Variety Orchestra
Variety Orchestra
Variety Orchestra
The Variety Orchestra is a 14-piece new music/jazz ensemble with a unique line-up combining a jazz rhythm section, Latin and Big Band horns, and the down-home Americana of pedal steel, banjo, fiddles & accordion. This mix is peppered with tabla, new music violin, tone rows, NYC bar band, Satchmo cornet growls, and a 15th century brass chorale. Originally put together in 1989 for a music festival at New York’s LaMama E. T. C., the Variety Orchestra was reconfigured in 2004 to perform in Los Angeles.
The CD is built around Mr. Woodbury’s melodic post-modern jazz compositions and features phenomenal players from both coasts – a who’s who from New York’s downtown and LA’s experimental music scenes: violins – Mark Feldman (Arcado String Trio, Dave Douglas) & Sara Parkins (Zeena Parkins, Grammy-winning Angeles Quartet); pedal steel and banjo – Marc Muller (Karen Mantler, Shania Twain); trumpet – Frank London (John Zorn, Klezmatics); woodwinds – Aaron Heick (Chaka Khan), Steve Elson (Borneo Horns, David Bowie), Will Connell (Charles Mingus) & Kurt Hoffman (The Ordinaires); bass – Conrad Korsch (Billy Joel) & Oren Bloedow (Jewel); drums – Dan Morris (Rufus Wainwright, James Carney) & Jonathan Feinberg (They Might Be Giants); vibes – Michael Webster (Tracy Chapman); and accordions – Guy Klucevsek (Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith) & Nick Ariondo (“brilliant” – Zubin Mehta).
The CD was recorded between 1990 and 2003 in New York and Los Angeles, in both analog and digital formats. It was mixed digitally in 2003. It was mastered in 2003 by Joe Gastwirt.
