Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Clark Sommers - Ba(SH)
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
There's something quite "free" about a trio without a guitar or piano in the mix, with no chords nailing the sound down. Seattle's Origin Records has a history of offering up excellent saxophone/bass/drums outings: bassist Jeff Johnson's Near Earth (2004) and Free (2000), and drummer John Bishop's Nothing If Not Something (2006). Now three veterans of the Chicago jazz scene have teamed up under bassist Clark Sommers' leader baton for an... read more
Laurie Antonioli - Songs of Shadow, Songs of Light
by George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
It seems the jazz world has finally made Joni Mitchell an official member of the jazz composers canon. Vocalist Laurie Antonioli is the latest to delve into the rich songbook of the contemporary icon. Her voice has a hint of Mitchell's ironic folksiness, but with a dash of a harder edge. She teams up with the intriguing mix of reeds supplied by Sheldon Brown, Matt Clark's keyboards and along with Dave MacNab/g, John Shifflett/b and Jason... read more
Michael Dease - City Life: Music of Gregg Hill
by Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
4 1/2 STARS Jazz trios featuring a horn, bass and drums get right to the core of musical expression. With, most commonly, a saxophone—see Sonny Rollins' blueprint for the horn and trio setting, the 1957 Contemporary Records album Way Out West—the music flows freely. The player do not need to chase chords around. The result is a stretching of the melodies with freewheeling rhythmic finesse.
Trombone, bass and drums outings are... read more
Florian Hoefner - Luminosity
by George Grella, The Big City Blog
Luminosity is the third album from German jazz pianist Hoefner. This is finely made jazz that sits right in the pocket of the mainstream of contemporary style - a prevalent minor key feel, driving rhythms with more than a little rock feel - that is the long tail of Keith Jarrett's European Quartet. The sound is familiar, but this is not a criticism, because it's also involving.
The story behind Hoefner's third release is that, having... read more
John Bishop with Jeff Johnson, Rick Mandyck, John Stowell - Scenes
by Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz
"Scenes," in which Bishop joins three proven players - saxophonist Rick Mandyck, bassist Jeff Johnson and Portland guitarist John Stowell.
It's a fine set, with responsive playing from the whole crew. Mandyck, Johnson and Bishop are long-proven in these parts, and so to is Stowell to listeners who've been around a while. Those will also know, however, that he has an odd stage presence, holding his guitar almost upright and playing it... read more
Bobby Broom - Bobby Broom Plays for Monk
by Nicholas Bewsey, ICON, August 2009
*****
Chicago-based guitarist Bobby Broom, a dynamic solo artist (The Way I Play: Live In Chicago) and member of Sonny Rollins' band since 2005, sets his sights on ten of Thelonious Monk's most frequently covered tunes on what should be a career-changing album. Bobby Broom Plays For Monk is a deeply satisfying trio recording that showcases Broom's warm, lustrous tone on imaginative arrangements of tunes that were radical in their... read more
Les DeMerle - Cookin' At The Corner, Volume 1
by Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Recorded at a club in Hilton Head, Les DeMerle puts together an extensive set of standards for a jumping instrumental trio with the inclusion, from time to time, of singer Bonnie Eisele. Though there is a pair of original compositions from pianist Michael Levine, the vast majority of the album hails from the American songbook and slightly later jazz and bossa classics. The songs are largely nothing you haven't heard before (of course, that's why... read more
Bobby Broom - Bobby Broom Plays for Monk
by Ted Gioia, Jazz.com
I enjoy the cover, with its playful reference to a classic Monk LP. But the music is the real treat here. Bobby Broom has played on some big stages in his career, yet he also knows how to create an intimate sound?imagine a trio of world class musicians strolling into your apartment and playing so under-the-radar that the neighbors on four sides and super don't even get a whiff of what's going down. This is one of those types of performances. The... read more
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