Ethiopiques 20: Live in Addis
Buda Musique 860121 
Afro-Cubism The release of Afro-Cubism culminates a challenging year for Accurate Records, and documents a fertile and exciting period for the Either/Orchestra, both under the helm of saxophonist/composer Russ Gershon.
Tracks on Afro-Cubism include originals by Gershon and pianist Gregory Burk (a Soul Note recording artist who makes his debut with the E/O here), along with a wildly imaginative Latin-jazz arrangement of George Harrison's "Don't Bother Me,"complete with a completely new set of Spanish lyrics by Lebron, entitled "No Me Molesta." The set is rounded out by Gershon's arrangement of "Yezamed Yebaed" by Teshome Meteku, an Ethiopian Latin jazz tune from the 1960s. The inclusion of Ethiopian music continues a theme begun in the E/O's 2000 release, More Beautiful than Death, which contained the three-part Ethiopian Suite. The personnel on Afro-Cubism and Neo-Modernism is: Tom Halter and Colin Fisher, trumpets; Joel Yennior, trombone; Jeremy Udden, alto saxophone and flute; Russ Gershon, tenor saxophone; Charlie Kohlhase, baritone saxophone (his last recordings with the E/O; the 14-year veteran has since left the group and been succeeded by Accurate recording artist Henry Cook); Gregory Burk, piano; Rick McLaughlin, bass; Harvey Wirht, drums; Vicente Lebron, congas.
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| More
Beautiful than Death "More
Beautiful than Death," (Accurate AC-3282) the E/O's most
recent CD, reached the top ten in the CMJ radio charts and was
selected as a top ten jazz CD for 2000 by a number of journalists,
including: George Kanzler of the New Jersey Star-Ledger, Jon Garelick
of the Boston Phoenix, and Paul Robicheau of the Boston Globe. The
CD has been described as "Thrilling" (Kevin R.
Convey, Boston Herald), "Fantastic" (Christopher
Porter, Washington City Paper), "Stunning" (James
Isaacs, CitySearch.com ), and "an album so jaw-droppin',
eyes buggin' and head-shakingly good that it takes your breath
away...I have not been so excited about an album since my teen
years." -Marcus Esposito, Snap Pop (Washington DC) |
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| More Beautiful Than Death (AC-3282)
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| With a small but significant change of instrumentation - add congas/percussion, remove one trombone - and major changes in personnel - only bandleader Russ Gershon and veterans Tom Halter and Charlie Kohlhase are holdovers from their last album - the E/O has made its most sensual, rhythm-heavy recording ever. Famous
for the breadth of its musical vision, the E/O rides the powerful
drums of Harvey Wirht, from Suriname, and the exciting congas
of Vicente Lebron, from the Dominican Republic, on a trip from
North American jazz/blues/funk, to Latin jazz, and Township jazz/calypso,
to Ethiopian pop tunes from the '70s. All of these grooves are
incorporated into original compositions by Gershon, except for
the three Ethiopian tunes which have been arranged by the band. "The
ingenuity and power expressed by the E/O can not be matched
by any band, period. ...More Beautiful than Death is one of
the greatest jazz releases in recent memory." -Christopher
Orman, jambands.com "Thrilling."
-Kevin R. Convey, Boston Herald "An
album so jaw-droppin', eyes buggin' and head-shakingly good
that it takes your breath away...I have not been so excited
about an album since my teen years." -Marcus Esposito,
Snap Pop (Washington DC) "Fantastic"
-Christopher Porter, Washington City Paper "Stunning...one
of those rare and bountiful experiences wherein the listener
is made to feel at home abroad...The best work of the Either/Orchestra's
[15]-year existence." -James Isaacs, CitySearch.com "The first offering from the E/O since 1995's 10th anniversary masterpiece Across The Omniverse. It was worth the wait...Hard to believe in this day and age, but ambitious large-ensemble jazz lives." -Billboard "Marks
a new direction for the band...Still witty, the band boast less
irony and more iron...and the band's seven new members...attack
the music with a ferocious zeal that magnifies the detail of
[Gershon's] savvy arrangements. Welcome back, guys." Tom
Halter - trumpet, flugelhorn |
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| Across
the Omniverse A specially-priced two-CD collection, all previously unreleased material from the first ten years of the entertaining and innovative ten-piece jazz ensemble Either/Orchestra. Containing 22 tracks and 145 minutes of music, this is top quality material which simply did not fit on the highly prolific E/O's five albums to date. The sessions which produced all those albums are representedhere, ranging from the group's first studio session in 1986, to their most recent, in September 1995. Also included are two smoking live tracks, Born in a Suitcase featuring John Medeski at the nine-foot concert grand, and She's So Heavy. Across the Omniverse is a great introduction to the E/O, containing many fan favorites which have never been avalable on CD, and is the next in the series for fans who have earlier albums. |
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| Across the Omniverse (Accurate AC-3272)
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| Fabulous
performances by ten years of band members including Matt Wilson, Charlie
Kohlhase, Michael Rivard, Russ Gershon, John Dirac, John Carlson,
Tom Halter, Douglas Yates, Curtis Hasselbring, Bob Nieske, etc.
The 28 page booklet contains over a dozen pictures and reams of information, including two sets of liner notes, by Neil Tesser (from Chicago) and David Prince (from Santa Fe), program notes from bandleader Russ Gershon, and a list of every place the group has ever played! |
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| THE
BRUNT
1992 found the E/O roaming from Florida to Vancouver, Portland Maine to Portland Oregon, New York to LA, marinating a new batch of material as they saw America by car. In two mammoth sessions, they recorded 24 tunes; here are some of the results, including Duke's "Blues for New Orleans" and Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lay." Their densest, most "big-band" recording. "This amazing ensemble does just about everything right on The Brunt, with wit, smarts, and nonstop chops." Richard Gehr, Village Voice "The most mature, accessible record from the band to date...a delight from start to finish." |Bob McCullough, Boston Globe |
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 The
Brunt (AC-3262) |
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Personnel: Tom Halter, tp, flh; John Carlson, tp, flh, pktp; Russell
Jewell, Dan Fox, tb; Andrew D'Angelo, as, bcl, cl; Russ Gershon,
ts, ss; Charlie Kohlhase, bar.s; Chris Taylor, pn, syn; John Turner,
bs; Matt Wilson, dms.
Tracks: 1.Pas de Trois; 2.Notes on a Cliff; 3.Hard Talk; 4.Permit Blues; 5Jon's Dream; 6.H.A.C.; 7.The Brunt; 8.Blues for New Orleans; 9.Lay Lady Lay. |
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| The
Calculus of Pleasure Bandleader
Gershon's "Benny Moten's Weird Nightmare," a bass clarinet
feature for Douglas Yates, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Arrangement
on an Instrumental. Bassist/composer Bob Nieske joined and began
his major contribution to the E/O book, and the now-ten piece group
(sans guitar) visited '50's classics from Horace Silver and Benny
Golson, plus Julius Hemphill's "The Hard Blues." This
1990 recording best reflects the E/O's more intimate, jazz-combo
side. "The
E/O pays tribute to the earlier masters not by mere re-creation
but by redesigning the past to suit their future...consistently
stimulating and very exciting: highly recommended "I
like everything about this disc-the repertoire, the soloists,
the influences, the album title, the generous timing (74-plus
minutes), and even the graphic design." "So
full of fire it's hot to the touch." |
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| The Calculus of Pleasure (AC-3252)
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| Personnel:
Tom Halter, John Carlson, tp, flh; Russell Jewell, Curtis Hasselbring,
tb; Douglas Yates, as, ss; Russ Gershon, ts, ss; Charlie Kohlhase,
bar.s, as; John Medeski, pn, or; Bob Nieske, bs; Matt Wilson, dms.
Tracks: 1.Whisper Not; 2.Bennie Moten's Weird Nightmare; 3.Consenting Adults; 4.Ecaroh; 5.Unnatural Pastime; 6.The Hard Blues; 7.Miles Away; 8.Grey. |
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| THE
HALF-LIFE OF DESIRE
After
touring extensively in 1988-89 with new members John Medeski and
Douglas Yates, the E/O really hit its stride in Rudy van Gelder's
studio, on Duke Ellington's 90th birthday. Includes John Dirac's
orchestral arrangement of the Robert Fripp art-rock classic "Red,"
Gershon's wild hybrid of Miles' "Circle in the Round"
and Duke's "I Got it Bad," the title track ballad feature
for Charlie Kohlhase, plus two early Curtis Hasselbring compositions.
Guest Mark Sandman of the rock group Morphine sings and plays
underwater guitar in a bizarre remake of the Bing Crosby classic,
"Temptation." The E/O's most electric recording. "A hallucinatory fantasy." Neil Tesser, Playboy Magazine "Hellbent
on both genre-bender hijinx and genuine sonic lustre..." "The
hard-swinging but rhythmically elastic 11-piece lineup makes mincemeat
out of your expectations." |
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| The
Half-Life of Desire (AC-3242)
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| Personnel:
Tom Halter, John Carlson, tp, flh; Russell Jewell, Curtis Hasselbring,
tb; Douglas Yates, as (exc. 5), ss; Russ Gershon, ts, ss, fl; Charlie
Kohlhase, bar.s, as; John Medeski, (exc. 5) pn, or, DX7; John Dirac,
g; Mike Rivard, bs; Jerome Deupree, dms. Track 5, add: Mark Sandman,
v, g. solo; Dave Finucane, bcl; Robb Rawlings, as; Kenny Freundlich,
pn, syn; Yates, Medeski out. Tracks:
1.Strange Meridian; 2.Premonitions;3.The Half-Life of Desire; 4.He
Who Hesitates; 5.Temptation; 6.Circle in the Round/IGot It Bad;
7.Red. |
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| RADIUM
In
1987-88, the band advanced its sound with Roscoe Mitchell's "Odwallah"
(thumbs-up from the composer), "Willow Weep for Me"
in a epic classical-big-band-free jazz-blues guitar raveup arrangment,
Mingus' "Moanin,'" more Gershon originals, and Freundlich's
infamous medley of "Nutty" and "Ode to Billy Joe."
Part live, part studio, this disc crackles with warmth and energy. "...shimmeringly
beautiful...brilliant...sexy, this is jazz which roars with excitement,
snarls with anger and glows like the radium dial on your alarm
clock...one helluva disc." Boston Music Award, 1988: Best Jazz Album on an Indie Label |
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| Radium
(AC-3232)
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| Personnel:
Tom Halter, John Carlson, tp, flh; Russell Jewell, Curtis Hasselbring,
tb; Robb Rawlings, as; Russ Gershon, ts, ss; Charlie Kohlhase, bar.s;
Kenny Freundlich, pn, DX7; John Dirac, g; Mike Rivard, bs; Jerome
Deupree, dms. Tracks: 1.Born in a Suitcase; 2.Hard to Know; 3.Moanin'- Intro.; 4.Moanin'; 5.Insomnia; 6.Nutty/Ode to Billie Joe; 7.Odwallah; 8.Willow Weep for Me. |
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| DIAL
"E" This
is where it all began! In 1986, after their first season together,
the E/O recorded Kenny Freundlich's New Orleans-style arrangement
of "Doxy," Russ Gershon's take-off-your-clothes version
of Roland Kirk's "Lady's Blues," a haunting, raucous group
arrangement of Monk's "Brilliant Corners," and two of
Gershon's early originals. Reveals the band's basic recipe: big-band
lushness, combo agility and avant-pop experimentalism in an entertaining,
witty package. Top Ten for 1987: Boston Globe Jazz Critics |
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| Dial
"E" for Either/Orchestra (AC-2222)
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| Personnel:
Tom Halter, Dave Ballou, tp; Russell Jewell,Josh Roseman, tb; Robb
Rawlings, as; Russ Gershon, ts; Steve Norton, bar.s; Kenny Freundlich,
pn, DX7; John Dirac, g; Mike Rivard, bs; Jerome Deupree, dms; Also:
Bob Seely, tp; Dan Drexler, tp solos (2,5); Bob Sinfonia, as (5);
Copley Cats, v (4). Tracks:
1.Doxy; 2.Nicole is Always in Tokyo; 3.Brilliant Corners; 4.17
December; 5.Lady's Blues. |
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