Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Phil Kelly - Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Phil Kelly spent four decades working the sunny Los Angeles trenches as a composer/arranger for film and television. He wrote music, as well, for more than five hundred television commercials. That was probably a heck of a nice way to pay the rent and put bread and butter on the table. But since his semi-retirement, he has moved into what surely must be his first musical love: big band writing and arranging.
Kelly has produced two previous... read more
Marlene Rosenberg - Bassprint
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
Relatively few women embrace the acoustic bass; Marlene Rosenberg ? a ?territory? artist born, raised and schooled in Illinois ? has done just that.
Although she has played professionally throughout the world, she performs and teaches primarily around Chicago. She began studying clarinet at the age of 10, switched to electric bass in high school, and finally settled on the acoustic instrument while attending the University of Illinois. She... read more
Rodney Whitaker - Outrospection: The Music of Gregg Hill
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Michigan bassist Rodney Whitaker gives tribute to the pen of fellow statesman Gregg Hill on this classy post bop album teaming the leader with Xavier Davis/p, Dana Hall-Randy Gelispie/dr, Diego Rivera-Marcus Elliot/sax, Randy Napoleon/g, Michael Dease/tb, Etienne Charles/tp and Rockelle Whitaker. The result is a lyrical mix of moods that keep a smile on your face. Ms Whitaker soulfully struts with Rivera's tenor on "New Sunday" and blossoms on... read more
Martin Budde - Back Burner
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
The title of this debut recording from Seattle-based guitarist Martin Budde suggests the music has been percolating in the backwaters of his musical endeavors over the past few years. Indeed, that is the case, as the past five years have found Budde smack dab in the middle of the musical collective, Meridian Odyssey. The music was inspired by, and recorded during, the pandemic shutdown of 2020. This was a time when this collective of young... 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
Walt Blanton / Tony Branco / John Nasshan - Monuments
by Forrest Dylan Bryant, JazzTimes, July/August 2008
Listeners who associate the concept of free improvisation with harsh chaos or impenetrable obscurity will be pleasantly surprised by this Las Vegas-based trio, which wanders amiably through seven open-ended yet even-tempered pieces. This grounding is largely due to drummer Johhn Nasshan, who sticks closely to bop-based rhythms and keeps even the knottiest excursions in the pocket. Branco's piano pulls in the opposite direction, with deep... read more
Chicago Jazz Orchestra with Cyrille Aimee - Burstin' Out!
by Jeff Stockton, The New York City Jazz Record
Cyrille Aimée didn't come from nowhere. Having won two jazz vocal competitions in 2007 and 2012 (with a 2010 bronze in between) she was primed for success. She sounds equally comfortable singing in the jazz style she grew up hearing in France, assaying the Great American Songbook, or pop music, as the occasion demands. Her voice is deceptively powerful, but with a girlish sweetness. Her diction is clear, but her pronunciation betrays a trace... read more
Benjamin Boone with the Ghana Jazz Collective - Joy
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
When you think of a Fulbright Scholar heading off to deepest darkest Africa, do you picture a white boy that understands funk? Pairing here with his pals, Ghana Jazz Collective, the two cultures collide in a jolly mash up that proves once again that music is the universal language and how easy it is to resolve any conflict if you really want to. Upbeat, badass stuff that's a gasser throughout, it's too bad more white boys can't have this much... read more
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