The Variety Orchestra (ReR, 2004) is supposed to be some kind of jazz orchestra, but Take The J Train opens the proceedings with a folk melody, although admittedly a chaotic one, slowly secreted by different contributions from baritone saxophone, steel guitar and banjo, and replete with "um-pa-pa" rhythms and horn fanfares that indulge in minimalist repetition. Mom transitions from pensive adagio to mechanical scherzo to Broadway show-tune to elaborate Michael Nyman-esque pattern. Long May She Wave is an exercise in minimalist counterpoint, mutating into a feverish charleston dance and other old-fashioned dances. There is even less jazz in the tex-mex novelty Garbanzo Beans. Venice Italy begins as a square dance and then takes a detour among the Caribbean orchestras of the 1930s. Threnody For Kennedy And Connally is another tribute to the big-bands of that era, and finally one hears some jazz, although the piece soon breaks down into discordant piano chords and assorted chamber doodling before reassembling as a moving melody. The bluesy Jesus Christ Alrighty rises in a groovy gospel-like fervor and unleashes a roaring tenor-sax melody. Unpredictable and carefully orchestrated, this album is the product of an erudite mind.

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