Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Benjamin Boone with the Ghana Jazz Collective - Joy
by Benjamin Kirk, Fresno State College of Arts & Humanities
It was hot! It was the summer of 2018 in the city of Accra, about 400 miles north of the equator, and Benjamin Boone and the Ghana Jazz Collective had gathered in the UVSL recording studio — a white concrete building down one of the many dirt side roads. Even with the high-tech equipment, to get clean recordings, the studio had to turn off the air conditioning during recording sessions.
The heat and humidity was unbearable. Between... read more
Don Lanphere with New Stories - Home At Last
by Peter Monaghan, Earshot Magazine, January 2002
Time to take stock again of new Northwest jazz releases.
First, one that you will probably already have if you know that it's out, and that you may well buy without my encouragement once you learn that it is: Don Lanphere and New Stories' "Home At Last" (Origin). The master saxophonist, a sure-fire pleaser, seasoned over 50 years of topflight playing, performing and recording, is heard here with the Grammy-nominated New Stories trio of... read more
Rich Thompson - Less Is More
by George Fendel, Oregon Jazz Scene
For his second session on Seattle?s respected Origin label, Thompson has put together a solid quintet and chosen some intriguing jazz compositions, often overlooked by others. The opener is Kenny Dorham?s ?Lotus Blossom,? a hard bop vehicle. Or how about Ornette Coleman?s ?Invisible,? a tricky melody line that nobody has given any attention to for years. Then there?s ?This Is for Albert?, a rather lyrical and tuneful Wayne Shorter creation.... read more
Scott Reeves - Portraits and Places
by Susan Francis, BlogCritics
Displaying the glitter of big band music and the fast-paced rhythms of swing, the Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra has the ingredients for creating party bashes done with class and pizzazz on their recording, Portraits and Places. The big sound emanating from the fleet of horns is intensifying, making the music jump out of its listening apparatus. The music engulfs listeners in its pulsating raptures and glistening textures, making for music that... read more
Hal Galper - Trip the Light Fantastic
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
About eighty percent of the jazz piano players out there can fit into one of two schools: that of the introspective, harmonically rich Bill Evans mode; or the more percussive and gregarious Bud Powell bebop approach. There's also a small slice of the that pie that draws it primary inspiration from bright and splashy Art Tatum/Oscar Peterson pre-bop playing style, along with various subsets. Then there are those who take a foundation of one of... read more
John Moulder - Earthborn Tales of Soul and Spirit
by Hobart Taylor, KUCI - Irvine, CA
Guitarist/Composer Moulder is joined here by an exceptional cast, including but not limited to trumpeter Marquis Hill, tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin and pianist Jim Trompeter. Like Coltrane, or more recently Larry Coryell or Christian Finger, Moulder takes Indian and other non western musical traditions as points of departure for his own melodic explorations and does so to stunning effect. The tunes "Journey to the East (Parts 1 and 2)"... read more
Hal Galper & the Youngbloods - Live at the Cota Jazz Festival
by Bob Bernotas, Just Jazz
Pianist Hal Galper calls his music "Rubato Style." It's free yet formal, lyrical yet rhythmic, soloist-centered yet collectively-based. But beyond all that, it's an intriguing and colorful concept that draws you in and carries you away. In this 2016 performance Galper and three protégés — alto saxophonist Nathan Bellott, bassist Dean Torrey, drummer David Frazier — dig deeply to mine musical riches from three originals and Gordon Jenkins'... read more
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by Joshua Tehee, Fresno Bee
Very often, when poets get together with musicians, there's a reactionary thing that happens.
The band just sort of plays to the reading.
And that wasn't going to work for Benjamin Boone. Not when he was collaborating Philip Levine, a Pulitzer Prize winner and National Poet Laureate who wrote tributes to the likes of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Not when Levine was at least partially responsible, on the basis on his name alone, for... read more
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