Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Ryan Cohan - Originations
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS There is a risk in creating art that reflects in essence, one's own personal journey. What that journey reveals within the context of one life may not carry the same value to a collective audience. In the case of Chicago based composer/pianist Ryan Cohan, his explorative delve into his own bi-cultural roots as presented on his new release, Originations (Origin, 2020), would not resonate with listeners if the music itself was... read more
Deep Blue Organ Trio - Wonderful!
by Larry Hollis, Cadence
The Deep Blue Organ Trio has been around long enough to be super-tight in all aspects of musicianship. For their fourth outing they have gone the concept album route with a project containing the songs of Steveland Morris (aka Stevie Wonder). The triad of Bloom, Foreman and Rockingham transform these nine titles from first class pop writings to vehicles for heavy improvisation and telepathic interplay.
Whomever picked the repertory was... read more
Deardorf / Peterson Group - Portal
by Mark Fefer, Seattle Weekly
If there's a distinct sound to Seattle jazz, and I think there is, these two longtime Cornish instructors have helped define it. Celebrating their new disc, Portal, on Ballard's Origin label, they and some veteran pals deliver a quintessential mainstream Seattle session: relaxed, light on its feet, gregarious. On bass, Deardorf has a gorgeous deep resonance, his ideas always flowing and well considered; Peterson's no-fuss hollow-body guitar... read more
Chad McCullough | Michal Vanoucek - The Sky Cries
by Jerome Wilson, Cadence
The Sky Cries is lively mainstream modern Jazz out of the Pacific Northwest led by trumpeter Chad McCullough and pianist Michal Vanoucek. The two men split the writing chores here but all of their pieces are intricate and involving. McCullough's "Urban Grassland" and "Soliloquy" pits the lyrical shapes of his trumpet playing against the sharp, sour sound of Mark Taylor's alto while his "Time-lapse" juxtaposes flowing horn solos with... read more
Rodney Whitaker - All Too Soon: The Music of Duke Ellington
by Ken Micallef, JazzTimes
This spirited romp by top-tier jazz professionals through the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn is long overdue. Though many pay lip service to their twin genius, the pair seem almost forgotten in popular culture. No massive vinyl reissue campaigns by major labels, no racy docudramas, no Record Store Day limited editions.
Bassist and educator Rodney Whitaker has studied the classic work of Ellington and Strayhorn since he was a... read more
Eddie Allen and PUSH - The Rhythm
by Terrell K. Holmes, The New York City Jazz Record
Eddie Allen's top-flight band Push—Allen (trumpet), Jon Beshay (tenor), Misha Tsiganov (keyboards), Tyler Bullock II (piano), Kenny Davis (bass), EJ Strickland (drums) and guest Steve Turre (trombone)—really brings it on The Rhythm, an energetic album that displays the leader's formidable skills as producer, arranger and composer.
The Afro-Cuban inflected title track exemplifies how Allen adeptly manipulates rhythm, making it flexible in... read more
Nnenna Freelon - Beneath the Skin
by Herb Boyd, DownBeat
There's an unrelieved lament to Nnenna Freelon's latest release, and only occasionally do the songs break from a slow, mournful narrative.
The expressive range of Freelon's voice — and its versatility from tune to tune evokes Aminata Moseka (Abbey Lincoln), Nina Simone and Billie Holiday — soars brilliantly on "Changed," but she quickly settles back into a gloomy sphere, almost tearful on "Widow's Song." On "Dark and Lovely," her vocal... read more
Nanami Haruta - The Vibe
by Cree McCree, DownBeat (Interview)
BORN IN SAPPORO, JAPAN, Nanami Haruta started playing piano at age 5 and gravitated towards to the trombone when she was only 8 years old. The instrument was taller than she was. "They do have smaller trombones for kids but I just used a normal one," she recalled from Michigan State University, where she's currently enrolled in the jazz studies program. "What first made me want to play it was that the sound of the name trombone was funny," she... read more
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