Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Laurie Antonioli - Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light
by Brent Black, Critical Jazz
An inspired recording of tremendous passion and depth that takes the Joni Mitchell road less traveled. The immediate success of Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light could be linked to the less than predictable greatest hits collection other contemporaries are quick to offer up. Antonioli's band is first rate, A-list players such as bassist John Shifflett and a cameo from the great Theo Bleckmann opening the release with "People's Parties."... read more
Joe Locke - Force of Four
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise
In the beginning, we had Red Norvo, followed by Lionel Hampton, Magie Hyams, Terry Gibbs, Milt Jackson, Cal Tjader and Gary Burton. They've now been joined by Joe Locke. All are jazz vibraphone artists.
Although a relative youngster (still in is 40s), Locke has been playing the instrument for more than 30 years; his fame has risen during the most recent decade. He began playing with the "big boys" - Gillespie, for example - while still... read more
Bongwool Lee - My Singing Fingers
by Dave Sumner, Bird is the Worm
Sometimes you just want to sit back with a piano trio recording that plays it nice and straight, and patiently dives into a melody to explore every inch. The debut from Bongwool Lee will definitely fit that need. The pianist straddles that middle ground where old-school jazz bleeds into the modern post-bop, and so the music is always plenty lively even when it grows increasingly contemplative. Bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Kendrick Scott... read more
Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra - Without a Trace
by Edward Blanco, All About Jazz
4 1/2 - STARS The Scott Reeves Jazz Orchestra follows up the highly successful debut album Portraits and Places (Origin, 2016), with another masterpiece recording on Without A Trace offering new and exciting arrangements of three standards and four creative Reeves originals that all together, pack quite a powerful musical punch. A full-tenured professor at The City University of New York (CUNY), composer, trombonist and flugelhornist... read more
John Moulder - Metamorphosis
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Have Wertico and Rodby played anything this angular in the last 40 years? Backing up a different guitarist, the four jazzbos on board are playing an after hours sound where they get to try on new ideas the man normally wouldn't let them. So properly in the pocket you start to wonder where Mike Bard is when you need him. High octane boundary pushing... read more
Michael Waldrop Big Band - Time Within Itself
by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
This big band recording is notable for its arranger, Dr. Jack Cooper. Cooper recently released a revelatory Jack Cooper: Mists -Charles Ives For Jazz Orchestra (Planet Arts, 2014), which was the "most recommended" recording at All About Jazz in 2014. Cooper is a professor of music at the University of Memphis and he properly embraces the heritage of that great Southern City. Cooper's arrangements are unique in their brassy "wall-of-sound"... read more
Joel Miller - Swim
by Doug Ramsey, Rifftides
In his sixth album, his first for Origin, Montreal tenor saxophonist Joel Miller again makes music that melds intricacy and accessibility. This time out, he is aided greatly by pianist Geoffrey Keezer, asJoel Miller Swim virtuosic as Miller in bringing relaxation to the complex lines in many of the leader's compositions. The young veteran bassist Fraser Hollins and drummer Greg Ritchie provide Miller and Keezer strength and flexibility... read more
Matt Jorgensen +451 - Quiet Silence
by Gordon Todd, Earshot Jazz, August 2001
Drummer Matt Jorgensen need not worry about the pitfall of the sophomore slump with his second release as a leader, Quiet Silence. It contains some of the freshest and most honest playing on any jazz CD this year. Jorgensen and his band, 451, play complex, progressive music but make it sound as natural as breathing.
Unlike some bands led from the drum kit, Jorgensen and 451 showcase the music, not the percussionist. While an imaginative and... read more
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