Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Dave Glenn - National Pastime
by Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition
Dave Glenn's National Pastime celebrates two of America's cultural institutions: baseball and jazz. While both are intrinsically identified with the United States, they are not often found together. [How about Dave Frishberg?...Ed.] Glenn's project is a tribute to players past and present; a love letter to the game; it honors the fans and ballparks where they congregate to watch the smack of the ball; and in the process the album venerates... read more
Bill Anschell - More To The Ear Than Meets The Eye
by Joseph Blake, Times Colonist, January 7, 2007
Seattle-based Bill Anschell's latest CD features a stellar ensemble of that city's finest jazz musicians playing an exciting repertoire of cleverly reshaped standards and Anschell's soulful, poignant originals. A pair of rhythm teams (Jeff Johnson and John Bishop, Doug Miller and Jose Martinez) anchor the recording's fluid, playful melodies, providing an elastic, always-swinging foundation for Anschell's edgy, smart improvisations. Thomas... read more
Chris Walden Big Band & The St. John's Choir - Kurt Marti Suite
by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Chris Walden's Kurt Marti Suite utilizes the sacred poems of Kurt Marti, a priest whose religious poetry was highly rated. Walden utilizes his big band and the 67 voices of the St. John's Choir for the 12-part suite. While there are occasional solos, including from tenor saxophonist Brandon Fields, altoist Jeff Driskill, and trombonist Bob McChesney, the music mostly features ensembles and the voices. The CD concludes with a Michael Brecker... read more
The Acoustic Jazz Quartet - Organic
by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
"Organic Unity" the approximate center point of the Acoustic Jazz Quartet's new recording Organic, fairly well sums up in an aural sense the constantly evolving vision of this fine West Coast quartet. This slightly Bossa piece shows exactly how far an already superb quartet has come since its previous release, Acoustic Jazz Quartet (Naxos Jazz 86033, 1999) and David Sill's previous offerings Journey Together (Naxos Jazz 86023, 1999) and Bigs... read more
Jessica Williams - Billy's Theme: A Tribute to Dr. Billy Taylor
by Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes, September 2006
To "get" Jessica Williams, you must experience her in person. Her audience is fiercely loyal, and her deep connection with them comes partly from the tension between her demure shyness and her utterly dominating piano. She is in her own way, a super saleswoman of the keyboard and never lets anyone out of the room without closing the deal.
Not surprisingly, Williams' best albums until now have been recorded in front of live audiences (e.g.,... read more
Upper Left Trio - Cycling
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
It's hard to put the finger on what makes for a successful piano trio set. Some of jazz's bona fide great keyboard players turn in less than inspired efforts, sets that just don't hold the listener's interest for the duration of an hour of music. It's probably the worst criticism that can be made of a recording - that it just doesn't hold interest. And the piano trio format can be particularly unforgiving.
And having said that, the other... read more
Scenes - Silent Photographer
by Editor, Amazon
The Pacific Northwest is full of jazz musicians who deserve more notice outside the region. The Seattle/Portland trio Scenes is one example. Guitarist John Stowell, bassist Jeff Johnson and Origin Records honcho/drummer John Bishop first came together, along with tenor saxophonist Rick Mandyck, on the 2001 album Scenes. Since that time, Bishop, Stowell and Johnson have produced four more releases under the nomenclature Scenes. The trio's 2010... read more
Alex Graham - The Good Life
by David Franklin, JazzTimes April 2006
Altoist Alex Graham's The Good Life is easy-going, straightahead post-Coltrane hard bop executed with skill by all involved. Although released in late 2005, it was recorded less than three years after Graham's 1995 debut, Countdown. And it, too, includes Rick Roe on piano. This time, however the instrumentation is a basic quartet, and the bassist and drummer are the veterans Rodney Whitaker and Joe Strasser.
While the nicely varied program... read more
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