Origin Records Reviews

Upper Left Trio - Cycling
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

It's hard to put the finger on what makes for a successful piano trio set. Some of jazz's bona fide great keyboard players turn in less than inspired efforts, sets that just don't hold the listener's interest for the duration of an hour of music. It's probably the worst criticism that can be made of a recording - that it just doesn't hold interest. And the piano trio format can be particularly unforgiving.

And having said that, the other... read more

Jack Mouse - Range of Motion
by Lloyd Sachs, Jazzespress

In jazz, there are times when you can judge a book by its covers, and an artist by the musicians he pays tribute to with his own compositions. That?s the case with veteran drummer Jack Mouse?s new album, Range of Motion, which includes songs written for or dedicated to the great Bunky Green, ?50s innovator John LaPorta, Henry Mancini and Shelley Manne. He also scores points with a dedication to hockey great Bobby Orr, ?Hip... read more

Corey Christiansen - Lone Prairie
by Robert Ratajczak, LongPlay: RadioJAZZ - Poland

[translated from Polish] Lone Prairie is the fifth album by Corey Christiansen in recent years (third released by the American label Origin Records), successfully strengthening his position among the greatest jazz guitarists in the world. After a stunning debut in 2004 (The Awakening), an album he recorded with trio MB3 (Hits Jazz Vol.1), and two albums highly accepted in the United States: Roll With It and Outlaw... read more

Joe Locke - Subtle Disguise
by Georg Modestin, Jazz'N'More (Switzerland)

Born in 1959, vibraphonist Joe Locke belongs to a minority within the jazz scene; nevertheless, since his arrival in New York in 1981, he has established himself as a master of his craft. As a bandleader, his body of work to date comprises over thirty albums—supplemented by more than twice that number on which he appears as a distinguished sideman. Freddy Cole and Eddie Henderson, in particular, have regularly called upon Locke's services.... read more

Dee Daniels - Jazzinit
by John Stevenson, JazzReview.com

Every now and then, the art and craft of jazz gets a kick up its rear end. Put more politely, it is updated from time to time.

A small number of jazz instrumentalists and vocalists do this by planting melodic flags on altogether higher harmonic peaks. With Bebop, for example, Charlie Parker and John Birks Gillespie upended swing's sway with dizzying feats of individual improvisation; Ella Fitzgerald single-handedly transformed the role of the... read more

Amit Friedman - Sunrise
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

This seems to be shaping up as the year of the "Sunrise." Two outstanding sets by that name have been released in 2012: one by the Masabumi Kikuchi Trio on ECM Records, the other a self-produced gem by the Indo/American chamber ensemble, Karavika. Israeli saxophonist Amit Friedman makes it a triptych with his own Sunrise, on Seattle's Origin Records.

Friedman has a knack for memorable melodies enmeshed in sophisticated and lively... read more

Roxy Coss - Restless Idealism
by Bob Weinberg, JAZZIZ

Plaudits and plum assignments are nothing new to saxophonist Roxy Coss. The New York City-based musician, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from William Paterson University in 2008, has earned coveted space with the Mingus Big Band and The Diva Jazz Orchestra and was a member in good standing of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's group. Fronting her own band, she held down a weekly residency at Smoke for a couple of years. None of this escaped the notice of... read more

Idit Shner - Minerva
by Nicholas May, The Saxophonist Magazine

When it comes to the saxophone, or any instrument, it is uncommon for an artist to be well versed in two very different generes. Dr. Idit Shner, Associate Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at the University of Oregon, has established herself as a multi-talented, bilingual saxophonist across her numerous classical and jazz albums. Although I have not yet listened to her full discography, I certainly will be!

The album's title comes... read more

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