Jazz Articles
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Michael Waldrop: Time Frames
by Dan Bilawsky
While percussionist Michael Waldrop's previous work under the umbrella of the Origin imprint was firmly set in the jazz camp, with a pair of big band bonanzas and a magnetic trio date to his name and credit, this set typically moves beyond those borders, often offering an intriguing world music slant on contemporary classical percussion. Highlighting Waldrop's marimba (and vibraphone and drum set) work in a wide variety of settings, and showcasing his highly developed approach to composition and interpretation, ...
read moreDan Dean: Fanfare For The Common Man
by Dan McClenaghan
Songs Without Words (Origin Classical, 2017) opened the door to Dan Dean's giant step into “going vocal"— an innovative approach to his choir-like voice-layering presentations of classical music. Rain Painting (Origin Records, 2021), teaming Dean with guitarist John Stowell, proved a perfect digression into Stowell's distinctive compositions, employing Dean's vocal harmonies, bass playing and drum programming with Stowell's guitars, before Dean's return to the world of classical music with Fanfare For The Common Man. To be clear here: ...
read moreDan Dean: Songs Without Words
by Dan McClenaghan
Bassist Dan Dean's original plan for this project was the hiring of sixteen string players to join him in the studio to record a set for solo bass with string orchestra: Vivaldi's Concerto For Lute and Orchestra in D Major, along with music from JS Bach, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff and Albononi. The cost for the project proved prohibitive, but the paucity of funds turned out to be the mother of innovation. Dean tackled the project alone, adapting his arrangements to his ...
read moreGwendolyn Dease: Beguiled
by Dan Bilawsky
While this fourth album from marimbist Gwendolyn Dease is rightly seeing release on the classical arm of Origin Records, it wouldn't have been completely out of place if it had landed on the jazz side of that imprint. Dease bypasses contemporary marimba fare and late twentieth century favorites from the usual suspects like Ney Rosauro, Casey Cangelosi, Joseph Schwanter, Keiko Abe, and Jacob Druckman, focusing instead on newly commissioned works from jazz-associated composer-performers. A number of jazz notables--trombonists Marshall Gilkes ...
read moreChad McCullough & Bram Weijters: Urban Nightingale
by Dan McClenaghan
Chad McCullough, with one CD under his own name--the outstanding Dark Wood, Dark Water (Origin Records, 2009)--has also contributed his distinctive voice to recordings by the Kora Band and Tunnel Six, all under the Origin Records banners. But the Seattle-based trumpeter must have a European sensibility; his finest work to date has been in teaming, as co-leader, with artists from the other side of the Atlantic--Slavakian pianist Michal Vanoucek, on The Sky Cries (Origin Records, 2010), and Antwerp-based pianist Bram ...
read moreTom Collier: Plays Haydn, Mozart, Telemann and Others
by C. Michael Bailey
Tom Collier is a bit of a character as, can be attested by the YouTube videos below. He has served as Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Washington since 1980. In 2011, he was appointed Chair of Jazz Studies at the school, and was awarded the Adelaide D. Currie Cole Endowed Professorship in the School of Music for the academic years 2011-2014. He is, indeed, having a good year. His last recording, Mallett Fantasique (Origin Classical, 2010), received ...
read moreChuck Deardorf: Transparence
by C. Michael Bailey
Bassist Chuck Deardorf follows up his pairing with Dave Peterson on Portal (Origin Records, 2004), with his multidimensional Transparence. Deardorf raises his bass presence to that of the guitar and keyboards on the board, allowing for a turbulent sound mix that resolves itself with time, like incorporating color in paint. This sonic phenomenon is well illustrated in Deardorf's cover of The Beatles' “Dear Prudence." Deardorf introduces the song with some bass chordal sonics which are allowed to ...
read moreDouglas Detrick's AnyWhen Ensemble: Rivers Music
by C. Michael Bailey
The preciousness of youth. Douglas Detrick is not even 30 years old, and already has multiple ensembles and music projects going on the East and West coasts. One such music combo is the AnyWhen Ensemble, which Detrick terms a “Chamber Jazz Group." The music he pushes through this group is not as easily categorized. Part of the charm is that the makeup of the AnyWhen ensemble resembles more a “parlor" ensemble of family musicians, bringing whatever instrument they can play ...
read moreFree Range Saxophone Quartet: Fireflies
by C. Michael Bailey
Since inception, the Origin Classical imprint has existed as a stylistic hinge between classical music and jazz. Defying genre definition, Origin Classical's archive should properly be considered simply music--that which defies category. Only a single release, Linda Tsatsanis and John Lenti's And I Remain: Three Love Stories--Music of the Seventeenth Century for Voice and Lute (Origin Classical, 2009), deals with what might be considered the “classical repertoire." The remainder of releases are by musicians simply playing music. ...
read moreJim Gailloreto: American Complex
by Hrayr Attarian
Chamber jazz or third stream--or whatever the amalgamation of western classical music and jazz is called--has had a handful of talented proponents sprinkled throughout the history of music. They have ranged from the more structured compositions of Igor Stravinsky to the looser improvisations of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Soprano saxophonist Jim Gailloreto has recently joined the ranks of these musicians. On American Complex, Gailloreto is in the company of a traditional string quartet, a guitarist on one ...
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