Founded in 1997 in Seattle, Washington by John Bishop, with technical help from his former student, New York drummer Matt Jorgensen, the label debuted on the web in 1998.

After Jorgensen moved back to Seattle in 2002, the label quickly grew regional, national, and then international.

[2] Since 2003, Origin has hosted Seattle's annual Ballard Jazz Festival.

The festival was named "Northwest Concert of the Year" by Earshot magazine in 2005[3] and has featured Sonny Fortune, Chano Dominguez, Gary Bartz, Lee Konitz with the Hal Galper Trio, Matt Wilson, Mike Stern, Bobby Broom, Eric Alexander, the Brian Blade Fellowship, and Joe Locke.

The Origin/OA2 catalog represents over 725 recordings from over 350 artists, and releases 30-40 new albums a year.