Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Dave Slonaker Big Band - Convergency
by Lance Liddle, BeBop Spoken Here
One of the best big band albums I've heard in many a long day's listening. Convergency gives me the same kick that I got from when I first heard the big bands of Boyd Raeburn, Stan Kenton, Dizzy, Woody, Gil, Thad and Mel and yes, even the great Ms Schneider. Slonaker is up there with them.
The big band era as it once was may be gone inasmuch as large ensembles no longer criss-cross America playing one-nighters, riding in band buses that... read more
Jeff Johnson - Tall Stranger
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
For his fourth album as a leader, bassist Jeff Johnson sets an exploratory course. On Tall Stranger, Johnson works with sax player Hans Teuber (with a bit of a free jazz bent of his own) and drummer Billy Mintz. The trio spends a lot of its time, however, seemingly working less as a trio and more as a collection of three independent players who happen to be in the same room. This isn't accidental, or an effect of the group not working well... read more
Joe Locke - Subtle Disguise
by Matthew Kassel, Downbeat
On his latest release, veteran vibraphonist Joe Locke opts mostly for his own compositions, with the exception of Bob Dylan's "Who Killed Davey Moore?" and Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children," both of which feature ace singer-songwriter and guitarist Raul Midón in fine form.
Subtle Disguise is, for the most part, a satisfying collection of tightly arranged post-bop numbers, with elements of rock, funk and swing. Stylistically, it's... read more
Mike Pope - The Parts You Keep
by MICHAEL STÜRM, Jazz Podium (Germany)
Mike Pope is a musician no one in Europe has on their radar. This engaging music, based on a shared musical language, is highly dynamic and full of beautiful sounds when it comes to bassists in jazz. The American is one of many instrumentalists who primarily work as sidemen. When these musicians record an album themselves, it often holds its own against the big names. Even if Pope occasionally betrays the routine of a virtuoso studio musician,... 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
Jovino Santos Neto Quarteto - Mais Que Tudo: Live at Kerry Hall 1995
by Katchie Cartwright, All About Jazz (Interview)
Following a years-long recording hiatus, Brazilian-born Seattle-based Grammy- nominated pianist and composer Jovino Santos Neto released three albums in 2025, all captured live. Two are digital-only releases, both recorded in 2024: Retratos: Brazilian Portraits (Audiophile Society), a duo performance with Estonian bassoonist Martin Kuuskmann in a program of great Brazilian composers, and A Onça e o Pajé (Self- Produced), recorded live at the... read more
Eva Cortes - Crossing Borders
by Raul da Gama, Latin Jazz Network
Editor's Pick · Featured Album Although the release of Crossing Borders by Eva Cortés comes just two years after In Bloom appeared on Truth Revolution Records, it feels like a much longer time since her sultry voice has been heard on record. Thankfully the wait is over and listeners can bask in the beguiling music of Eva Cortés once again. The smoky-voiced singer is in fine form throughout this disc, singing in Spanish and... read more
Clark Sommers - Ba(SH)
by Michael Jackson, Downbeat Magazine
****(4-stars)
The Chicago triumvirate conflates the initials of its members--reedist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall--adding an extra lower case vowel (and parentheses) for onomatopoeic effect. The name represents the trio's chamber aesthetic "sh" and sporadic aggressiveness: "bash." Though it might also suggest the bashfulness of Sommers, who became the effectual leader after writing for the trio and... read more
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