Origin Records Reviews

John McLean - Better Angels
by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

Guitarist John McLean's Better Angels is certainly difficult to classify. Some pieces, such as "Ready for the War," come across as modern pop. Others are closer to the music of the Pat Metheny Group, while a few tunes are modernized swing standards including one of the strangest versions of "Airmail Special" one will ever hear. While there are some individual spots, the emphasis during most of the selections is on the haunting ensemble sound... read more

Dawn Clement - Tandem
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record

A real piano left fielder, Clement teams up for duets in various formats with real hitter pals of hers she admires. Even the chestnuts on parade take on a new life for the left leaning ears. Not for the feint of heart, this is one of those excursions where so little can say so... read more

Human Spirit - Dialogue
by Rob Young, Urban Flux

At a glance, this project has eight pliable originals plus the contributors has fourteen albums among them as leaders and sidemen. Human Spirit is the title from a previous album by trumpeter/composer Thomas Marriott, along with his cohorts Mark Taylor and Matt Jorgensen serve up an engaging brew of bop-influenced modern jazz also features two guest performers Orrin Evans and Essiet Essiet round out the quintet on their latest "Live at the... read more

Geof Bradfield - Our Roots
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

4 1/2 STARS Discussing "roots" in the context of jazz, a good starting point is the Mississippi delta, down in New Orleans, where the music of trumpeters King Oliver and Louis Armstrong grew strong. And then there's the rich earth of the delta in north western Mississippi, up near Clarksdale, where the blues grew and blossomed. The roots from both these areas were, of course, transplanted from Africa.

Chicago-based... read more

Rob Lockart - Parallel Lives
by Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

Saxophonist Rob Lockart has been a mainstay of the Los Angeles jazz scene for nearly two decades, working most notably with Chris Walden on a number of projects. Parallel Lives is Lockart's first solo album, an agreeable if rarely spectacular example of unfussy modern jazz that occasionally crosses over into too-smooth fuzak. Lockart mostly sticks to tenor on Parallel Lives, although his lyrical soprano soloing on "Waiting for the Truth" is one... read more

Affinity Trio - Hindsight
by Michael van Gee, Jazz'n'More (Switzerland)

Trios consisting of trumpet, piano and bass are rare, which is why the line-up of the band Affinity Trio makes you sit up and take notice. This also applies to the music, a mix of originals and rare jazz standards. The debut album, recorded in Chicago, allows intimate insights into making music together, in which all three musicians--trumpeter Eric Jacobson, Pamela York on piano and Clay Schaub on double bass--are always responsible for rhythmic... read more

John Moulder - Earthborn Tales of Soul and Spirit
by Neil Tesser, Jazziz

Chicago guitarist John Moulder has proven himself as versatile as he is virtuosic. He's served as producer on a handful of his own albums, and each has a strikingly different theme, purpose and array of musicians. Despite that, Moulder almost always inclines toward big picture concepts — something you could reasonably expect, given that he's spent much of his career holding a "day gig" as a Catholic minister.

Earthbound Tales of Soul... read more

Bobby Broom - Song And Dance
by Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Sun-Times

Covering post-'60s pop hits has tripped up more than a few jazz artists, including "New Standards" man Herbie Hancock. There just isn't enough harmonic interest in most of these songs to lend themselves to open improvising. But Bobby Broom has figured out how to make this stuff hum.

On "Song and Dance," the veteran Chicago guitarist, known for his work with Sonny Rollins and Green Mill regulars the Deep Blue Organ Trio, strips down to a... read more

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