Jim McNeely, Kelly Sill and Joel Spencer are three old friends who have played together on occasion over the decades but never recorded as a trio until now. Although Boneyard refers to a creek in Champaign, Ill., it might conjure thoughts of overly familiar standards and jazz compositions as performed on many releases. But this trio avoids common paths by disguising introductions, inserting catchy vamps and chord changes in their offbeat... read more
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
Joey deFrancesco. Tony Monaco. Larry Goldings. Barbara Dennerlein. All at the forefront of the current generation of jazz organists and heirs to the mantle of Jimmy Smith, Charles Earland and Jack McDuff.
Oh yeah, there's one more notable: Sam Yahel. But with the release this week of his fourth effort Truth And Beauty, Yahel is making the case that there is still room for another distinctive voice in the well-established world of the... read more
Drummer Todd Bishop and his quintet with Richard Cole (bass clarinet, baritone, tenor and soprano), Tim Willcox (tenor and soprano),
keyboardist Weber Iago, and bassist Bill Athens, pay tribute not so much to Ornette Coleman's style and sound, but to his compositions. Of
the eight songs, only "Lonely Woman" (Coleman's greatest hit but taken in a different direction than usual) has been performed much
since being debuted by the altoist up to... read more
It's a common scene at a Portland jam session: George Colligan walks in, sits at the piano and rips a nimble bebop solo. George Colligan pulls out his pocket trumpet, plays a subdued solo, then moves to the bass--you see where this is going. Colligan's multi-instrumental prowess is well known, but until Risky Notion, the acclaimed pianist had never recorded an album on drums.
The project isn't just a novelty. Colligan's played with some of the... read more
Jazz (improvisation) and Esperanto are two equal entities with a universal character for the American pianist Brittany Anjou. Hence the CD title in Esperanto (mutual love). It is not surprising that her compositions contain characteristics from all over jazz history and that she constantly switches from one perspective to the other. Swing and bop thrive smoothly alongside rock and latin. She is also a fan of both Ahmad Jamal and Stravinsky.... read more
Quartet of alto sax, trombone, drums, and cello for some serious avant-garde music. Chaotic free jazz interspersed with sublime classical interludes. If you need a dissonance fix, stop here and... read more
For pianist Brittany Anjou's new recording, she uses Esperanto for the title (translated as "Unrequited Love") as a symbol for the international language utilized to create her music.
The not-quite-centerpiece of the recording is the five-part Reciprokataj Suite—not-quite because the sections are 'interrupted' by other originals yet the album feels like a beautifully unified whole. The disc opens with "Starlight", which finds electronic... read more
This is just a small collection of the Origin Records reviews. Click here to view all reviews or try to Search for your favorite CD title.
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Hanna Kay, Cult News (Paris)
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Budapest, Rudolf Radnai
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Dawn Clement - Dear Ms. Dearie
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Dee Dee McNeil, Making A Scene
Affinity Trio - New Outlook
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Michael Dease Big Band - Return Trajectory
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Brad Goode Quintet Feat. Ernie Watts - Live Your Dream: Live at North Street Cabaret
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect