Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Phil Kelly - Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles
by Ric Bang, The Davis Enterprise
It's great when a wish comes true.
I previously reviewed an album ("My Museum") by Phil Kelly and the Southwest Santa Ana Winds Big Band, and expressed interest in future "Compass Wind" groups.
Well, here's another, and this ensemble is dubbed the Northwest Prevailing Winds.
Whatever. It's even better than its predecessor.
This is a truly big band of 22 musicians: four trumpets, four trombones, seven reeds and a seven-member rhythm section.... read more
Piet Verbist - Zygomatik
by Dave Sumner, All About Jazz
Zygomatik has the fiery groove of classic hard bop, but it's not that simple. There is a rock attitude to this album, and it's got a Motown sway. This is the kind of album that can be pointed to as a celebration of jazz and an album that will be liked by people for whom jazz really ain't their thing. It's an album with complex elements and modulating sounds, but which hits the ears with a seamless cohesion.
These are the characteristics... read more
Florian Hoefner - Luminosity
by Doug Simpson, Audiophile Audition
Musical storytelling which mixes compositional originality with instrumental brilliance. Stepping outside one's comfort zone is a time-honored tradition in jazz. Pianist Florian Hoefner - born and raised in Germany and who finished his jazz education in Manhattan - took that journey a bit further than most. In 2014, he relocated from NYC to the isolated city of St. John's in Canada's farthest easterly province, Newfoundland. Not a... read more
Chad McCullough Bram Weijters - Urban Nightingale
by Dave Sumner, Bird Is The Worm Jazz Blog
Following on the success of their 2011 collaboration Imaginary Sketches, trumpeter Chad McCullough and pianist Bram Weijters display with their latest release Urban Nightingale that they are truly a perfect match creatively.
Despite originating from opposite ends of the globe, the two have a symbiotic connection from both a perspective of group interplay and also personal voicing. Illustrated right from the first notes of... read more
Michael Waldrop Big Band - Time Within Itself
by Nigel Jarrett, Jazz Journal
British guitarist Allan Holdsworth may be surprised to learn that the description "Holdsworthian" is now current in American jazz journalism. It's invoked on this album to set a context for his Texan counterpart Jimi Tunnell, who swirls through some of Jack Cooper's arrangements on Waldrop's debut as a big-band leader. Liner-note writer Bill Milkowski suggests that Tunnell helps give the music "a visceral, post-Weather Report energy" and... read more
Jessica Williams - Freedom Trane
by , OregonMusicNews.com
How can two hands playing piano sound like John Coltrane playing saxophone. Jessica Williams' do. The number of albums she has recorded over a stellar thirty-five year career is astounding. Her last album Touch is in Dan McClenaghan's Top Ten for 2010 on AllAboutJazz ? AND Scott Yanow's Top Ten for 2010 in JazzTimes.
And who do we find her playing with? Portland musicians: drummer Mel Brown and bassist Dave Captein.
The album.... read more
Eric Jacobson - Heading Home
by Paul Abella, WDCB, Chicago
Trumpeter Eric Jacobson has a new album out, Heading Home, and I'm digging this one a whole lot. The Milwaukee native put together an outstanding band to play eight of his compositions on the disc, with the excellent pianist Bruce Barth, as well as familiar faces in saxophonist Geof Bradfield, bassist Dennis Carroll, and drummer George Fludas. Jacobson gets right down to business with the opening cut, "Survival" which burns pretty hot. Barth... read more
Tom Collier - Mallet Jazz
by Harvey Siders, Jazz Times
Imagine a front line of vibes and marimba-truly mallets in wonderland. On Mallet Jazz (Origin), Tom Collier, percussion-studies director at the University of Washington, and tireless L.A. session man Emil Richards switch between both instruments, backed by bassist Dan Dean and, variously, pianists Mike Lang and Don Grusin and drummers Joe Porcaro and John Bishop. Brubeck alumnus clarinetist Bill Smith makes a guest appearance.
All the tunes... read more
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