Jazz Articles about Brian Woodbury

About Brian Woodbury

Album Review

Hot House West: Joy In Rhythm, Vol. I

Read "Joy In Rhythm, Vol. I" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
June 2, 2026

The fourteen-member Hot House West Swing Orchestra, enabled by Salt Lake City, Utah's nonprofit Hot House West, makes its recorded debut with Joy in Rhythm, Vol. 1, an array of eleven danceable songs, most of which were popular during the Swing Era's golden age in the 1930s and '40s. This is an album especially designed for dancing; it even includes a booklet that teaches the listener a number of simple dance moves tailored for beginners. In spite of ...

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Album Review

Brian Woodbury: Variety Orchestra

Read "Variety Orchestra" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
April 18, 2004

Brian Woodbury could not have chosen a better title for Variety Orchestra. Combining elements of Mexican-inflected polka, roots Americana, big band, romanticism, Lennon Sisters vocals and much, much more, this music feels strangely alluring for all its swings through a diversity of styles. Eclectic is a word often used to describe music that cannot be pigeon-holed, and clearly there is no way to classify what Woodbury and his Orchestra do; but as varied as the programme is, there seems to ...