Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Bill Anschell - Improbable Solutions
by ERIC OLSON, Earshot Jazz
It takes all of five bars for a ring modulator to slink, unassumingly, and rather unexpectedly, into the opening track of Seattle-based pianist Bill Anschell's newest work. A few seconds on, when guitarist Brian Monroney flicks his strings like Avi Bortnick on one of John Scofield's Überjam records, the album title falls into place: Improbable Solutions. There's no saying what "problem" this excellent album is bent on solving, but its... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - No Bounds
by Victor L. Schermer, All About Jazz
No Bounds is as tasteful a big band album as you're likely to hear today, at a time when large jazz ensembles compete in virtuosity, intensity, range and, unfortunately, volume. Every note on the disc is well-placed, in tune and, even when dissonant, pleasing to the ears. That's because Walden knows music from top to bottom, having been a trumpeter himself, and composed, arranged and conducted for big bands, the cinema, television and star... read more
Geof Bradfield - African Flowers
by , TheJazzPage.com
In 2008, multi-reed instrumentalist Geof Bradfield was a member of a month-long musical tour of the African countries of Rwanda, Uganda, Congo and Zimbabwe sponsored by the U.S. State Department and Jazz at Lincoln Center. It was part of a program to take American music abroad. Bradfield, however, received as much as he gave to the experience, soaking in a great deal of African music while on the tour. African Flowers is the product of his... read more
Bobby Broom - My Shining Hour
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
Every city tends to take its own jazz treasures a bit for granted, notwithstanding the respect they generate across the country and beyond. With My Shining Hour (Origin Records), to be released Aug. 19, guitarist Bobby Broom reminds us of his stature as soloist and bandleader. Fronting a trio with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Makaya McCraven, Broom stands front and center - and benefits enormously from this high exposure. Rarely... read more
Tom Collier - Mallet Fantastique
by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
Mallet percussionist Tom Collier finally educates listeners on the difference between the vibraphone and marimba: it is the sound. These mallet-driven instruments make a great alternative to the piano, both in solo and ensemble settings. They are rich instruments, the vibraphone with its resonant presence and the marimba with its organic woodiness. Mallet Fantastique houses six extended compositions for mallets that Collier recorded between 2004... read more
Dan McCarthy - City Abstract
by Ron Schepper, Textura
Even before listening to City Abstract, it's possible to form some idea of where Dan McCarthy's coming from: on the Canadian vibraphonist's second release for the Seattle-based Origin Records, two tunes are affectionate tributes to Carla Bley and Gary Burton, and covers of classic material by Bley, Keith Jarrett, and Pat Metheny also appear. If a bit of an ECM vibe informs the album, it's in part attributable to McCarthy's avowed love for the... read more
Josh Nelson - The Sky Remains
by Sean J. O'Connell, Los Angeles Times
Pianist Josh Nelson's Fairfax District home is squeezed from all sides by the lore of old Los Angeles, and he is a student of the city's many tales.
For Nelson's newest release, "The Sky Remains," out now on Origin Records, he invokes a handful of Southern California ghosts for an homage to the complicated past and promising future of his hometown with the help of some of L.A.'s best young jazz musicians, including vocalist Kathleen Grace,... read more
Scott Reeves - Portraits and Places
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
Great jazz orchestras are harder to find these days than the proverbial hen's tooth. The general public no longer desires to hear the music that made the Big Band years so fantastic, and established talents such as Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Stan Kenton and so many others. Groups like those are no longer cost-effective to work or tour with. Thankfully, a market still exists for the smaller... read more
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