Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Purna Loka Ensemble - Metaraga
by Sumana Ramanan, FirstPost (India)
Geometry Sings the Blues in Indian-American Mathematician's Radical New Music System - CURVED PHRASES from Indian ragas melt into languorous blues microtones. The strains of music born on the American South's slave plantations mutate into the more angular notes and layered melodies of the Western classical genre. The different sounds weave in and out of one another, creating a shifting and arresting aural landscape that feels at once both... read more
Pharez Whitted - For the People
by Ken Dryden, All Music
Chicago native Pharez Whitted may not have garnered the attention of New York-based trumpeters, but he has built an impressive career over several decades. For the People features his working band (saxophonist Eddie Bayard, guitarist Bobby Broom, pianist Ron Perrillo, bassist Dennis Carroll, and drummer Greg Artry), playing his compositions. "Watusi Boogaloo" is a perfect opener, as Whitted develops a hip groove and features the entire band.... 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
Richard Sussman - Continuum
by George Fendel, Jazz Society of Oregon
When CDs contain mostly or exclusively original music, I look for one primary characteristic. If I can't find it, the CD is usually not a prime candidate for review. It's as simple as...a well-defined melody. If that's old-fashioned, so be it. But I lose my sense of direction when I can't discern a melody as a foundation for the improvisation which follows. I know nothing of Richard Sussman other than he's probably a New Yorker (judging from the... read more
Geof Bradfield - melba!
by Hryar Attarian, All About Jazz
Chicago based saxophonist Geof Bradfield's Melba! is a much needed tribute to the criminally underexposed trombonist and arranger Melba Liston. Liston debuted with trumpeter, bandleader Gerald Wilson, was one of the stars of trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's bebop big band and devoted herself to arranging after she met pianist Randy Weston with whom she had a long and fruitful career.
Commissioned by Chamber Music America's 2011 New Jazz Works... read more
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by John Pietaro, New York City Jazz Record
The tendency of poets to break out of the twodimensional boundary is often seen as a post-War phenomenon, yet poetry was oral long before written language emerged. The African-American jazz tradition, begotten from a brutal melding of divergent cultures, cast a certain boundlessness. The music's central swing and bop allows the poet to emote and embellish with shifts in meter, stress, dynamic, repetition and surely through improvisation.
The... read more
Brent Jensen / Bill Anschell / Chris Symer - Blueprints
by George Fendel, Jazz Society of Oregon
This isn't the first time that Anschell and Jensen have found their way into a recording studio. But it is their initial effort in pre�senting a set of jazz standards. Anschell has been an in-demand Seattle artist for some years now, and I believe that Jensen is still based somewhere in that jazz mecca called Idaho. Bassist Symer, a new name to me, completes the trio. I know that the soprano sax�ophone has become the "darling" of the smooth jazz... read more
David Weiss Sextet - Auteur
by Icrom Bigrad, Jazz Sensibilities
David Weiss' Auteur, the latest release with his sextet, hits with the force of a well-honed ensemble ten years in the making. This album, crafted by musicians rooted in the evolution of modern jazz, highlights Weiss' original composition and an ensemble that speaks in a language of the jazz lineage. The seven-track collection, released on September 20, 2024, through Origin, shines with Weiss' signature blend of unrecorded historical gems and... read more
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