Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Trio East - Best Bets
by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Trumpet, bass and drum trios are not all that common. The trumpeter must have strong endurance and enough imagination to keep the set interesting, even when the bassist and drummer are operating as equals. Recording as Trio East on Best Bets, Clay Jenkins shows that he is very much up to the role, coming up with consistently creative ideas without any hesitation. Bassist Jeff Campbell and drummer Rich Thompson are both very active (particularly... read more
Various Artists - The Cool Season: An Origin Records Holiday Collection, Vol. 2
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Christmas jazz albums are always a challenge because there is a relatively small repertoire of songs chosen and difficulty in finding fresh approaches to them. But this quartet that regularly records for the Origin label has risen to both tests.
Thomas Marriott, a fine trumpeter and flugelhornist, and pianist Bill Anschell make a strong front line, while bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer John Bishop provide perfect backing. While the... read more
Jim Norton Collective - Time Remembered: Compositions of Bill Evans
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
RINGER OF THE WEEK - While this collection represents a tribute to Bill Evans' compositions, Jim Norton could easily have subtitled this as a remembrance of another Evans, Gil. The woodwind/bandleader here focuses on the famed pianists work as a writer, but Norgon brings together a big band that includes enough brass and reeds to bring to mind vintage sessions like Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess from the Miles Davis/Gil Evans... read more
Christopher Icasiano - Provinces
by Gregg Daniel Miller, Free Jazz Blog
4 1/2 STARS I had to listen to this record for months before I could write about it. It's that different. Percussion solo records are an interesting breed, and this one doesn't remind me of anything.
Icasiano's percussiveness is all about the pacing and grouping of the beats. Clusters, clusters, driving and then receding, with crisscross patterns emerging from the maelstrom. Psychedelic. Disorienting. There is no "one," and while... read more
Brent Jensen / Bill Anschell / Chris Symer - Blueprints
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Get those atavistic genes out of the back of the closet and wear them proudly for this spiritual journey through the past when cats like Jimmy Guiffre would make dates under their own name that would sound nothing like their work for others but would take creativity to some place else. The original sax/piano duo adds a bassman to bring the color and the result is a grand uber hipster set of daddio jazz that should have included a download card... read more
Josh Nelson - The Sky Remains
by Grady Harp, Amazon
Los Angeles pianist and composer Josh Nelson presents a love letter to Los Angeles - stating '"You can glean the future growth of the city by looking back at its history. So many things about L.A. have left an indelible impression on me, and there seems to be so many themes yet to be explored that I think I could almost do another volume. These projects all feel very cinematic to me." Each of the 10 story-driven tunes on this thematic album... read more
Anthony Branker & Ascent - Blessings
by JazzTimes, JazzTimes Education
Anthony Branker is a music professor and the head of the jazz program at Princeton University. Although a trumpeter, Branker is best known as an educator, conductor and composer. On "Blessings," his second recording as a leader, Branker is the non-playing leader of a very impressive septet that interprets nine of his compositions.
Branker wrote these pieces a few years ago when he was serving on the faculty of the Estonian Academy of Music... read more
Hugo Fernandez New Grounds Quartet - Ozean
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
An innovative German cool school guitarist whose idea of cool school is laid back Wes rather than standard ECM, he comes in with a solid set of jazz for the mind that any fan of sitting down jazz will recognize as top shelf. Well played and well planned, this is certainly a guitar player of note leading the... read more
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