Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Jordan VanHemert - Nomad
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The saxophone powerhouse Jordan VanHemert returns with Rodney Whitaker on bass and David Alvarez III behind the drum kit for a listen that celebrates Korean culture via their exciting jazz formula, and there's plenty of guests in attendance, too.
"Bird, Bird, Bluebird" starts the listen with VanHemet's warm sax before frisky drumming and playful bass enters the stylish jazz climate, and "Imjin River Song" follows with the rhythm section... read more
Grete Skarpeid - Beyond Other Stories
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Folksy-voiced Grete Skarpeid mixes originals, poetry and a standard together on this album that has her backed by Aruan Ortiz/p, Rob Waring/vib-perc, Cameron Brown/b and Gerald Cleaver/dr. Her delivery and style is reminiscent of 70s singers, as she gets elliptical like Joni Mitchell on "Like A Bird" and "Holding" while is ethereal like Judy Collins during "Singing Again" and the ethereal "Adam and Eve". Cleaver lays down a military beat to set... read more
Marc Bernstein & Good People - Hymn For Life
by Robert Ratajczak, LongPlay: RadioJAZZ - Poland
[translated from Polish] The name Marc Bernstein, apart from concerts in 2012 and 2013 (ie 10.05.2013 at the Blue Note in Poznan) can be associated with such outstanding artists as Branford Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Billy Cobham and the famous Danish Klüvers Big Band (known even with the excellent album recorded with Mulgrew Miller, Grew's Tune, 2012). The list of famous musicians with which Bernstein has worked over the years is in... read more
Hal Galper & the Youngbloods - Live at the Cota Jazz Festival
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS The trio recordings released by pianist Hal Galper between 2006 and 2014 - six discs, all but one on Origin Records—plowed fresh ground. Each disc dug deeply into the "Rubato" form. Taken as a whole - from 2006's Agents Of Change (Fabola Records) through 2014's O's Time (Origin Records) - the full series represents a monumental, sharply focused project that, for those who listened, redefined the piano trio.
Live At... read more
Hal Galper Quartet featuring Jerry Bergonzi - Cubist
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
5-STARS Hal Galper has been in the jazz limelight now for over a half century, establishing his trademark sound in more traditional settings with alto saxophone luminaries Cannonball Adderly, and Phil Woods, and trumpet legend Chet Baker.
Yet in the new century, Galper has turned the piano trio concept on its collective ear, something that hadn't taken place in the jazz universe since Bill Evans entered the fray with his... read more
Anthony Branker - Beauty Within
by Jay Hunter, Nippertown (Albany, NY)
2016 TOP 10 Composer/arranger Anthony Branker doesn't play on his own pieces; like Maria Schneider, he's got people for that. But where Schneider literally needs an army to paint her pastoral pictures, Branker employs an uber-tight quintet of notorious killers to conjure music that soothes your soul one moment, then goes for your throat the next - on the same tune! The front line of saxman Ralph Bowen, guitarist Pete McCann and pianist... read more
Storms/Nocturnes - VIA
by Chris Ingham, Mojo Magazine
After a seven-year hiatus, the third album by superstar chamber trio doesn't disappoint
The music made by British saxophonist Tim Garland, pianist Geoffrey Keezer and vibraphonist Joe Locke is of such high-end refinement, beuaty and excitement that their Storms/Nocturnes trio is in danger of being leader in a field of one. Using a detailed, near-classical composition (three from each player) as a starting point, the group's delicate and fiery... read more
Hugo Fernandez New Grounds Quartet - Ozean
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
The line between straight-ahead jazz and fusion (or, heaven help us, "smooth jazz") can be fuzzy and the borderland it defines can be treacherous: tread carefully and you can create exciting and forward-thinking music; get careless and you might slip into a puddle of schlock. On his new album, guitarist Hugo Fernandez offers a master class in negotiating this difficulty: from his tone to his chord progressions, he delivers lush textures and... read more
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