Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Benny Powell - Nextep
by Andy V�lez, All About Jazz - New York
A whiff of glorious, old-time New Orleans jazz in "Free to be Me" jubilantly launches Benny Powell's latest, Nextep. Yet be assured the set is no trip down nostalgia lane. A working musician since his early teens in New Orleans, bop loyalist and a veteran sideman at hundreds of recording sessions with the likes of everyone from Count Basie and Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin and "Screamin'" Jay Hawkins, at 78, Nextep is Powell's bid finally to... read more
The Spin Quartet - In Circles
by Paul Abella, Chicago Jazz Magazine
There's not a lot to know about The Spin Quartet, or their album, In Circles. There's no liner notes, and to tell the truth, I don't know much about leader and trumpeter Chad McCullough. I know that Clark Sommers has appeared on a few of my favorite local discs from the last few years. I know that Kobie Watkins is a beast behind the drums, and everything I've ever heard from saxophonist Geof Bradfield has been excellent. So, we can be... read more
Tim Davies Big Band - The Expensive Train Set
by Hobart Taylor, KUCI - Irvine, CA
Composer/arranger Davies's day job is Hollywood... film scores, arranging a symphonic performance of Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly", etc. Here he gets to show his own capacity to write and arrange big band music as high art. Like the late '40's Kenton bands, or even more like say Sauter-Finegan, Davies explores the complex possibilities inherent in coordinating so many moving pieces. The title of the CD refers to the fact that big... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - East-West Trumpet Summit
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Working the two coasts of jazz theory together, but using the Northwest as representative of modern West Coast jazz rather than the L.A. area, trumpeters Ray Vega and Thomas Marriott combine their formidable powers for good in a massive set. The two trumpeters have played together over the years, and have become stalwarts of the local scenes in their respective cities (Marriott winning numerous awards and recording numerous exceptional albums... read more
Thomas Marriott - Urban Folklore
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
Origin Records and trumpeter Thomas Marriott are among this blog's "old friends"; both were featured in some of my earliest reviews. If you scan through the site's listing you'll find 7 CDs where they're featured together. Origin was among the first of the "new breed" jazz labels founded in the very late 20th century, and Marriott was - and still is - a frequent leader or sideman on the company's albums.
Marriott is a West Coast artist,... read more
Joe Locke / Geoffrey Keezer Group - Live In Seattle
by Jason West, All About Jazz
As can be the case on special occasions, this live recording is ripe with sonic excitement, spontaneity, and the ubiquitous impression that something extraordinary is happening right before one's ears.
That undoubtedly was the feeling of those who filled the Mars Hill Church on November 19, 2005 for the third annual Ballard Jazz Festival's headline concert. The wow factor, in full force at the start of the show, had morphed into an... read more
Anthony Branker & Ascent - Dance Music
by Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times
Composer Anthony Branker presides over a talented crew of alto saxophonist Tia Fuller, tenor saxophonist Ralph Bowen, trombonist Clifford Adams Jr., pianist Jonny King, bassist Kenny Davis, guitarist Freddie Bryant and drummer Adam Cruz. On the McCoy Tyner-ish opener, "The Renewal," Fuller, Adams and King step out from the fray as potent soloists. Bassist Davis and drummer Cruz provide the bounce on the funky "Dance Music," and the horn players... read more
Rich Thompson - Less Is More
by Scott Albin, JazzTimes
In his infinite wisdom, drummer Rich Thompson brought in Terell Stafford for this recording session. Stafford has slowly but surely become one of the preeminent jazz trumpeters, stealing the show as a sideman on a number of CDs, not to mention his own most recent release, This Side of Strayhorn. Thompson also showed great care in formulating the song list for Less is More, mixing originals and standards with far-from-overdone tunes by Kenny... read more
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