Pop and Jazz Reviews : Either Orchestra Explores Past, Present at Bakery

Not all the weekend’s big-band sounds were heard at the Hollywood Bowl. On Friday at the Jazz Bakery, the Either Orchestra, modest in size (10 players) but striking in originality, offered a program notable for its refusal to conform to the norms of orchestral jazz.

Organized in 1985 in Boston, this is an established traveling band with three albums to its credit. The alternative implication of its name carries through to the music: Either the band is exploring the past, updating ‘50s and ‘60s works by Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington and Horace Silver, or it is addressing itself to ‘80s and ‘90s originals, mostly written by the saxophonist-leader Russ Gershon.

What sets this group apart, with its modest four brass and three saxes, is the ability to rise above these limitations by the use of voicings that give the ensemble its own textural image, with unusual instrumental combinations. Gershon’s aptly titled “Pas de Trois,” a prestissimo waltz, is just such an engaging sonic mix.

Though more notable for writing skills than solo virtuosity, the band boasts an expressive trumpeter in Tom Halter. Gershon doubled on tenor sax and soprano, the latter in a Johnny Hodges vein for an evocative version of Duke Ellington’s 1963 “Timon of Athens.”

More conventional were the plunger muted trombone solos, also the sometimes manic/depressive baritone sax of Charlie Kohlhase. Overall, the Either Orchestra strikes a splendid balance between archival approaches and state-of-the-art ingenuity.