mencel - Brooklyn Eye
by Sebastian Chosiński, Esensja (Poland)
Dreams are there to make them come true! Polish jazz pianist (also playing the hurdy-gurdy) Joachim Mencel dreamed of recording an album in New York for years, with American artists accompanying him. The assumption was that the music was also inspired by North America. All this was achieved in one fell swoop thanks to the publishing house "Brooklyn Eye".
In Poland, Joachim Mencel does not have to prove anything to anyone. For years,... read more
Bill Anschell | Brent Jensen - We Couldn't Agree More
by Michael Steinman, Cadence
Jazz duet playing requires empathy and quick responses, qualities evident in profusion on We Couldn't Agree More. On [this record], Anschell and Jensen make music that is startlingly beautiful, surprising, and powerful. At points, I was reminded of the experiments of Al Cohn and Jimmy Rowlek, the forays of Joel Press and Kyle Aho. But these two players follow their own impulses. While exploring familiar standards and honoring their melodic... read more
Thomas Marriott - Romance Language
by Nigel Jarrett, Jazz Journal (London)
Jazz might be called the art of theme and variations, the art applying as much to the theme as the way a musician plays around with it. Everyone knows the themes, the tunes, whether written by a jazz composer/musician or someone working in a showbiz area considered not unadjacent. But rarely does anyone devote as much attention to the tune as unadorned entity as trumpeter Thomas Marriott does on this generally slow-tempo album.
If there is... read more
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