Accurate Records...

Russ Gershon, founder of the Either/Orchestra, created Accurate Records in 1986 to release the E/O's first LP,
Dial "E."  In 1989, Accurate began releasing CDs by other artists, beginning with the Billy Skinner Double Jazz Quartet and continuing with such future stars as Morphine, Medeski Martin & Wood and the Alloy Orchestra. 

Recent artists have included Club D'Elf, Josh Roseman, the Ghost Train Orchestra, the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble, and Agachiko.

The whole story....

Accurate Records Is an indie record label dedicated to the advancement of creative jazz and rock musicians, primarily but not exclusively from the Boston area.

Accurate began in the summer of 1986, when Russ Gershon, the leader of the Either/Orchestra, decided to record that band after its first half year of performing.  The group was captured live in Cambridge MA at Ryles Jazz Club, its home base in those days, and in the Audio Matrix studio.

The results encouraged Gershon to assemble the best material into an album, which in those days meant an LP.  Drawing up his past experience in punk bands which pressed their own 45s, he hired a photographer and designer and set about creating a product, Dial "E" for Either/Orchestra.  Gershon's friend Louisa Hufstader was working at Rounder Distribution, and she both suggested the name of the label and arranged for distribution - a rare and essential ingredient at that time.  Gershon dipped into his past experience as a college radio DJ, music director and student journalist to prepare a radio and press campaign. 

To everyone's surprise, the fledgling label with a band unknown outside of Boston got excellent response, airplay and reviews, which encouraged Gershon to take the E/O on the road.  A year an half later, the group's second album, Radium, was ready to go and also received strong reviews, supported by touring.

Gershon's peers and colleagues on the Boston music scene began asking him for help in creating their own albums, and he quickly realized that he could offer his expertise and distribution to these artists and expand the label.  The next artist on board was Billy Skinner, a trumpet player and composer who had earlier recorded with Jackie McLean.  Billy's Double Jazz Quartet was one of the most significant bands on the 80s Boston jazz scene, and their album Kosen Rufu received strong reviews.

As a player and composer on the underdocumented Boston scene, Gershon was in a unique position to become aware of rising artists whose work was gaining the respect of their peers and hip audiences.

In short order, Gershon began working with more artists and was soon hailed by the Boston Globe and a "mini-mogul."  A strong batch of releases by Natraj, Emery Davis, the Mandala Octet, Jay Brandford, Charlie Kohlhase and Dominique Eade firmly established Accurate as the label that was documenting the best of creative jazz in Boston.  The Accurate/Distortion imprint was created for Good, the debut album by an eccentric, guitar-less rock trio called Morphine which went on to worldwide cult status through the 90s.  Soon after, Accurate reissued the debut album of Medeski Martin & Wood, Notes from the Underground, which became a huge seller for a jazz record and helped that trio ascend to their uniquely popular status.

All along, the Either/Orchestra was turning out a stream a well-received albums, including 1992's The Calculus of Pleasure, which garnered a Grammy nomination for leader Gershon in the category "Best Arrangement of an Instrumental Composition," for his "Bennie Moten's Weird Nightmare," featuring the bass clarinet of Douglas Yates.  

By the end of the 90s Accurate had released close to 100 titles including work by the legendary Boston rocker Willie Loco Alexander, Ken Schaphorst, Frank Carlberg, Lello Molinari, David Rothenberg, Warren Senders, the Boston Art Quartet with Chris Washburne, Garrison Fewell, the Oversize Quartet including the earliest recordings of Rudaresh Mahanthappa, and the Alloy Orchestra.  Despite the contraction of the record business, Accurate surged into the first decade of the new millenium with recordings by Bourbon Princess, Henry Cook, Allan Chase, Pandelis Karayorgis, Bert Seager, Salim Washington, Bill Anschell, Josh Roseman and others.

The most recent release (2011) has been Hothouse Stomp by Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra.  Coverage on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and in other places made this excellent title a big seller.

Upcoming releases will include a new one from the Either/Orchestra, The Collected Unconscious, the documentation of a major work commissioned from Gershon by Chamber Music America, and Yes!, the debut from Agachiko, a Somerville MA based septet featuring vocalist Gabrielle Agachiko.