Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Kim Richmond / Clay Jenkins Ensemble - CrossWeave
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
CrossWeave's opener, Troubleshooter," drives in on a tight rhythm groove that leads into some clean three horn harmony by trumpeter Clay Jenkins, alto saxophonist Kim Richmond, and tenor sax man Rich Perry, with a sound that harkens back to the classic Blue Note Records days, some of those classic sets by Lee Morgan and Art Blakey. A tight, shining ensemble mode with sharp soloing all around.
CrossWeave is the third disc by the... read more
Dan Dean - Fanfare for the Common Man
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
5-STARS Songs Without Words (Origin Classical, 2017) opened the door to Dan Dean's giant step into "going vocal"— an innovative approach to his choir-like voice-layering presentations of classical music. Rain Painting (Origin Records, 2021), teaming Dean with guitarist John Stowell, proved a perfect digression into Stowell's distinctive compositions, employing Dean's vocal harmonies, bass playing and drum programming with... read more
Hal Galper Quartet featuring Jerry Bergonzi - Cubist
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
How do you make this trio better? Add Jerry Bergonzi and record them live and in the moment. You think it's going to be sitting down jazz but once the percolator starts perking, you just can't turn it off. A tease and a surprise, this is jazz that engages you and keeps you on board to hear what's coming next. Pros that deliver the goods, this is the hot stuff you are seeking that doesn't play fair and doesn't play by the... read more
Dan Dean - 251
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Electric bassists aren't all that common leading jazz record dates, but Dan Dean found a very unusual approach, which is playing duets with four separate keyboardists. Kenny Werner is a first-call sideman, leader, and soloist. His meeting with Dean in a superb take of the old warhorse "'S Wonderful" is full of twists, turns, and outright surprises, and while their interpretation of "Body and Soul" is considerably more subdued, it nonetheless... read more
Anthony Branker & Imagine - What Place Can Be for Us?
by Thierry Docmac, Paris Move
Anthony Branker is an American composer and conductor who is releasing his eighth album on the Origin Records label. He is certainly one of the most important current American composers, and this work makes us question the fundamental issues of inclusion and belonging, as well as the circumstances of exploitation and the zones of refuge experienced by people of African origin.
There is a real intellectual commitment in which the music is the... read more
George Colligan - The Endless Mysteries
by Nate Chinen, New York Times
One of the finer piano trio albums of 2013 - released too late in the year, or on too small a label, to make a dent in the critics' polls - is George Colligan's The Endless Mysteries. It's a program of original compositions, most of them sensible and sturdy. And because it was recorded in a few hours with no rehearsal, it's the product of rough-and-ready postbop expertise, rather than the lived experience of a steady band.
At... read more
Tad Britton - Cicada
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Not only is Seattle known for giving us Starbucks coffee, but it is the home of Origin Records, who gives some fresh sounding modern jazz sounds from rising stars.
Drummer Tad Britton brings together Hans Teuber/sax-key-fl, Jeff Johnson/b and Pete Fogle/g for some fresh post bop sounds. Most of the material is composed by Johnson, which explains the clever bass work on many of the tracks such as the freewheeling "Gone" and the funky... read more
Zem Audu - Spirits
by Thom Jurek, All Music
Saxophonist and composer Zem Audu is a musical nomad. Though he has been a resident of New York City for years, he was born in Nigeria and raised in England, where he received a formidable musical education. He spent the '90s and 2000s working with a startling array of musicians including Hugh Masekela, Courtney Pine, Ernest Ranglin, Jason Moran, and the Skatalites (with whom he has enjoyed a lengthy tenure). In 2016, he issued a digital-only EP... read more
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