Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
Keigo Hirakawa - Pixel
by Oza, Jazz to Audio (Japan)
Keigo Hirakawa is a pianist residing in Dayton, Ohio, with the title of a Ph.D. in engineering, it seems. Another album that resonates with me? It wasn't on my radar, but I'm enjoying listening to it thanks to a recommendation. By the way, it appears to be his third leader album.
The lineup consists of a quintet with guitar and saxophone. I checked the members on his blog, and except for Robert Hurst, I hadn't heard of the others. The lineup... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - Full-On!
by Ric Bang, Jazz Scan
If Chris Walden is unfamiliar, you've some catching up to do. He mostly creates musical settings for major stars such as Stevie Wonder, Michael Buble, Diana Krall and Neil Young - as he puts it, "That's where the money is" - but his real joy is big band jazz. This is his newest release in that genre.
Walden was born in Hamburg, Germany, apparently emerging from the womb as a fully formed musician. He was playing the recorder at age 5, the... read more
Rodney Whitaker - Oasis: The Music of Gregg Hill
by Carmel de Soto, Jazz Music Archives
Rodney Whitaker's "Oasis: The Music of Gregg Hill," a musical canvas colored with bold strokes of intellect, sentiment, and compositional artistry. Whitaker, a beacon of jazz education and an accomplished double bassist, presents us with an inspired interpretation of Hill's compositions, offering listeners an intimate look into the heart and soul of the genre.
Whitaker, a distinguished professor, and director of jazz studies at the Michigan... read more
Corey Christiansen - Lone Prairie
by Ian MacGregor, Jazz Guitar Society of Western Australia
On this, his latest CD, Corey Christiansen interprets in a thoroughly modern jazz way, some of the old cowboy songs and melodies of the frontier.Tunes like "Streets of Laredo;" "Red River Valley" and "Sittin' on Top of the World" will be quite familiar to many of us and the latter title really swings. The other tunes which may not be as familiar are given an excellent jazz treatment and proves that any tune with a great melody can be... read more
Carlos Vega - Art of the Messenger
by Chris Spector, Midwest Record
The Latin jazzbo makes a case for music being the international language by springing from his salsa roots into a tribute to Art Blakey and his hard bopping Jazz Messenger days. Showing his chops by doing a tribute through all original material, these messengers here are real crusaders that play the whole jazz and nothing but the jazz. Right on throughout, this set is a first class... read more
Kobie Watkins - Involved
by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
Finally, drummer Kobie Watkins segues from hard bop to jazz funk to unabashedly romantic balladry in his CD "Involved" (Origin Records). If the constantly shifting jazz languages point to a young musician perhaps trying a bit too hard to show everything he can do, Watkins nonetheless handles it all. He benefits from hard-charging contributions from a cast of Chicago all-stars, particularly saxophonists Jarrard Harris and Geof Bradfield,... read more
Chad McCullough & Bram Weijters - Imaginary Sketches
by Ken Dryden, All Music Guide
Trumpeter/flugelhornist Chad McCullough's third CD for Origin features mostly different personnel, retaining drummer John Bishop and adding pianist Bram Weijters (who is jointly credited as leader on the cover) and bassist Chuck Deardorf, with the leader and Weijters contributing most of the material. McCullough's melancholy "Imaginary Folk Song" has more of a classical feeling, a waltz that has been modified into a jazz setting, with a brooding... read more
Les DeMerle Sound 67 - Once in a Lifetime
by Michael van Gee, Jazz'N'More (Switzerland)
5-STARS What a surprise: The first recordings of drummer Les DeMerle, previously thought lost, have now finally been released. Recorded in 1967 for the Atlantic label, the acetates were in the drummer's home. His band, Sound 67, featured a highly prominent lineup, including the young Randy Brecker (*1945), the outstanding Alan Gauvin and Lanny Morgan (as), as well as singer Genya Ravan ("Ten Wheel Drive").
A total of eight tracks were... read more
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