''Origin Suite'' is the second jazz album by Michael Waldrop, produced by award-winning

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington-based label

Origin Records Origin Records is a jazz and classical music record label founded by drummer John Bishop in 1997.de Barros, Paul (July 2, 2002)Small label, big noise: Ballard's Origin Records drumming up national interest Seattle Times. With the help of drummer M ...

and released January 3, 2018. The CD idea is a high level, eclectic mix of works showcasing Michael Waldrop. Specifically, the Origin Suite was composed for this CD as a ''tour de force'' to showcase Waldrop. Most notably the CD received 4 of 5 stars by music critic and author Brian Morton in the April 2018 edition of ''

Jazz Journal ''Jazz Journal'' is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill (1904–1981). It was first published in London under the title ''Pick Up'', which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain.Roberta Freund Sc ...

'' from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Brian Morton
''Jazz Journal'', April 2018, p. 36
/ref>

Background

After the success of Michael Waldrop's ''

Time Within Itself ''Time Within Itself'' is a big band jazz album produced by Origin Records and released March 17, 2015. The concept for the recording came from the idea of a high level feature CD showcasing the Michael Waldrop Big Band. Most notably, music cri ...

'' CD, he decided to approach

to do a second CD. They agreed and this time a wider set of music was used though still employing Jack Cooper as the primary writer and arranger for the new project. Another substantial grant ($10,000) was obtained by Waldrop from Eastern Washington University to doing a CD. The ''Origin Suite'' (title work) is inspired by three paintings by artist

Wifredo Lam Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by and in conta ...

: ''La Jungla'', ''Nativité'', ''Al Final De La Noche''. Lam's paintings are primitive and earthy in approach and draw on Caribbean and

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...

n themes related to Santería and Cuban Vodú culture.

Promotion

The ''Origin Suite'' CD got its first promotion with the "Track of The Day" feature with

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

. The track ''La Jungla'' was given 3.5 of 5 stars by reviewer Fiona Ord-Shrimpton.

Reception

} Reviewing for ''

Cadence In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...

'', Bob Rausch said: " Michael Waldrop rm/vibis another artist with past ties to North Texas State and his big band is not traditional as displayed on ORIGIN SUITE. Recorded at various times from August 2010 though July 2017 presented here are a dozen originals mostly by Waldrop. There are also moments for small groupings. Purists will be set off by the lack of continuity in style and manner of the CD, that said, the various styles employed work well. The main influence seems to be Weather Report with its high energy rhythm and electrified pinning. Waldrop picks from a pool of over 25 musicians, uses overdubbing and there is an occasionally use of voice as sweetening to the compositions."Rausch, Bob. Cadence Review, March 2018
/ref> Tom Hull was less impressed, saying Waldrop "runs a big band here, with various bits recorded elsewhere and tacked together. The title suite is rather short, but the album goes on and on, alternately richly expressive and overblown."

Track listing

Recording notes * January 11, 2016 (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8), Crystal Clear Sound,

Dallas, TX Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

* Summer 2016 (track 7), Buffalo Sound,

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* June 2016 (tracks 4 and 10), SkyMuse Studios,

Seattle, WA Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...

* September 2016 (tracks 9 and 11), Ice Station Zebra,

* August 2010 (track 12), KillZone Studios,

Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

Personnel

Musicians

* Michael Waldrop (all tracks): Drums and Vibraphone (add congas and keyboards for track 11) Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 * Jack Cooper: MD/conductor, arranger, composer * Marc Secara (1-3, 5): Vocal *

Jimi Tunnell Jimi Tunnell is an American guitarist and vocalist from Denton, Texas. Although he is known as a guitarist, his career began as a jazz trumpeter. Tunnell has worked with Yukihiro Takahashi, Laurie Anderson, Steps Ahead, and Member's Only. Hi ...

(1-3): Guitar/Vocal * Will Campbell: Alto Saxophone/flute/clarinet/soprano sax *Tim Ishii: Alto Saxophone/flute/clarinet * Mario Cruz: Tenor Saxophone/clarinet *Chris McGuire: Tenor Saxophone/clarinet *Paul Baker: Baritone Saxophone/bass clarinet *Keith Jourdan (lead), David Spencer, Larry Spencer, Mike Steinel: Trumpet and flugelhorn *Anthony Williams (lead), Tony Baker, Greg Waits, John Wasson (bass): Trombone *Noel Johnstone: Guitar *Piano: Steve Snyder * Lynn Seaton (5, 6 and 8): Acoustic bass *Jeff Plant (1-3): Electric bass * José Rossy: percussion Track 7 *

Scott Kinsey Scott Kinsey is a keyboardist and member of the band Tribal Tech. He is a 1991 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Career In addition to playing in Tribal Tech with Scott Henderson and Gary Willis, Kinsey has worked with phil ...

: Keyboards * Jeff Plant: Electric bass *

(1-3): Guitar/Vocal * Mario Cruz: Tenor Saxophone * José Rossy: percussion Tracks 9, 11 *Alto Saxophone/soprano sax: Travis Ranney *Richard Cole: Tenor Saxophone/baritone Saxophone *Stephen Friel (11): Baritone Saxophone *Brad Allison (9), Keith Jordan (11): Trumpet/flugelhorn *Dan Marcus (9), Scott Whitfield (11): Trombone *Brian Monroney: Guitar *John Hansen (9): Piano *Barry Aiken (11): Keyboards *Rick White (11): Bass *Brad Dutz (9): Percussion Tracks 4, 10 *Larry Panella: Flutes *Brad Dutz: Percussion *John Hansen: Piano *Scott Steed (10): Acoustic bass *Chris Symer (4): Bass Track 12 *Wayne Peet: Piano *Brad Dutz: Percussion *Joel Hamilton: Bass

Production

John Bishop John Marcus Bishop (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and former footballer. Bishop formerly played football as a midfielder for Winsford United F.C., Crewe Alexandra F.C., Runcorn F.C., Rhyl F.C., Witton Al ...

: Executive Producer *Michael Waldrop: Producer *Tim Reppert: Associate Producer *Kent Stump,

, Michael Lewis, Dave Dysart, Steve Gamberoni, Paul Nowell, Anthony Panella, Wentoa Xing: Recording engineers *Tim Reppert: Editing and mix engineer (Soundtrack Studios, Boston and REP Studio, Ithaca, NY.) *

: Mastering *Michael Waldrop: Liner notes *

: Cover design and layout *Daniel Pardo and Ivana Cojbasic: Liner photographs:

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* * *
''Origin Suite''
at

* *
Michael Waldrop's website
{{Authority control Jazz albums by American artists 2018 albums Big band albums Instrumental albums