Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Bill Anschell - Improbable Solutions
by Rick Anderson, CD Hot List
If you ask me, the "improbable solution" at which keyboardist/composer Bill Anschell arrived in creating this album had to do with creating a program that draws equally on the straight-ahead jazz verities and on forward-thinking experimentation without sacrificing one for the other. Very few are able to strike that balance, and his achievement here is significant. Compare, for example, the rockish and melodically angular "Is This Thing Even On?"... read more
Bobby Broom - The Way I Play: Live In Chicago
by Mark Stryker, Detroit Free Press
a no-frills bebop date recorded live at a Chicago-area steakhouse with bassist Dennis Carroll and snappy drummer Kobie Watkins. Best known for his long tenure with Sonny Rollins, Broom's solos have a soulful and bluesy bite, a gritty bob and weave as his lines snake through the harmony. There's nothing complicated to the eight standards here, and in some ways the record is woefully under-produced.
But casualness is the point. This is what... read more
Ray Vega & Thomas Marriott - East-West Trumpet Summit
by Larry Hollis, Cadence Magazine
The trumpet has long been an iconic symbol of the music we fondly call Jazz. With East-West Trumpet Summit, you double your fun--if you happen to be a brass lover--as Big Apple veteran Ray Vega joins longtime buddy Thomas Marriott (representing the West Coast and already with several titles under the Origin logo to his credit). Backing these artists is the crackerjack rhythm section of pianist Shook, house bassist Johnson and, once again... read more
Amit Friedman - Sunrise
by Randy Armorhouse, Amazon
Through a long life, there have been perhaps half a dozen instances of a piece of music figuratively grabbing me by the throat and DEMANDING my attention, and I'm mesmerized from the very first time I hear it. For whatever reasons (and I wish I had the musical knowledge to identify them), two numbers on this album, "Ups And Downs Interlude" along with "Ups And Downs", are the latest examples of such songs. Even after listening to them for a... read more
Scenes - ...But Not Heard
by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
Of their second recording, Along The Way (Origin, 2006), guitarist and All About Jazz contributor John Kelman said, "There's an airy, ECM-like feel to much of the album... more in its aesthetic than any direct stylistic reference." That immediately frames the music of guitarist John Stowell, bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop, giving it a definition and location. The "ECM sound" at once defies accurate definition while... read more
Deep Blue Organ Trio - Wonderful!
by Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz
Since the 1960s, Stevie Wonder's "My Cheri Amour" has remained one of the most memorable love songs in popular music. In collaboration with Motown songwriters Henry Cosby and Sylvia Moy, the hit song was originally titled "Oh My Marcia"?at the time, a tender ode to Wonder's girlfriend in his adolescent years. The two broke up, the song underwent a name change, and the rest is history.
The Deep Blue Organ Trio offers its own heartfelt... read more
John Bishop with Jeff Johnson, Rick Mandyck, John Stowell - Scenes
by Joseph Blake, JazzSteps, December 2001
Guitarist John Stowell's liner notes to this recently released CD makes Scenes sound almost serendipitous. He writes that "I suggested that we make a little music and turn on the tapes if we liked the chemistry...We did a couple of gigs in Seattle and went into the studio for a couple of sessions."
Stowell and drummer John Bishop produced the two sessions recorded at Seattle's Ironwood Studios.
They showcase the quartet's very democratic... read more
Corey Christiansen - Factory Girl
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
Here's another take on source material from unlikely places: guitarist Corey Christiansen leads a quintet through a solid set of jazz adaptations of traditional folk and fiddle tunes like "John Hardy," "Shenandoah," and "Factory Girl." What's particularly impressive here is the way he manages to craft genuinely interesting jazz arrangements of harmonically dead-simple tunes like "Cluck Old Hen" and "Old Joe Clark." One of his secret ingredients... read more
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