Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Nnenna Freelon - Time Traveler
by Robert Rusch, Papatamus / Cadence
It has been almost ten years since NNENNA FREELON issued a recording under her own name. If you followed her on Columbia or Concord Records, you will certainly welcome TIME TRAVELER [Origin Records 82822]. Recorded between 2018 and 2020, Freelon gets strong support from a pool of 13 musicians, most notable Keith Ganz [gtr] and some tasty touches with organist Brandon McCune. Except for the title track, the rest of the program are standards, and... read more
Jessica Williams - Touch
by John Henry, Audiophile Audition
The piano is no longer a percussion instrument for her - she sees it as foremost a symphonic stringed instrument with an enormous palette of colors.
*****stars
Pianist Jessica Williams was recorded live at The Triple Door in Seattle in this eight-track CD of four of her original compositions plus one each from Gershwin, Mingus, Coltrane and Johnny Green. I've long felt she is one of the very finest jazz pianists today - a jazz equivalent... read more
Michael Zilber - East West: Music for Big Bands
by Andrew Gilbert, LINER NOTES
"East West - Music for Big Bands embraces multiplicity. It's not either/or, it's and/also. It's beauty AND burn, intense swing AND sweet balladry, all united under Zilber's commanding and ever expanding creative purview."
The truth is that Michael Zilber can't be defined by a simple geographic duality. The saxophonist contains multitudes as a composer, player, arranger, educator, bandleader and collaborator who's created a... read more
Doug Lofstrom - Concertino: The Music Of Doug Lofstrom
by Laurence Vittes, Gramaphone
Chicago composer Doug Lofstrom has coupled first recordings of two modestly appealing orchestral concertinos for oboe and harp with an archival reprise of his Plumed Serpent studio fantasy from 30 years ago. There isn't much in either Concertino that hasn't been heard before - Richard Strauss and Hollywood musicals come to mind, though more svelte, brought up to date and internationalized - but they are both beautifully written for the... read more
Jared Hall - Seen on the Scene
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The Seattle trumpet wizard Jared Hall returns with a sophomore album as leader, where he's in the company of Vincent Herring (alto saxophone), John Hansen (piano), Michael Glynn (bass), and Matt Jorgensen (drums) across instrumental jazz tunes that are both originals and classics and are executed with much attention to detail.
Hall starts the listen with the bouncy bass and warm keys highlighting the timeless jazz of the title track, and... read more
Sonando - Tres
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Here's an interesting item. A Latin jazz release from Seattle. What makes it interesting is that Sonando is able to incorporate both the idioms of Latin jazz and the subtlety and grace that's fast becoming the hallmark of the Northwest jazz scene. The pieces here are a mix of originals and pieces from around the jazz world (Wayne Shorter, Horace Silver, Abdullah Ibrahim), rearranged as needed to fit the desired style. It's the seamless... read more
Hal Galper - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
by Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman
4-STARS This intense moment in time captures US pianist Hal Galper leading a volatile quintet with the fabled Brecker brothers - trumpeter Randy and the late Mike on tenor saxophone, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Bob Moses. The double CD opens by establishing the band's take-no-prisoners ethos with Now Hear This, Galper's creative fire churning and spinning over the relentless pace of bass and drums while both Breckers are in... read more
Anthony Branker - Beauty Within
by Raul da Gama, JazzDaGama
As a listener, Anthony Branker is no stranger to sound of the heart. As a composer his trained inner ear is always tuned into the rhythms of the heart. It is not that intellect and logic do not play a part in what he writes; it's just that his guiding light from which all music flows is the Almighty and God speaks to all men in the energy of the heart. For Branker his ear is tuned to interpret what's written on the blank slate; the - tabula... read more
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