Origin Records Reviews

Cuong Vu - Leaps of Faith
by Dave Sumner, Bird Is The Worm Jazz Blog

Trumpeter Cuong Vu has established a sound quite unlike anyone else on the scene. With lighthouse moans soaring above a wash of dissonance and electronics, he?s created a post-bop ambient style of avant-garde. Or said differently, it?s the metaphorical equivalent of a straight-ahead jazz melody dropped onto a tiny desert island in a sea of chaotic noise. The end result is that it?s pretty damn hard to find a Cuong Vu album that isn?t compelling... read more

Lincoln Goines - The Art of the Bass Choir
by Marty Gunther, Chicago Blues Guide

Here's something different: California-born, New York-based Lincoln Goines is one of the best bassists of his generation with a career rooted in the jazz world and recordings with Dizzy Gillespie, Idris Muhammad, Paquito D'Rivera, Carly Simon and other giants. But he delivers azure notes aplenty in this thoroughly enjoyable, classy and primarily instrumental set.

A longtime professor at Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music, Goines... read more

John Stowell and Ulf Bandgren - Throop
by Hessel Fluitman, Jazzflits- Netherlands

John Stowell lives in Portland, Oregon and Ulf Bandgren in Gothenburg, Sweden. Both gentlemen met in Ithaca, New York and then Bandgren was invited by Stowell in 2010 to perform together at the Ballard jazz Festival in Seattle. The interplay between the two guitarists is exemplary. Over and over again, soloing and accompanying, they create a complete Orchestra. Most compositions are by Ulf Bandgren, but also contains a number by Stowell and one... read more

Chris Walden - Chris Walden: Symphony No. 1 - The Four Elements
by Victor L. Schermer, All About Jazz

Chris Walden is probably best known to AAJ readers as a big band leader and composer. But his interest in developing other forms has already garnered him two Grammy nominations, and here he ventures into the serious orchestral realm. He takes the four elements?Earth, Water, Air and Fire?and uses them as the basis of four symphonic movements in the post-romantic programmatic style of Richard Strauss, Holst, Sibelius, and others of the late... read more

George Colligan & Theoretical Planets - Risky Notion
by Ken Micallef, Downbeat

Finally, what with everyone thinking they're as smart as their drummer, some want to become the drummer, as heard on pianist George Colligan & Theoretical Planets' Risky Notion. As Colligan tells it, after recording his 25th album, it was "time for something drastically different." But can Colligan play? Well, can Jack DeJohnette play the piano? Can Chick Corea play the drums? Like these masters, Colligan acquits himself nicely in warm,... read more

John Moulder - Earthborn Tales of Soul and Spirit
by Neil Tesser, Jazziz

Chicago guitarist John Moulder has proven himself as versatile as he is virtuosic. He's served as producer on a handful of his own albums, and each has a strikingly different theme, purpose and array of musicians. Despite that, Moulder almost always inclines toward big picture concepts — something you could reasonably expect, given that he's spent much of his career holding a "day gig" as a Catholic minister.

Earthbound Tales of Soul... read more

Corey Christiansen - Roll With It
by Will Smith, JazzTimes, Jan/Feb 09

Those with a taste for grits and gravy in their musical diet will find a lot to savor on Roll With It. And while this group looks like a typical organ trio with tenor on the side, it packs a tangy flavor due to the solid and inspired musicianship of the participants, most of them living in the general area of the Pacific Northwest. Lead guitarist Corey Christiansen, who has returned to his native Utah after six years as the senior music... read more

New York Voices - Reminiscing in Tempo
by Editor, The Jazz Page

New York Voices prove why they have become a vocal jazz institution with Reminiscing in Tempo. The production is a wonderful, eclectic mix of songs by Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Ignacio Cervantes, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The harmonies of the group's Peter Eldridge, Lauren Kinhan, Darmon Meader and Kim Nazarian are soaring and on-point on every tune. The quality musical performances backing them are... read more

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