Greg Burk and Vincent Lebron
Unduality
Accurate Records
www.accuraterecords.com

Klezwoods
Oy Yeah!
Accurate Records
www.accuraterecords.com

The Either/Orchestra
Mood Music For Time Travellers
Accurate Records
www.accuraterecords.com

Darrell Katz/Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra
A Wallflower in The Amazon
Accurate Records
www.accuraterecords.com
By George W. Harris

Here’s a quartet of new releases by the adventurous and eclectic Accurate Records. There’s definitely something here for everyone, as these discs cover just about every idiom that’s out there.

Like your Bach? How about delivered Afro-Cuban style? Percussionist Vicente Lebron and keboardist Greg Burk take Johanne Sebastian real close to the equator, with a myriad of variations of Bach’s First Invention, interspersed with some rousing village sounds. There are talking drums, triangles, guras, triangles and claves spicing up the Lutheran’s melodies, demonstrating not only the timelessness of the music, but also the geographic limitlessness of the Baroque genius. Definitely a one of a kind gig!
Violinist Joe Kessler leads this joyful (or is it oy-ful?) band through a collection of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern folk tunes. The Yemenite “Ki Eshmera” and Macedonian “Cuperlika” have a breezy sway to them that makes you want to get up off your feet, raise your hands and hit the floor. The soloing by Kessler, as well as Sam DeChenne/tp and Alec Spiegelman/reeds, is succinct, to the point, and swingingly top notch. They can rev up the engines, as they show on the Bulgarian “Gankino Oro” but this is mostly music of celebration. Enjoy!

The venerable Either/Orchestra’s first album since 2005 is filled with original compositions that return to the wide variety of American sounds. The Crescent City groove of “The Shimmy” and the reggae tinged “Portrait of Lindsey Schust” spotlights the flexible work of rhythm team Pablo Bencid/dr, Rick McLaughlin/b, Vicente Lebron/perc and Rafael Alcala/key. The infectious tango of “Thirty Five” and calypso-ed “Suriname” have some rich sax work, while Dan Rosenthal’s trumpet and Henry Cook’s flute give wonderful textures on “Portrait of Lindsey” and “Ropa Loca.” Fun, funky and full of good vibes.

Darrell Katz arranges and conducts the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra through a musical odyssey of material ranging from Duke Ellington’s “I Like The Sunrise” all the way to Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man,” with a handful of originals in between. Vocalist Rebecca shrimpton uses her thin voice for the material, which includes lyrics by Paula Tatarunis on “Four Our Sins,” “The Red Blues,” “Visiting My Aunties” and the title track. The Ellington piece turns into an evocative and charming suite, while the blues pieces come off as a bit too antiseptic to sound credible.