Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Anthony Branker & Imagine - Songs My Mom Liked
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Composer and Arranger Anthony Branker puts together a free thinking team of Donny McCaslin/ts-ss, Philip Dizack/tp, Fabian Almazan/p, Linda May Han O h/b, Rudy Royston/dr, Pete McCann/g and Aubrey Johnson/voc for a collection of originals dedicated to his mother and her battle with dementia.
The atmospheres range from uptempo pieces like "Praise" that feature McCaslin in a shrieking mood to an elegiac "Sketches of Selim" with a lovely aria... read more
Darren Johnston - Life in Time
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
Brooklyn-based trumpeter Darren Johnston traveled to Chicago in May 2021 to record Life in Time with three of his favorite musicians: saxophonist Geof Bradfield, bassist Clark Sommers and drummer Dana Hall who form their own working trio in the Windy City. The generally charming studio date encompasses ten original compositions, six by Johnston, four by Bradfield.
Technically and musically, the foursome is splendid. What is missing—and it... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - No Bounds
by David Franklin, Jazz Times, November 2006
Although he ended up losing to Dave Holland and Gordon Goodwin, respectively, the German-born composer-arranger Chris Walden was recently nominated for Grammy Awards for best large jazz ensemble album and best instrumental arrangement. No Bounds is the follow-up to Home of My Heart, the album that brought him such acclaim. A compositional virtuoso has also scored dozens of films and provided charts for numerous performers in pop... read more
David Friesen - This Light Has No Darkness, Volume 1
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
In an era when most "statement albums" are focusing on the darkness, bassist David Friesen uses his Hemage Bass and faith to shine a bright and encouraging light. He teams up with pianist Paul Lees, percussionists Charlie Doggett and Rob More, and uses the arrangements, orchestrations and chamber ensemble programming of Kyle Gordon to create a richly textured and organic collection of sweeping ideas and moods.
You don't have to be a 5 Point... read more
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Gabriel Rivera, Indie Boulevard
Chamber Jazz at Its Most Honest: MAJA JAKU's Blessed & Bewitched Earns Every Minute of Your Patience
Jazz criticism has long developed a convenient way of talking about vocal albums — and that way, for all its refinement, has become a trap. We know how to describe technique, school, influences. We know how to construct a genealogy — who studied under whom, who inherited whose intonations, in which city and in which year it all... read more
Toby Koenigsberg - Sense
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise, October 5, 2006
Toby Koenigsberg grew up in Eugene, Ore. where he's now an assistant professor of jazz piano at the University of Oregon. He received his master of music degree from Eastman, and then pursued graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory.
Jason Palmer, the trio's drummer, has been associated with Koenigsberg for 15 years, when they formed their first musical group. Bassist Tyler Abbot completes the trio, which has been active for three years... read more
Western Jazz Collective - Dark Journey: The Music of Andrew Rathbun
by Editor, Modern Drummer
Saxophonist and composer Andrew Rathbun has a specific musical direction, and he accomplishes creating a nice set of music in that direction. However, describing that direction is difficult. Listening to the opener "Making No Sense" might offer the reader some help. Rathbun's music is highly composed, with large doses of improvisation, using both directional grooves and expansive soundscapes. Doses of electric piano and distorted guitar further... read more
Sam Yahel - Truth And Beauty
by Nate Chinen, New York Times
Painting Sounds Using a Palette of Shadowy Colors From Pop and Postbop
The Hammond B-3 organist Sam Yahel began his second set at the Jazz Standard on Tuesday night with a row of intervals arranged to avoid any hint of resolution. This dash of atonality was fleeting - after a minute or two he plunged into a tune along with guitar and drums - but Mr. Yahel made it an efficient statement of purpose. This was an organ-trio gig, he seemed... read more
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