There’s music for large ensembles on this edition of New Sounds, with tunes from The Industrial Jazz Group. Their recent CDs, which some listeners have tried to put into words as, “Thelonious Monk goes to the circus drunk,” put bebop alongside the avant-garde, with melody-driven stuff that wouldn’t be out of place in the “downtown” or “west coast jazz” scenes, yet the music is fun, multiple-metered and sometimes even includes theremin.

Also, hear the prog-jazz of Either/Orchestra, who stir the soup of old-timey ballads and swing madly while doing so. Then there’s Edward Ratliff’s jazzy-snakey-smokey-Latin blend, hopefully from the CD, “Barcelona in 48 Hours.” Plus, listen to Brian Woodbury’s foray into worlds beyond jazz, with Latin percussion, big band horns, pedal steel guitar, banjo, fiddles, accordion & then some. On his most recent release,”Variety Orchestra,” Woodbury seems to draw from nearly everything - Zappa, Mexican bands, Spike Jones, Charles Ives, you name it.

PROGRAM #2327 Large bands (Wed. 9-29-04)

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