Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Brent Jensen / Rob Walker Quintet - Art of the Groove
by Mark Gallo, Jazz Review
This 9-song set features 7 superb originals from the pens of principals Brent Jensen (alto) and Rob Walker (flugelhorn), alongside gorgeous takes on "It Could Happen To You" and, especially, "You Go To My Head." Backed by the New Stories Trio of pianist Marc Seales, bassist Doug Miller and drummer John Bishop, Jensen and Walker bring clever compositions, tight arrangements and outstanding performances to the program. This gem is loaded with... read more
Mark Colby - Reflections
by Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Tenor saxophonist Mark Colby has been one of Chicago's best straight-ahead jazz players for at least two decades, and his fine new Reflections (Origin) is a nice reminder of that. He gigs only sporadically?he travels as a clinician for Selmer and teaches at DePaul University and Elmhurst College?but his chops and good taste haven't slipped a bit. On the new disc he tears through a diverse selection of standards (and a handful of originals) with... read more
Greta Matassa - The Smiling Hour
by Paul Freeman, San Jose Mercury News (Interview)
Seattle-based jazz vocalist Greta Matassa's father was a visual artist, a painter. And a serious jazz buff.
"My dad and I used to stay up until three in the morning, talking about the parallels between jazz music and abstract art," Matassa tells The Daily News. "They are very similar in the spontaneity of the way they're put together. You start with a structure in a piece of music. Or a subject matter in art. And then the act itself of... read more
Hal Galper - Live at the Berlin Philharmonic, 1977
by Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazz'halo (Belgium)
A nostalgic dip with nostalgia for a vibrant live concert? Then this 'Live At The Berlin Philharmonic' is a recommended remedy. Recorded in 1977 with the legendary brothers Michael and Randy Brecker on the front line along with pianist Hal Galper, bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Bob Moses.
Galper, at the time sidekick to Dave Holland and Lee Konitz, among others, just returned from three years of touring with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet... read more
Bill Anschell - More To The Ear Than Meets The Eye
by Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes, February 2007
More to the Ear Than Meets the Eye is a consistently rewarding piano-trio album. Its freshness and creative strength is different on every track. There are two guests, saxophonist Richard Cole (three tunes) and trumpeter/flugelhornist Thomas Marriott (two). The horns appear only on Anschell originals, whos melodies linger in the mind. "Humble Origins" could be a jazz standard, a stark frame erected on a haunting, dark piano ostinato and an... read more
Kobie Watkins Grouptet - Movement
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
BEST OF 2018 Former Chicago drummer Watkins shows his deepening maturity with this release, a collection of vividly stated, often hard-charging originals featuring his muscular Grouptet. There's unstoppable rhythmic energy here at all tempos and unmistakable cohesion among its five players. As for the compositions, the lyric poetry of Watkins' "Six Moods" is counterbalanced by the tuneful charm and vigor of "Catch This" and the... read more
Geoff Stradling - Les is Mo'
by Jim Santella, L.A. Jazz Scene
Pianist Geoff Stradling arranged for each of the ten selections on his latest release to represent a different view of modern jazz. Besides the usual personnel changes during the session, he's instituted striking differences in the music so that we end up with impressions that honor Miles Davis, Eddie Harris, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Aaron Copland and plenty more. The piano trio makes up a portion of his program, while others who contribute... read more
Doug Scarborough - The Color of Angels
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
4-STARS The Color of Angels, an engaging album by trombonist Doug Scarborough's sextet, blends music with a jazz heart and Middle Eastern temperament. Scarborough, who teaches at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, has worked toward expanding the jazz idiom to encompass rhythms and harmonies from countries and regions not usually associated with the music.
The endeavor's fruits can be heard and appreciated on Angels, wherein... read more
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