Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
David Friesen with Orchestra and Quartet - Testimony
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS Most artists, in most fields, move into their eighth decade on an artistic decline, their best days behind them. But not so for the Portland, Oregon-based musician David Freisen. The bassist/pianist/composer hooked up with Seattle's Origin Records in 2014 with the release of Where the Light Falls. Five more sets arrived in short order, top tier duo, trio or solo outings. Now, with Testimony, Friesen embraces the orchestral,... read more
Doug Lofstrom with Misha Rachlevsky & the Russian String Orchestra - Music for Strings
by Ron Schepper, Textura
The earliest material on this thoroughly appealing collection of classical material by Chicago composer Doug Lofstrom dates back to 1971, yet Music for Strings sounds as fresh as the day it was born. How the Russian String Orchestra and its conductor founder Misha Rachlevsky came to perform the four Lofstrom works on the release isn't clarified; regardless, both listeners and composer are fortunate they did. The committed renderings by the... read more
Nnenna Freelon - Beneath the Skin
by Tom Haugen, Take Effect
The powerful vocalist Nnenna Freelon creates her most personal work to date, where Alan Pasqua, Keith Ganz, Jonathan Richards, Steve Hass, Evan Roberson and Shana Tucker accompany her across the 10 heartfelt tracks.
The intimate "Journey Of The Heart" opens the listen with Pasqua's soft keys and Hass' well timed drums that suit the expressive singing, and "Dark And Lovely" follows with a playful nature that allows for Freelon's voice to soar... read more
Jack Mouse - Range of Motion
by Jack Goodstein, Seattle PI
Drummer Jack Mouse has been around playing with a top notch list of jazz artists from James Moody and Stan Kenton to Randy Brecker and Kenny Burrell. With Range of Motion, he steps out to lead a set of musicians he's collaborated with over the years in a swinging examination of 10 of his original compositions. The debut recording is contemporary jazz played with cerebral passion.
The quintet features Scott Robinson on reeds and Art Davis on... read more
Don Lanphere - Where Do You Start?
by Paul de Barros, Seattle Times, February 23, 2003
It takes a lifetime to be able to play the eight-bar solo that saxophonist Don Lanphere delivers on the title tune of this gently autumnal album. Lanphere, who hails originally from Wenatchee, came up as a wild and wailing bebopper, recording in New York with Fats Navarro and Max Roach before he was 20.
But Lanphere's swashbuckling lines, slurred attack, and achingly vulnerable, lowing tone always betrayed his swing roots. The romance of same... read more
Hal Galper - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
by Mateusz Krępski, Multikulti Project (Poland)
5-STARS We are on November 4, 1977, the building of the Berlin Philharmonic, which hosted the most important German jazz festival - Berliner Jazztage.
There are six long tracks on two discs, the shortest of which is 9:31, the longest 24:36. With one exception ("I'll Never Stop Loving You"), they're all by the leader. On stage, the quintet of the American pianist Hal Galpera, well-known in Germany (he has performed many times in... read more
Scott Reeves Quintet - The Alchemist
by Thierry Docmac, Paris Move
This is an album that could be described as a "document", reflecting a brilliant performance produced in 2005 by the masterful Scott Reeves Quintet, with Russ Spiegel, Mike Holober, Howard Britz, Andy Watson, and Scott Reeves on Alto Bugle, Piston Alto Trombone and Electronics. This is a new concert by the Scott Reeves Quintet, particularly sophisticated, in which we find a particularly cozy atmosphere, that of the City College of New York.... read more
Rich Thompson - Generations
by Tom Kohn, The Bop Shop - Rochester, NY
Drummer Rich Thompson has been in demand as a top call drummer in Rochester for the past 25 years. Besides serving as the drum set instructor at the Eastman School of Music since the fall of 1996, Rich has toured, performed, and recorded with the ?who?s who? of jazz greats including pianist James Williams (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers), The Count Basie Orchestra, Tito Puente, Frank Foster, The Byron Stripling quartet, saxophonist Rich... read more
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