Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Rodney Whitaker - Mosaic: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Ayana Contreras, DownBeat
4-STARS From the opening title track, this album is a declaration of mastery. It's also a formidable showcase to the collective strength of this combo as well as of Gregg Hill's compositions: It's all killer, no filler. "Mosaic" is a bouncy, juicy number held down by the alchemy present in the interplay between Whitaker's walking bass line that's sharp as a fresh straight razor and Dana Hall's simply effervescent drumming style. Each... read more
Dan McCarthy - Epoch
by Mateusz Krępski, Multikulti - Poland
5-STARS If one of the vibraphone giants, a longtime dean of the Berklee College of Music, and also the man who helped Metheny in the beginning of his career - Gary Burton puts McCarthy the highest mark "extraordinary musical proficiency and unlimited imagination", it is difficult to pass this disc without interest. If we add three more names from the record - violinist Mark Feldman, guitarist Ben Monder and bass player Steve Swallow, we... read more
Maddie Vogler - While We Have Time
by Paul Abella, WDCB, Chicago
Chicagoan Maddie Vogler has put together an impressive project with her new album, While We Have Time. Having recently graduated from the University of Illinois, she put together this debut album with a sextet featuring Tito Carrillo on trumpet, Matt Gold on guitar, Jake Shapiro on piano, Samuel Peters on bass and Neil Hemphill on drums. The leadoff track, "The Need to Be" is a fantastic song and arrangement that sounds like a slice of late 60's... read more
Michael Waldrop Big Band - Time Within Itself
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
Percussionist Michael Waldrop plays both drums and mallet instruments (vibes and marimba). He has a PhD and currently is a professor of percussion at Eastern Washington University, where he teaches both jazz and classical courses.
He also directs a big band, and this is that ensemble's inaugural album.
Once upon a time - back in unenlightened times - drummers often were looked down upon. (Question: "How big is your band?" Answer: "Sixteen... read more
Lorin Cohen - Home
by Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Though he's lived in New York since 2012, bassist Lorin Cohen reveals the modesty instilled by his Chicago upbringing on his recently released debut Home (Origin), playing with a soulful muscularity and helming his band's harmonic shapes and rhythmic thrust rather than trying to command center stage. Cohen understands what it takes to make a band sound better without drawing attention to himself. Before leaving town he spent five years on the... read more
Peter Erskine & The JAM Music Lab All-Stars - Vienna to Hollywood: Impressions of E.W. Korngold & Max Steiner
by Peter Erskine, All About Jazz - Liner Notes
Hollywood called...
...and Max Steiner was the first of this dynamic duo to answer, arriving there in 1929, initially working for the RKO Studios as an orchestrator and then as a composer. This was not his first affiliation with Hollywood, however; he functioned as Fox Studio's musical director, adding live music to silent films presented in New York theaters where he had already established himself on Broadway. The call to come west must have... read more
Tim Davies Big Band - Dialmentia
by Michael Steinman, Cadence
Dialmentia began a bit aggressively for my taste--collective finger-snapping, loud drums, and shouting brass--no matter how much I turned the volume down, this band still seemed too huge. Passages on the CD ("Hanging by a Thread" for one) were more serene, but Davies still seems intrigues by sheer sonic force. His shouting "Caravan (-dalized)" will appeal to people who like Swing Era originals modernized, and this result is far better than its... read more
Ben Patterson - The Way of the Groove
by George W Harris, Jazz Weekly
Big-toned trombonist Ben Patterson digs in deep with his team of Shawn Purcell/g, Harry Appelman/B3-p-synth, Paul Henry/b, Todd Harrison/dr, Luis Hernandez/ts and even joins in the vocals with Evan Reiger and Purcell. His horn fills the room on his solo intro to "What Happens Next" before Henry's electric bass takes the team into the world of soulful harmonies and pulses. Purcell's guitar gives some Soul Train feel to "This and That" and digs a... read more
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