Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Courtney Fortune - Speak Love
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
It's a little surprising for Seattle's Origin label, heavy on instrumentalists and local scene players, to take on a torch singer in its portfolio. However, L.A. area songstress Courtney Fortune shows stronger development than many of the average lounge singers, combining with contemporary big-band maestro Chris Walden for a number of compositions that highlight aspects outside of the standard jazz repertoire. Her self-penned "You're Starting to... read more
Scott Reeves - Portraits and Places
by Richard B. Kamins, Step Tempest
Scott Reeves, composer, arranger, flugelhorn and trombone player, is a Professor of Music on the faculty of the City College of New York. He's also worked with the big bands of Dave Liebman, Chico O'Farrill, Oliver Lake, and Bill Mobley. He has released four albums as a leader, all with ensembles of seven or less. "Portraits and Places" (Origin Records) is how fifth recording and serves as an introduction to the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra,... read more
Nick Finzer - The Chase
by Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation
For some reason, I'd never associated trombone jazz with album titles like "The Chase"... but Nick & his (many) musical cohorts surely pull it off on great tunes like the stunning opener, "Life Happens"... in fact, this tune has some of the highest energy licks I've heard (yet) in 2016. The title track, "The Chase", uses plenty of cut & run changes to enhance the sense of movement & (possibly) danger! When it comes to compositions like this,... read more
Toby Koenigsberg - Sense
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
On Sense, pianist Toby Koenigsberg's trio offers up a wistful and straightforward take on the American Songbook classic "My Foolish Heart," including a poignant, spare reading of the familiar melody. However, everything else on the disc pushes the boundaries.
The trio opens and closes the set with tunes by the New York-based trumpeter Andre Canniere: "Thirteen Species" and "Realizing." Both, like much of this material, have a mildly (and... read more
Hal Galper - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
by Don Lerman, Cadence
It is certainly good news for jazz listeners that Origin Records has released ten of Hal Galper's past recordings as a leader, including this live concert from 1977 recorded in Berlin's symphony hall and released as (3) in 2021 as a two CD set. This concert, occurring in Galper's life chronology between extended stays with Cannonball Adderley (1973-1975) and with Phil Woods (1980-1990), displays a heightened dynamic and McCoy Tyner-influenced... read more
Chris Walden & the LMR Jazz Orchestra feat. Tierney Sutton & Kurt Elling - Missa Iubileum Aureum: Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
A cat that once played with Thad Jones & Mel Lewis commissions a renowned studio rat to do a real rave up on liturgical music to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary. Roping in Tierney Sutton and Kurt Elling to help him take it to church, this is a jazz mass like no other. Bold, brassy and contemporary, this work is too encompassing for him not to have shared it with the world. A real one of a kind work that defies genre and... read more
Peter Erskine & the JAM Music Lab All-Stars - Bernstein in Vienna
by Felix Amador, Jazz Ese Ruido (Spain)
Leonard Bernstein's approach to jazz in works such as West Side Story has moved many musicians to play his songs and perpetuate them as standards. In the album we are listening to today, several of his best-known songs are reviewed with a Viennese line-up belonging to the JAM Music Lab University, directed by the pianist Danny Grissett and "starring" such a special guest as Peter Erskine, a drummer whose legend goes back a long way (in... read more
Bobby Broom - The Way I Play: Live In Chicago
by Matthew Lurie, Time Out Chicago
Every once in a while, Bobby Broom threatens to recede into the background, the once-prized picture on the wall you no longer notice. Then, for those of us who happen to overlook the local guitarist's weekly gigs at Evanston's Pete Miller's or the Green Mill (with the Deep Blue Organ Trio), he puts out a head-slappingly good record like this and the process begins anew.
The Way I Play is culled from a four-month span last year during Broom's... read more
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