Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Mark Taylor - Spectre
by John Barron, All About Jazz.com
Saxophonist Mark Taylor was announced Northwest Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2009 Earshot Jazz Awards. Such esteemed recognition may be due to his high profile supporting roles on Origin Records releases by Thomas Marriott and Matt Jorgensen + 451. For Spectre, his first recording as a leader in six years, the Seattle, Washington-based Taylor presents an inventive set of original, progressive jazz. The quartet setting features Taylor on... read more
Anthony Branker - Beauty Within
by Jay Hunter, Nippertown (Albany, NY)
2016 TOP 10 Composer/arranger Anthony Branker doesn't play on his own pieces; like Maria Schneider, he's got people for that. But where Schneider literally needs an army to paint her pastoral pictures, Branker employs an uber-tight quintet of notorious killers to conjure music that soothes your soul one moment, then goes for your throat the next - on the same tune! The front line of saxman Ralph Bowen, guitarist Pete McCann and pianist... read more
Thomas Marriott - Constraints & Liberations
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
Trumpeter Thomas Marriott keeps growing as an artist. He has released CDs at a healthy pace since 2005: an introduction for many perhaps unwary jazz fans to some warped country western flavor on Crazy: The Music of Willie Nelson (Origin Records, 2008); cranking an all-star quintet up in a modern mainstream mode on Flexicon (Origin Records, 2009); and letting it rip on a two-trumpet blow fest with fellow brass man Ray Vega on East-West Trumpet... read more
John Wojciechowski - Focus
by Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazzmozaiek (Belgium)
Saxophonist John Wojciechowski's been active on the jazz scene in Chicago for nearly a decade. On hearing this CD, the immediate question is why he has remained under the radar outside of the "Windy City" for so long. The opening track from his second album was an instant hit. Balanced elaborated, saxophone solo in the right place, perfectly dosed with a clear knowledge of the tradition (from swing to bop and beyond), yet with a contemporary... read more
Mark Zaleski - OUR TIME: REIMAGINING DAVE BRUBECK
by Jim Hynes, Making a Scene
Our Time is far edgier than one might guess, considering that the Mark Zaleski Band is reimagining the music of Dave Brubeck. Mark Zaleski is featured here on alto and soprano saxophone alongside tenor saxophonist Jon Bean, pianist Glenn Zaleski, guitarist Mark Cocheo, bassist Danny Weller, and drummer Oscar Suchanek. In addition, Our Time features guest vocalist Michael Mayo on Brubeck's "They Say I Look Like God".
The album is a... read more
Sam Yahel - Truth And Beauty
by Adam Gold, The Pheonix
Sam Yahel's expressive approach to the Hammond B3 organ has made him one of the most sought-after sidemen in jazz. He's appeared on Norah Jones's Come Away with Me and Madeleine Peyroux's Half the Perfect World, toured with guitarist Bill Frisell, and supported tenor-saxophonist Joshua Redman in the backbeat-jazz-pioneering Elastic band. Truth and Beauty sees him reunited with Redman and fellow Elastic band drummer Brian Blade, and the trio's... read more
Lorin Cohen - Home
by Paul Abella, Music Lounge - WDCB, Chicago
Former Chicago bassist Lorin Cohen has a new disc out from Origin Records called Home. First off, props to Cohen for some really outstanding arranging on this album. Cohen has created really nice "sonic palates" for his musicians to work with. And Cohen didn't take the easy way out, instrumentally speaking, either. Throughout Home, you'll hear steel pans, harmonica and vibes, along with the usual Jazz rhythm section of piano, bass and drums.... read more
Ryan Cohan - Originations
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
The best jazz recordings of 2020 to date: Savvy listeners already know that Chicago pianist-composer Cohan has a well-honed gift for writing long-form jazz compositions. It reaches a high point in "Originations," a suite Cohan performed to vivid effect at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in 2018. The new recording deepens earlier favorable impressions of the piece, which amounts to a series of tone poems in which Cohan explores his Middle... read more
Looking for a specific review?
This is just a small collection of the Origin Records reviews. Click here to view all reviews or try to Search for your favorite CD title.
Search Reviews:
Recently Added Reviews:
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Hanna Kay, Cult News (Paris)
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Budapest, Rudolf Radnai
Abate Berihun & The Addis Ken Project - Addis Ken
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Dawn Clement - Dear Ms. Dearie
by Editor, Bman's Blues Report
Jared Hall - Hometown
by Dee Dee McNeil, Making A Scene
Affinity Trio - New Outlook
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Michael Dease Big Band - Return Trajectory
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Brad Goode Quintet Feat. Ernie Watts - Live Your Dream: Live at North Street Cabaret
by Thierry De Clemensat, Paris Move
Maja Jaku - Blessed & Bewitched
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect