PRESS

…A truly great bandleader and composer… There are shades of Nino Rota and Zappa. But he has a wonderful sound distinctly all his own. The music is angular and challenging, but somehow at the same time, gentle and melodic. The Variety Orchestra [is an] excellent album… [with] great instrumentation and orchestrations. How on earth has [Woodbury] managed to escape our attention this long?
BBC Radio 3 Mixing It,
June 25, 2004

…What do you get if you mix up hillbilly banjo, classical strings and a jazz brass section? An unholy row? Not necessarily. Brian Woodbury has assembled an extraordinary confection.

The opener, Take the J Train, moves from a ska rhythm to a Hawaiian guitar melody to classical strings before a flourish on electric bass, all within the first 80 seconds. What keeps the music focused is a big-band jazz core, played by veterans of the New York and LA experimental scenes.

Some tracks, such as Jesus Christ Alrighty, stay close to jazz-rock fusion, others lean towards contemporary classical. Another, Long May She Wave, with its vibes and sudden changes of metre, recalls Frank Zappa. But the most obvious comparison is with England’s own Penguin Café Orchestra. The eight tracks here sound more durable, swing harder and generally transcend gimmickry. Surprise your dinner guests; flummox the music anoraks; and enjoy.
John Bungey, The Times (London), June 12, 2004

A cross between Van Dyke Parks, Frank Zappa and Sun Ra… Now it’s official – Brian Woodbury is a multi-talented musician, bordering on genius. In my opinion he should be up there with Zappa and Beefheart.
BBC Radio 3 Mixing It,
August 13, 2004

…This Woodbury fellow is a sonic sponge who’s soaked up American classical music a la Gershwin and Lenny Bernstein, big band jazz (Swing Era and contemporary), tangos, Tex-Mex, mambos, rock, polkas, country, soundtrack music to movies great and bad, you name it, then cuts-and-splices it all in his head. In many ways, he reminds me of Van Dyke Parks at his most expansive, and of Frank Zappa in his less ascerbic moods. Variety Orchestra is a plush, kaleidoscopic crazy quilt that playfully, intrepidly skewers all manner of Americana of the last half of the 20th century as much as it pays loving tribute to it.
Mark Keresman, primetime,
May, 2004

MORE PRESS

…You never know what to expect or what the next bar will bring; everything is disguised in outrageous ways; even the most familiar objects adopt a warped shape. The first few seconds of "Take the J Train" might suggest an avant-garde jazz big band, like a postmodern version of Duke Ellington's band, but soon the accordion comes in, then the banjo and the pedal steel, and you suddenly realize that you're not in Jazzland anymore. Woodbury seems to draw inspiration from everything within his vicinity: The Duke, Spike Jones, Charles Ives, John Zorn, Frank Zappa, traditional Mexican bands and Rock in Opposition. Every time a particular name comes to mind, a hitherto unheard element comes in, simply to contradict your impression. The music is often fast-paced, even frantic and exuberant. In the slower passages ("Mom," "Venice, Italy," the finale of "Threnody for Kennedy and Connally,"), the jazz leanings shine through, while the more complex sections immediately bring to mind Zappa's Grand Wazoo and Waka/Jawaka albums. Then again, try to compare Zappa to the mad Mexican polka of "Garbanzo Beans," or the flooring Caribbean-spiced rendition of "Shenandoah," a heartland American ballad. The cast of musicians is an impressive roll call of LA and NYC experimental sidemen (including Mark Feldman, Guy Klucevsek, and Frank London), but musicianship aside, what shines throughout the album is Woodbury's witty sense of humor and indubitable talent for writing intricate, whimsical music. Highly recommended if you believe that humor belongs in music.
François Couture, All Music Guide

Brian Woodbury could not have chosen a better title for Variety Orchestra. Combining elements of Mexican-inflected polka, roots Americana, big band, romanticism, Lennon Sisters vocals and much, much more, this music feels strangely alluring for all its swings through a diversity of styles. Eclectic is a word often used to describe music that cannot be pigeon-holed, and clearly there is no way to classify what Woodbury and his Orchestra do; but as varied as the programme is, there seems to be an underlying philosophy, which is to blend genres in new, interesting and engaging ways.

There are other artists who blend styles, but none quite so seamlessly and with complete abandon as Woodbury. “Take the J Train” begins with a ROVA-style saxophone rhythm; a faintly Mexican accordion/violin passage is introduced; then a banjo picks out a bluegrass solo. And all this within the first ninety seconds. There is a certain Zappa-esque irreverence in the way that Woodbury mixes things up. By the end of the piece, genres integrate in a cacophony with saxophone wailing and pedal steel seducing over a broken-up rhythm. One precedent for this music would be Fred Frith’s ‘70s band Henry Cow, although Cow was considerably more difficult. As challenging as Woodbury is he never loses site of captivating his audience. “Jesus Christ Alrighty” merges warped organ, distorted guitar and horns over a move-your-body R&B backdrop.

Another antecedent would be some of John Zorn’s early work, like the The Big Gundown, with its episodic nature, but Woodbury manages to rapidly introduce, discard and then sometimes return to ideas in a way that is equally absurd but completely accessible. There is something oddly appealing about this work, despite its obvious intention to keep one perpetually off guard.

…The album features performers including violinist Mark Feldman, accordionist Guy Klucevsek, violinist Sarah Parkins and trumpeter Frank London….

Listeners looking for something that is challenging, while at the same time full of captivating melodies and rhythms, would do well to check out Brian Woodbury’s Variety Orchestra. Clever without being coy, this album is remarkable for its ability to sound focused despite itself.
John Kelman, All About Jazz, April, 2004

Woodbury crosses genres like a post-modern madman - Italian accordion music, folk melodies, mariachi, ska, campy banjo, swing - with a deft sense of structure and composition and perfect accessibility. Except for fleeting moments, there is very little rock and roll in Woodbury's palette, and that's great. Variety Orchestra is cartoonish without being absurd, and all shining with the kind of California optimism that enlivened Van Dyke Parks' best work.
Jesse Jarnow, Jambands

Composer Brian Woodbury’s… multifaceted persona shines radiantly through… this highly entertaining… jazz. Woodbury and his orchestra fuse C&W, Tango, and Mexican mariachi music with English folk, progressive jazz, and other elements via this worldly program. (Strongly recommended…)
Glenn Astarita, jazzreview.com

…There is simply no logical label to assign this stuff. The music is exuberant, effusive, and extremely eclectic. It’s also a joy to hear where Woodbury and his band decide to take you.

A few examples: ‘Take the J Train’ sounds, obviously, Ellington at the beginning… but then the violin, pedal steel and banjo kick in, and the urban landscape has suddenly changed to somewhere in Appalachian mountains, and then the music gracefully fuses into the two…. It is an exhilarating ride.

…‘Venice, Italy’ begins with the a nostalgic accordion… then morphs into something that sounds like Henry Mancini might have written in the 1960s….

‘Threnody for Kennedy and Connally’ is an inspired piece of hilarity or is it? It starts as a Burlesque romp… But like the other pieces, it changes dramatically from bebop piano to balladic interlude and then to a Andrew Sisters-like chorus out of nowhere starts joyfully singing Happy birthday to Kennedy with a tip of the hat to Mr. Connally, with a somber, uncertain ending. It is the juxtaposition of musical styles and moods that makes this music very compelling. …subversive and entertaining music.
John Doll, Jazz Review

You expect a band with a name like [Variety Orchestra]… to do tea dances; well, if so, a lot of tea will get spilled, and think of the lawsuits. Woodbury has assembled a whimsical… amalgam of string section, collapsible horns, accordions, pedal steel guitars, hooks aplenty, banjos, descendants of the Andrews Sisters warbling about the Kennedy assassination…, a Mingus declension, marimbas a la Zappa, cloud-like Gil Evans pedal point, and, well, whatever else he felt so inclined to add. …many tonal lunacies… follow.

'Virgil Thomson on laughing gas' is a thought that occurs here, but (1) the sense of American optimism - remember it? - remains, and (2) I think that if Woodbury's oeuvre applies to any past grand master I would think it would have to be Charles Ives. As did Ives, Woodbury simply has no blinders on his view of music in general; to him 'tis a grand, magnificent tapestry of sound, all of it equally relevant.

…Pretty stunning. …an ear-popper…

In short…, the tempos and the ideas and the eras come fast and furious, most… having at least a conversational acquaintance with recognizable Jazz forms. Like many other of his contemporaries (Paul Minotto of the PrimeTime Sublime Community Orchestra, Graham Connah's Sour Note Seven, et al) Woodbury's genius is one of musical aerodynamics.

Leave your closed minds at the door, but by all means come in.
Ken Egbert, Jazz Now

Unpredictable and carefully orchestrated, this album is the product of an erudite mind.
Piero Scaruffi, June 2004

This is an acoustic big band albun, a big-hearted affair full of irrepressible cheer, and played with … clean living all-American flair… It’s intelligent fun… gloomy pie is off the menu…

(Woodbury) can clearly whip out a wacky arrangement while rolling off a log, “Long may she Wave: is Prog on Pro Plus, Henry Cow with a skipping rope. “Threnody…” has… thoughtful writing, quite beautiful, and a passage of acrobatic female close-harmony vocals. … The sheer verve and good humour … will attract plenty who prefer their postmodern jazz free of solos or angst.
Clive Bell, The Wire (UK)