Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Brad Goode - Polytonal Big Band: The Snake Charmer
by Christof Thurnherr, Jazz'N'More (Switzerland)
4-STARS Goode is an outstanding instrumentalist who enjoys performing as a soloist. He is also an exciting composer and arranger. His compositions cover a broad stylistic repertoire: There are traditional jazz pieces like "Goose Chase," "Ornithology" (which, however, doesn't develop in the announced direction), and "Cabin in the Sky," in which he works with the familiar compositional elements of the big band. There are also lyrical and... read more
Greta Matassa - Favorites From A Long Walk
by Adam Greenburg, All Music Guide
A nice album of relatively unknown songs originally done by the great female vocalists of yesteryear. Matassa has a nice way with the music, alternately whispering softly and belting out cadences as the compositions require. Matassa doesn't quite mimic the classic singers, but she does have hints of their styles slyly embedded in her delivery. Ella comes out just a bit when she starts to scat. Carmen McRae comes through a bit on a Jobim number.... read more
Jessica Williams - Freedom Trane
by Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
John Coltrane tributes are not hard to find in the jazz world, and different tributes will celebrate different periods of the saxophone innovator's career. Some tributes pay homage to Coltrane's hard bop period (as in &"Giant Steps," &"Moment's Notice," and &"Lazy Bird"), others pay homage to his modal post-bop period of roughly 1960-1964, and some pay homage to his radically avant-garde free jazz period of 1965-1967 (the last few years of his... read more
Mark Taylor with RadioAction - After Hours
by Dave Nathan, All Music Guide
Working with fellow Origin labelmates, alto/soprano saxophonist Mark Taylor delivers his maiden album, featuring four compositions written by him or by the piano player on the session, Whitney Ashe. The remaining four are works similarly fashioned out of the modern jazz mold. Taylor is one of those younger jazz players who perceives this musical genre has something more than dazzling technique, improvisations on standard pop material, or... read more
David Friesen with Orchestra and Quartet - Testimony
by Michael Schaust, Jazz Podium (Germany)
In search of sources, of his ancestors in the Ukraine, multi-instrumentalist David Friesen has hit fertile ground. The US-American (78) comes together with local musicians, his wish to better understand his mother's heritage comes true. And the result is truly worth listening to. It begins with a tour in 2015, "homecoming concerts" follow in 2016, and finally culminate in the live recording now available with the National Academic Symphony Band... read more
Sam Yahel - From Sun to Sun
by Nate Chinen, New York Times
During the final stretch of "From Sun to Sun" (Origin), his adept, engaging new album, the keyboardist Sam Yahel offers a glimpse of what might have been. Downhill-skiing through a pair of songbook standards ? "So in Love" and "Taking a Chance on Love," linked by an interlude with a classical tinge ? he plays crisply over fast-swinging rhythm, the picture of mainstream post-bop piano excellence.
Which is disconcerting only in context. Mr.... read more
Anthony Branker - Beauty Within
by Jon Neudorf, Sea of Tranquility
Anthony Branker is rising to the top of American jazz composers and it is easy to hear why on his seventh album for Origin Records titled Beauty Within. He is a leader of three ensembles, Word Play, Ascent and on this record teaming with Imagine.
Beauty Within is a stunning post-bop jazz album that showcases the exceptional talent of his band. The musical director leads a very talented group of players including Ralph Bowen (tenor and soprano... read more
Hal Galper - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
by Cedric Hendrix, Cirdec Songs
This record can really be summed up in two words: IN-SANE!!! Not only is Hal Galper an amazing pianist with a raw aggressive tone one might compare to Keith Jarrett, but his inclusion of the legendary Brecker brothers (Randy on trumpet and flugelhorn and Michael on tenor sax) was nothing short of inspired. Everyone is given an equal chance to shine, and no one wastes his opportunity. Bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Bob Moses are equally rock... read more
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