Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Rodney Whitaker - All Too Soon: The Music of Duke Ellington
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist
Doing an album of Duke Ellington tunes isn't a tough decision, and any number of fine artists have made perfectly lovely Ellington tribute albums. But from the very first track, bassist and arranger Rodney Whitaker makes it clear that while he's operating in a mode of love and reverence for America's greatest jazz composer, he's not going to be a slavish imitator. Leading a crack sextet, he instead puts his personal imprint on every selection,... read more
Laurie Antonioli - Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light
by Christopher Loudon, Jazz Times
As is common knowledge among even casual Joni Mitchell fans, around the mid-1970s her passion for jazz became increasingly integral to her work; that passion escalated through the '80s and included collaborations with Mingus, Jaco, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. So, at first blush, it seems odd that as jazz-savvy a vocalist as Laurie Antonioli would build a Mitchell salute exclusively around songs that pre-date Joni's jazz musicians.
In... read more
Piet Verbist - Suite Réunion
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Originally formed as an outlet for the things he was writing that didn't fit into the various formats for all the other groups he was working with contemporaneously, this nu ECM cool school instrumental set lights the way to the creative future for musos unafraid to take chances in that distinct Euro way, not a surprise since Verbist is from Belgium. Angular without sharp edges poking you, this is real listening music that knows how to chart... read more
Brittany Anjou - Enamigo Reciprokataj
by Ken Micallef, JazzTimes
There's a wonderful sense of becoming, of exploration and playfulness on Minot, North Dakota-born pianist Brittany Anjou's debut recording. She crams so much talent and energy into the album's 10 songs that you wonder if she'll ever come up for air. Enamiĝo Reciprokataj (Esperanto for "reciprocal love") is the daring work of a 35-year-old visionary. Though Anjou sometimes seems about to spin off her piano seat, she's ultimately a channel, a... read more
Cathy Segal-Garcia & Phillip Strange - Live in Japan
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
LA based vocalist Cathy Segal-Garcia teams up with pianist Phillip Strange for a double disc'd concert in Japan back in 1992, finally seeing the light of day. Segal-Garcia is a rich interpreter of lyrics, full of richness and emotion, and Strange the perfect partner with his rich chords of support. The too delve deeply into a passionately agonized "You've Changed" , with Strange stretching out on a bluesy "God Bless The Child". Due to the... read more
John Moulder - The Eleventh Hour
by Bill Meredith, Jazziz
New York City may be where jazz musicians go to seek stardom, but Chicago is no Second City for those looking to work. That lesson's clear to guitarist John Moulder, who teaches at nearby Northwestern University (where he earned a master's in music) and has crafted a 20-year recording career, culminating in the banner work on "The Eleventh Hour: Live at the Green Mill."
Captured live at the venerable uptown cocktail lounge, Moulder's... read more
Meridian Odyssey - Second Wave
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Seattle's Origin Records opened 2021 on a hopeful, turning-of-the-page note with Second Wave, by the group Meridian Odyssey. The band comprised five young (twenty-something) Seattle-ites who took advantage of the time on their collective hands, and the low air fares resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, to journey to Alaska, where guitarist Martin Budde's father—a pilot—owns an airplane hangar which served as a recording studio. Where the... read more
Mimi Fox - This Bird Still Flies
by Andrew Gilbert, The Mercury News
BEST OF 2019 Vallejo guitarist Mimi Fox extends her reputation as one of jazz's finest solo practitioners with an eclectic set unified by her unabashedly open-hearted sensibility as she transmutes folk tunes, jazz standards, original compositions and popular songs into revelatory personal... read more
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