Origin Records Reviews

John Stowell | Michael Zilber - Live Beauty
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

4-STARS - Part of the appeal of the teaming of guitarist John Stowell with various "post Coltrane" saxophonists is the cool/hot dynamic. Stowell is the guy with a Zen restraint, the cool guy, his chords sometimes sounding as if they are ringing from frozen stalactite filaments in ice caves. Saxophonists? Some blow cool - those of the Lester Young/Stan Getz/Paul Desmond school. And then there's sax guys like Dave Liebman, who teamed... read more

Piet Verbist - Secret Exit to Another Dimension
by Rick Anderson, CD HotList

I'll be completely candid here: this isn't my favorite jazz album of the year, or even the month. But I'm recommending it because I don't see it as my job simply to share what I like — it's my job to hip you to good music, and this album is objectively excellent, in terms of both the playing and (even more so) its structure and conception. Bassist Piet Verbist leads a trio that includes guitarist Hendrik Braeckman and drummer Lionel Beuvens,... read more

Upper Left Trio - Cycling
by Lynn Darroch, Oregonian

A COMFORTABLE RIDE

The smorgasbord of styles under the umbrella of jazz these days -- from smooth to rough, swing to funk -- means that CD reviews must go beyond comments on purely musical qualities to consider how listeners might use the music, be it for dancing, meditation, background or stimulation.

"Cycling," the first CD by the Portland contemporary jazz group Upper Left Trio, could fill several of those functions.

All... read more

Paul Marinaro - Mood Ellington
by Lance Liddle, BeBop Spoken Here

A somewhat belated review, it was released in November but only reached my Victrola this month, otherwise it would have been highly placed in the 2025 Vocal Albums of the Year. Apologies to all concerned.

I reviewed one of Marinaro's previous albums - Not Quite Yet - back in 2022 and I was impressed. Mood Ellington is equally impressive maybe even more so because of the material, the arrangements and Marinaro himself.

Not every vocalist... read more

Paul Ricci - The Path
by Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs

This is funk and fusion at its best. All the recorded music is composed by guitarist and band leader, Paul Ricci. As he states in the album liner notes:

"I collected my experiences and influences ...together in these compositions, in search of a personal common thread. New York has a mysterious way of presenting me with the cultural confluence of jazz, rock, blues, hard bop, organ trios, R&B, pop, Rhumba, Samba, varied Caribbean and... read more

Phil Kelly & The SW Santa Ana Winds - My Museum
by Jack Bowers, Cadence, March 2007

While the wind type and direction have changed on "My Museum", almost everything else, thankfully, remains unimpaired on Phil Kelly's second album in a span of three years. in 2003, Kelly and the NW Prevailing Winds recorded Convergence Zone, a prelude to this admirable new release by the SW Santa Ana Winds. Wheras the NW Winds blew from in and around Kelly's home base in Seattle, Washington, the SW Winds have sprung forth, with a few... read more

Brad Goode - Polytonal Dance Party
by Andy Hamilton, Jazz Review

I'd been aware of Brad Goode, but not of quite what a superlative player and band-leader he was ? till I reviewed his album Nature Boy, released on Delmark earlier this year. With his quartet of Jeff Jenkins on piano, Johannes Weidenmueller on bass and Todd Reid on drums, this is an album where conception and execution, form and content, are perfectly matched. The leader's bright, articulate trumpet, placed in the context of a variety of... read more

Darrell Grant - Truth And Reconciliation
by Marc Medwin, Cadence

Darrell Grant's latest certainly shares a level of reflection, but it's largely a less somber affair, opening with the down-right joyful title track. "Ubuntu" is a bit stealthier, but it has an infectious drums-and-bass groove that positively exudes good will. So does "Fils du Soleil," a dedication to Tony Williams whose funk whispers, due mainly to Patitucci, through an eerie haze of chords and shards of melody. The veteran bassist even brings... read more

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