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Despite some claims of “authenticity” in the press release, that isn’t really the object of this engaging record. Like many contemporary musicians, Brian Carpenter sees no reason to settle on any particular musical style. Boy From Black Mountain, which he recorded with the group Beat Circus, won the Independent Music Award for Best Alt/Country Album last year, and his new project, Brian Carpenter & The Confessions, features his original songs and singing. His aim with Ghost Train Orchestra is to bring largely forgotten music of the jazz age to life in a new form. The results are fascinating. Various aspects of the early style are extrapolated and extended in new ways, particularly how rhythm section instruments like tenor banjo, drums, and tuba work together. The soloists represent even more of a departure, as we might expect from a group whose collective credits include Anthony Braxton and Joseph Jarman, not that anyone really blows free jazz here, but the energy is there. The ensemble passages also take off in a way they didn’t when Lucky Lindy first crossed the Atlantic. Listeners who like extroverted, intelligent musical hijinks in the manner of, say, the Sex Mob or even the Dirty Dozen Brass Band should definitely check out Hothouse Stomp.
By Duck Baker
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