Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Charlie Ballantine - East by Midwest
by Rick Anderson, CD Hotlist: New Music for Libraries
Holy cow, this is a great album. On this trio session, guitarist Charlie Ballantine plays (and writes) in a style that reflects his Midwestern roots: there are hints of steel guitar in both his tunes and his solos, and his shimmering, chorused tone evokes wide-open cornfields even when he's playing tunes by British city boys from Liverpool (yes, there are two Beatles covers here). If my description is making you wonder whether Ballantine... read more
Amit Friedman - Sunrise
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Here's a guy that keeps with the jazz groove and sounds, but adds some exciting new ideas along the way. Amit Friedman plays tenor, soprano and flute, and teams up with a band that sounds fairly normal, with a pianist (Omri Mor), bassist (Gilad Abro), drummer (Amir Bresler) and percussionist (Rony Iwryn), but stirs the pot a bit with the addition of Amos Hoffman, who includes the guitar and oud, the Middle Eastern acoustic guitar. The mix of... read more
Benjamin Boone | Philip Levine - The Poetry of Jazz
by Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
4-STARS Benjamin Boone's The Poetry Of Jazz could easily have been titled The Jazz of Poetry because of the almost interchangeable nature of the terms. The composer/saxophonist's vision to put music to the U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine's prose is a reminder to listeners that jazz was birthed by the common man, and is not to be kept in an ivory tower.
Both professors at Cal State Fresno, Levine and Boone had performed together... read more
Greta Matassa | Clipper Anderson - And to All a Good Night
by Doug Ramsey, Rifftides
To ears accustomed to hearing the same holiday songs again and again, Matassa's and Anderson's repertoire is fresh. The composer and lyricist credits include familiar names?Johnny Mandel, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Victor Young, Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini and Irving Berlin. But the Mandel-Bergman "A Christmas Love Song," Bacharach's and Hal David's "Christmas Day" or Bill Mays' and Mark Murphy's "November in the Snow" have not been played ad... read more
Chris Walden & the LMR Jazz Orchestra feat. Tierney Sutton & Kurt Elling - Missa Iubileum Aureum: Golden Jubilee Jazz Mass
by Margarita Zaberska, Bulgarian National Radio
The album was released in August 2022 featuring the LMR Jazz Orchestra, lead vocalists Kurt Elling and Tierney Sutton, the St. Dominic Catholic Church Choir and organist Simon Berry.
The Jazz Mass was commissioned and the brainchild of California's Napa Valley trombonist and entrepreneur Ted Hall, (in honor of his 50th wedding anniversary), who dreamed of a monumental work combining the traditional Latin liturgy and jazz.
Ted Hall's dream of... read more
Matt Jorgensen + 451 - Another Morning
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz.com
Matt Jorgensen + 451 has created a distinctive music, a free flying jazz sound with a 1960s rock sensibility, bursting with enormous chops. It's a mix of Ryan Burns' often out there, Jimi Hendix-ian keyboard work (wailing on Fender Rhodes, organ and Moog ), Mark Tayor's bite-of-lime saxophone tang, Jorgensen's multi-layered percussion complexities and Phil Sparks' deep in the pocket bass work. Mix it up and it's unmistakable on the blindfold... read more
George Colligan & Theoretical Planets - Risky Notion
by Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation
Here's a new one (for us, anyway)... George (the pianist) leading his Theoretical Planets band on drums... two tenor saxophone (Nicole Glover and Joe Mantis, Jon Lakey on drums and Tony Glausi on trumpet (3,4,5)... as I listen to the 8:15 "Con Woman", it's evident that his rhythm-keeping skills are just as healthy as his keyboard chops... the tune gives voice to each and every player, and they will "WOW" you! The opener, "Gorgasaurus", will... read more
Alison Ruble - This Is A Bird
by John Barron, All About Jazz.com
It's amazing that out of the clutter of an industrial urban center like Chicago, a voice as serene and unruffled as Alison Ruble's can exist. For her debut recording, the opulent vocalist teams up with guitarist extraordinaire/producer John McLean for an intriguing journey through a collection of timeless American classics.
The song selection, a mix of standard jazz fare and modern pop numbers, seems to suit Ruble's understated approach.... read more
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