Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Dan Cray - Outside In
by Filipe Freitas, Jazz Trail
Outside In is the title of the sixth album by the pianist/composer Dan Cray, his second recorded in quartet. Regarding the lineup, and in comparison to Cray's previous work, Meridies, the saxophonist Noah Preminger was replaced by Dayna Stephens, while the drummer Mark Ferber and his longtime bassist Clark Sommers keep laying down the foundation.
Favoring a laid-back posture and a liberating spiritual freedom, the recording... read more
John McLean - Better Angels
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise
Thursday, July 3, 2008
A lot of good guitarists are recording these days, and John McLean is one of the better ones.
McLean, who works the Chicago area these days, has been performing for more than 25 years and has been involved in more than two dozen releases by other artists during that time. This is just his second album as a leader/composer/arranger.
Like so many of today's musicians, McLean is a multi-degreed artist; he earned his bachelor of music... read more
New Stories - Speakin Out
by Dave Nathan, All Music Guide
For their second album, the New Stories trio pretty much follows the same blueprint it used for its first album for setting its program, mostly originals with a few pop and jazz standards added on. The major difference from the initial outing is the addition of hard blowing tenor sax man Ernie Watts on some of the tracks. When he's there, he forces a change in the group's playing modus operandi. With hard bopper Watts on board, there's little... read more
Piet Verbist - Zygomatik
by Guy Peters, Goddeau (Belgium)
Jazzbassisten, daarvan beweert men wel eens dat het droogstoppels zijn die niet liever doen dan spelen in dienst van? en verder vooral met rust gelaten willen worden. Een beeld dat blijft leven en niet snel ontkracht zal worden (laten we Mingus? XL-persoonlijkheid dan even negeren), al laat verder onderzoek horen dat er een heus leger flamboyante jazzbassisten is dat ook als leider mooie dingen laat horen. Dat geldt ook voor Piet Verbist, die nu... read more
Bob Sneider & Joe Locke - Nocturne for Ava
by George Kanzler, All About Jazz New York
The versatility of vibraphonist Joe Locke comes to the fore here, one album moody with intricately arranged, programmatic/impressionistic music, the other a loose quartet date emphasizing solos as much as tunes.
There's a mid-20th Century feel to Nocturne for Ava, evoking that time when melodic jazz found its way into TV show themes and movie soundtracks. It also uses instrumentation - augmented in places by horns - made popular by the... read more
John Stowell | Michael Zilber - Live Beauty
by George Fendel, Oregon Jazz Scene
The gifted Portland guitarist John Stowell manages to get a record or two per year out there for his loyal listeners to enjoy. This time it is saxman Michael Zilber, who joins Stowell and the quartet before a live audience in Berkeley, California. Stowell and Zilber communicate effortlessly on six originals of varying moods and tempos. There is also one standard; the venerable "My Funny Valentine." and you have never heard it quite like... read more
Rodney Whitaker - Outrospection: The Music of Gregg Hill
by LAWRENCE COSENTINO, City Pulse (Lansing, MI)
Rodney Whitaker's "Outrospection" processes the pandemic A lone trombone casts a shard of song onto the waves, a bottle with a note inside: Is anybody out there? "Outrospection," the title track of bassist Rodney Whitaker's latest CD, bares the scars from the lonely year of 2020, along with hopes for a better future together.
Whitaker recalled the momentous day last August when he convened an all-star ensemble of musicians who... read more
Clay Giberson - Spaceton's Approach
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
For his fourth release on Origin (not counting a handful of albums with his Upper Left Trio), pianist Clay Giberson reunited with a pair of New York accomplices to fill out a piano trio extraordinaire. The majority of the pieces are original compositions from Giberson, with the exception of the album-opening Rodgers & Hammerstein number and a stray (but excellent) Miles Davis piece near the end of the set. The compositions are well-crafted, with... read more
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