Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
George Colligan & Theoretical Planets - Risky Notion
by Don Lerman, Cadence
George Colligan has performed with many prominent jazz figures as well his own group, has recorded prolifically both as a sideman (over 100 albums) and as a leader (25 albums), is a noted composer, and is currently on the jazz faculty at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Better known for his work on piano, Colligan plays drums on (1), serving as both an anchor and musical precipitator for saxophonists Joe Manis and Nicole Glover and... read more
Geof Bradfield - Urban Nomad
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Geof Bradfield's second date as a leader shows a great degree of maturity for a relatively young player. Doubling on tenor and soprano saxes, he penned six originals for the session, which includes pianist Ron Perrillo, bassist Clarke Sommers, and drummer George Fludas. "Urban Nomad" is an enticing, melancholy post-bop vehicle that embodies a sense of wandering, featuring the leader's engaging soprano. He switches to tenor for his robust, funky... read more
Bobby Broom - Upper West Side Story
by Ken Dryden, All Music
One of the top guitarists of his generation, Bobby Broom's preferred setting is a small group, while he excels in the demanding trio setting with bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins (with Makaya McCraven replacing him on three songs). Upper West Side Story includes nine originals, none of which is likely to become a jazz standard, but all of which are stimulating. "D's Blues" has an engaging hard bop hook that pulls the listener in... read more
Bill Anschell - More To The Ear Than Meets The Eye
by John Nyerges, www.jazzradio247.com
This Origin Records 2006 release starts with deconstructing the melody Night & Day and has wonderful rhythms (!!) floating over the bar lines. Monkisms, use of space, ? time feel, and the chordal voicings are all very musical. The accompaniment of Miller and Martinez is top shelf here (as is everyone on this CD).
Then comes an original tune more rhythmic in it's melody than say a more typical linear approach as in an older song-style standard �... read more
Geof Bradfield - melba!
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
You'd think that any jazz musician who wrote for Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Billy Eckstine and Randy Weston -- and also played trombone for Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and Gerald Wilson -- would be known to all the world. But outside of connoisseurs, few are familiar with the pioneering work of Melba Liston, who arranged two of pianist's Weston's most ambitious compositions, "Uhuru Afrika" and "Highlife," and enjoyed a long-lasting... read more
Ryan Cohan - Originations
by Paul Rauch, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS There is a risk in creating art that reflects in essence, one's own personal journey. What that journey reveals within the context of one life may not carry the same value to a collective audience. In the case of Chicago based composer/pianist Ryan Cohan, his explorative delve into his own bi-cultural roots as presented on his new release, Originations (Origin, 2020), would not resonate with listeners if the music itself was... read more
Mimi Fox - Standards, Old & New
by Lee Hildebrand, East Bay Express
Playing solo jazz guitar ain't easy. Unlike piano, on which an unaccompanied musician can do bass lines and/or chords with the left hand and melodies with the right, solo guitar affords few such possibilities, unless the picker uses the tapping technique associated with Mimi Fox's friend Stanley Jordan. On her third solo album out of nine releases, Fox employs the traditional method of fretting with her left and picking with her right as she... read more
Purna Loka Ensemble - Metaraga
by Patrick Neas, The Kansas City Star
'A general communication of good will.' East and West unite in the album 'Metaraga'
"East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," Rudyard Kipling wrote. But violinist Purnaprajna Bangere is out to prove that not only can they meet, they can become one.
Bangere, a mathematician and musician based in Lawrence, and the Purna Loka Ensemble have recently released "Metaraga," an album that uses... read more
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