Browse some recent Origin Reviews.
John McLean - Better Angels
by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Guitarist John McLean's Better Angels is certainly difficult to classify. Some pieces, such as "Ready for the War," come across as modern pop. Others are closer to the music of the Pat Metheny Group, while a few tunes are modernized swing standards including one of the strangest versions of "Airmail Special" one will ever hear. While there are some individual spots, the emphasis during most of the selections is on the haunting ensemble sound... read more
Kim Richmond Concert Jazz Orchestra - Refractions
by Reverend Bob, Ex Cathedra
With four trumpets, four trombones plus tuba, five woodwinds, two French horns, guitar, drums, Latin percussion, mallets, two basses, and piano, Kim Richmond's Concert Jazz Orchestra is a formidable ensemble just getting off the bus. Especially the woodwinds, who are each toting an entire music store. Throw in Kim Richmond's brooding, playful, ecstatic arrangements, and you can tell pretty fast that this ain't no Glenn Miller band.
You may... read more
Tom Rizzo - Day and Night
by Jack Bowers, All About Jazz
The names in guitarist Tom Rizzo's starting lineup on Day and Night indicate that this is a West Coast-based group, an observation that is borne out in Rizzo's bio, which says he is "active [on] the Los Angeles music scene" and served as guitarist for the Tonight Show band when Jay Leno was at the helm, reinforced by the song "Heart of L.A.," one of Rizzo's four original compositions.
Rizzo's tentet, featuring some of the Los Angeles area's... read more
John Wojciechowski - Focus
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
Every now and then you encounter a musician who has it together in so many ways, yet has largely managed to avoid national recognition. Saxophonist John Wojciechowski is one such player.
While those with strong enough memories might recall that the Michigan-bred Wojciechowski took third place - behind Jon Gordon and Jimmy Greene - at the 1996 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, those same people may come up empty on... read more
Bad Luck - Four
by Dave Sumner, Bandcamp Daily
Best Jazz on Bandcamp / Aug 2018 The Bad Luck duo is a powder keg of intensity, and it takes only the faintest spark to detonate. But the resulting combination of saxophone and drums isn't solely defined by its heat. There's a beguiling motion to the flames, a hazy sense of melodic deliberateness that's the key to the music's hypnotic effect. Drummer Chris Icasiano and saxophonist Neil Welch add generous amounts of electronic effects,... read more
Chris Walden Big Band - Full-On!
by Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz
It's been a while since the jazz world has seen a release from this group. The first three albums credited to the Chris Walden Big Band - the Grammy-nominated Home Of My Heart (Origin Records, 2005), No Bounds (Origin Records, 2006), and Kurt Marti Suite (Origin Records, 2007) - came in quick succession. And then there was silence from Walden. Well, that's not exactly true. Walden's actually been quite busy in the... read more
John Stowell | Michael Zilber - Live Beauty
by Rotcod Zzaj, Improvijazzation Nation
...and surely here there is beauty! I've been listening to John's wonderful guitar ever since I moved to the Pacific Northwest (way back in 1980), but this is the first time I've reviewed an album with his playing on it. The excellent opener, "In The Park", brings back mem'ries of some of the great work John did with bassist David Friesen, but Michael's reed work lends a totally different atmosphere to the song. John Shifflett does bass and... read more
Scenes - Along the Way
by Marc Medwin, Cadence
Scene's newest release, the trio's second, is quietly engrossing. "Haiku" for example. A brief gem of a tune, is immediately disarming, introspectively clean guitar fourths frosting a bowed bass sustain atop rushing cymbals. An extreme moment, the disc is, by and large, similarly detailed if more rhythmically active. "Ghost in the Corner" gives a better flavor of the careful approach to space and placement that each player brings to the table, a... read more
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