Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Piet Verbist Zygomatik - Cattitude
by Brent Black, Bop-N-Jazz
To refer to bassist Piet Verbist as cutting edge would be cliché, to refer to Cattitude as one of the most adventurous releases for 2014 would be an understatement.
Hybrid genres are nothing new. A largely acoustic ensemble that can pull from improvisational music along with soul, rock and funk and accomplish this daunting task utilizing their own artistic vision is remarkable at best. A trio joined by two accomplished saxophonists... read more
Bill Anschell - Improbable Solutions
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4-STARS Most fans of Seattle-based pianist Bill Anschell will not see this one coming. His comfort zone on his own recordings has been as a mainstream acoustic jazz artist, on albums like Shifting Standards (2018), a piano trio affair, Rumbler (2017) and Figments (2011), a solo piano outing. All of these were released on Origin Records.
Anschell, who formerly worked as vocalist Nnenna Freelon's musical director, crafts his recordings... read more
Toby Koenigsberg - Sense
by Serena Markstrom, Eugene Register-Guard
Getting a song stuck in your head can be frustrating, but imagine if you believed your future
as a musician depended on getting it out.
As a graduate student, Toby Koenigsberg realized his challenge as a pianist was to stop
theorizing and intellectualizing and start playing from his heart instead of his mind.
That's what he was trying to do when his trio released his debut as a leader, "Push," last year
and that's what he believes he... read more
Thomas Marriott - Urban Folklore
by Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes
Editorial Pick Thomas Marriott would be better known if he had stayed in New York, where he was a respected trumpet player on the scene in the early years of the new millennium. Instead, for quality-of-life reasons, he returned to his hometown of Seattle, where he has assembled a substantial body of work on the local label, Origin. Marriott usually records with Seattle's best players, but here he employs a name-brand East Coast rhythm... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - Home Of My Heart
by Pat Nason, Washington Times (UPI)
Los Angeles, CA, Mar. 22 (UPI) -- Chris Walden had steady work as a film and TV composer in his native Germany, but his profile there really started to rise after he left his home several years ago to work in Hollywood.
The 38-year-old native of Hamburg grew up in a musical family, as the son of a Swiss soprano. He began his music career in the late 1980s, while still in his teens, composing for the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra and for... read more
Gary Hobbs - Of My Times
by Lynn Darroch, Oregonian
In the course of a year, drummer and composer Gary Hobbs cycles through multiple musical personalities. Big band drummer, clinician for high schools and colleges, sideman with a variety of groups and a leader of his own, Hobbs goes from straight-ahead and swing to funk and fusion.
That taste for variety is evident on his latest CD, "Of My Times."
Within the variety, though, we hear a composer and arranger in love with the rhythmic... read more
John McLean / Clark Sommers Band - Parts Unknown
by Friedrich Kunzmann, All About Jazz
This inventive Chicago Quartet finds Kurt Elling's long time backing team comprised of guitarist John McLean and bassist Clark Sommers pushing into original sonic adventures with fresh modern twists. The band's debut outing for Origin Records also features drummer Xavier Breaker and vibes veteran Joe Locke whose tone and style accompanies and interacts perfectly with John McLean's subtle but poignant Guitar lines.
Locke's modernistic "Blondie... read more
Kiki Valera - Vivencias en Clave Cubana
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Cuban sounds of joy are delivered by Kiki Valera, who plays cuatro, guitar and percussion as he features the bel canto voice of Coco Freeman and a snappy team of Alex Baro/tp, Jose Alayo-Yanill Nario/b, Pedro Vargas/perc and guest vocalists Carlos Cascante, Joshuah De Jesus and Steve Guasch. The tunes are mostly composed by Valera and Freeman and are sizzling affairs with rich grooves and bright trumpet solos on pieces like "Mi Son" and... read more
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