Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Rodney Whitaker - All Too Soon: The Music of Duke Ellington
by Charles L. Latimer, I Dig Jazz
If you attend a Rodney Whitaker concert, bank on getting a history lesson on whatever jazz music the bassist's group performs, and as a bonus some comic relief. For 25 years, he's taught jazz at Michigan State University. No surprise, he uses the bandstand to educate audiences, and his kidding them before introducing tunes is a piece of his musical personality. He's quick to jokingly warn an audience of his plans to pursue standup comedy when... read more
Deep Blue Organ Trio - Wonderful!
by Brandon Bernstein, Just Jazz Guitar
Chicago based musicians Bobby Broom (guitar), Chris Foreman (organ), and Greg Rockingham (drums) pay tribute to legendary musician Stevie Wonder with their release Wonderful! The album, which was released in August 2011 on Origin Records, is guitar/organ trio at its best and pays homage to Stevie Wonder by doing jazz arrangements of nine of Wonder's compositions. The musicians carefully listened to Wonder's compositions, memorizing the words so... read more
Giacomo Gates - Centerpiece
by Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
Let's face it: Scat singing is an art best left to Ella Fitzgerald and very few others. But if a guy who spent 12 years in Alaska working as a bouncer and manning bulldozers wants to try, who are we to argue? Actually, Gates is one of the most extraordinary singers working in jazz today, the owner of a joyful baritone who has synthesized a host of influences - Eddie Jefferson, Jon Hendricks and Sinatra among them - and turned them into something... read more
Anthony Branker and Word Play - Uppity
by Sean J. O'Connell, Downbeat Magazine
***1/2 (3.5 stars)
Anger and injustice are strong themes on composer and conductor Anthony Branker's new album. Knowing the backstory of Branker's compositions, told in his lengthy liner notes, is essential to a complete understanding of the project, though the funky performances on the primarily instrumental recording are not nearly as frustrated.
"Let's Conversate!" bounces alongside Jim Ridl's Fender Rhodes, while Kenny Davis holds down a... 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
Bobby Rozario - Healer
by Olivia Peevas, Jazz Blues EU
It as a vibrant fusion project that blends jazz-rock, blues, and world rhythms with spiritual and contemporary themes.
Reviewers have largely praised the album for its emotional depth and technical proficiency: Musical Style: The album is noted for its "jazz rock sound" mixed with Afro-Latin influences.
One reviewer compared Rozario's guitar style and passion to that of Carlos Santana, noting his ability to meld Indian Raagas with fusion... read more
Mamutrio - Primal Existence
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
From Belgium it came, a new sax trio that fuses art jazz with Euro sensibilities making for some grand egghead jazz in the way that ECM did it in their younger days. Angular sounds that are carefully plotted in their execution, these three have it going on and manage to fuse jazz from different trio modes in to one, well done whole. A must for sitting down jazz... read more
Scott Reeves Quintet - The Alchemist
by Icrom Bigrad, Jazz Sensibilities
Trombonist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Scott Reeves is returning with a new album called The Alchemist via Origin Records. The album is a recording of a 2005 live performance at The City College of New York, NYC by the Scott Reeves Quintet, with Reeves on alto flugelhorn, alto valve trombone and electronics, guitarist Russ Spiegel, pianist/keyboardist Mike Holober, bassist Howard Britz and drummer Andy Watson. The set comprises one... read more
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