Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
speak - Speak
by Jon Solomon, All About Jazz
Forward-thinking trumpeter Cuong Vu has performed with the likes of Pat Metheny, Laurie Anderson and David Bowie. He's toured the world and released four albums under his own name. After a stint in New York, Vu moved back to the Northwest, where he is now assistant professor of jazz studies at the University of Washington.
It's there at UW that he coached an ensemble that included members of Speak. After mentoring the students -- saxophonist... read more
Dawn Clement - Break
by George Fendel, Platter Chatter
My son, Marc, a longtime resident alto sax player in Seattle, has told me on many an occasion that Dawn Clement is the real deal: an incessantly swinging bop pianist with chops galore and a beautiful sense of intimacy and feeling when it comes to ballads. Just catch how joyously creative she is on Jerome Kern's "I've Told Every Little Star." She'll get your attention! A couple of Clement's Seattle colleagues are nicely represented here with... read more
Richard Cole - A Glance Back
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
The debut solo album from Richard Cole, a Seattle sax player with some pretty good chops. The tone is relatively high here, making use of squeaks and squeals as possible, and holding to a modern jazz ideal in general. The solos sometimes draw themselves out in a slow arc before moving on, but they showcase some very nice sensitivity in exploring the range. The jazz scene in Seattle picked up quite a bit after the release of this album, and this... read more
Brad Goode - Polytonal Dance Party
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Brad Goode has long experimented with using polychordal harmonies, as many jazz musicians have well before him, but prior to this recording session, the trumpeter's adventurous charts tended to overwhelm many of the players who worked with him. But this date freed Goode from the series of post-bop/hard bop/bop recordings that he had made in the past. Accompanied by guitarist Bill Kooper (who switches to sitar on some tracks), pianist/keyboardist... read more
Les DeMerle - Gypsy Rendezvous, Vol. 1
by Kyle O'Brien, Jazz Society of Oregon
Any time anyone calls their group Dynamic, it's cause to put up a red flag for cheesiness. But the rousing Gypsy jazz that comes from this group is, well, rather dynamic. The disc came about during DeMerle's vacation to Maui, where he and Bonnie Eisele jammed with a local group. The result is a modern Hawaiian Gypsy jazz disc with a bit of a surf vibe, thanks to the dual guitars of Gypsy Pacific, Tom Conway and Phil Benoit. DeMerle's energetic... read more
Dawn Clement - Tandem
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
A real piano left fielder, Clement teams up for duets in various formats with real hitter pals of hers she admires. Even the chestnuts on parade take on a new life for the left leaning ears. Not for the feint of heart, this is one of those excursions where so little can say so... read more
Rodney Whitaker with the Christ Church Cranbrook Choir - Cranbrook Christmas Jazz
by Derrick Bang, Jazz Scan
Speaking of music in the church, Christmas-themed jazz worship services seem to be gaining traction across the country. The Rev. Bill Carter, who holds forth at the aforementioned First Presbyterian Church of Clark's Summit, has led his Presbybop combo in a Christmas Eve jazz concert for many years now.
A few states west, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, famed jazz bassist Rodney Whitaker and his sextet have made a tradition of joining the... read more
Richard Sussman - Live at Sweet Rhythm
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
Life has few certainties, but the constant and ever-moving nature of time is one of them. Events, both miniscule and monumental, pass by and usually leave nothing more than a memory or, in the case of music, a record. Such was the case with pianist Richard Sussman's Free Fall (Inner City Records, 1978). Joined by some burgeoning young talent in 1978, Sussman's album became an underground classic and that seemed to be the end of it. All the... read more
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