WAYNE HORVITZ
SELCTED REVIEW EXCERPTS
Paul de Barros Seattle Times
Somehow, always, they resist the postmodern temptation to be too smart and too cute: they're not trying to impress you with how much they can reference. These 14 pieces - including a few free improvisations, a traditional, a standard, and a Wayne Shorter tune - are mostly contemplative originals; one is particular, Ms. Holcomb's long form piece, " Before the Comet Comes," is staggeringly beautiful.
Ben Ratliff, New York Times
One of my favorite discs of 2004, Solos (Songlines), teems with solo piano pieces by Horvitz and Robin Holcomb that breathtakingly fuse the hermetic, astringent squiggles of Schoenberg's piano music with the lonesome sound of Shaker hymns.
Chris DeLaurenti, The Stranger (Seattle)
…they play like composers, giving every stroke a clear intent, informed by the tension and release of subtle harmonic and dynamic shifts.
Jazziz
..tunes like "Tired," with its' bittersweet and subtly melancholic feeling, are particularly compelling because one can feel Holcomb's more skewed approach subtly infect Horvitz's playing, while its clearer roots in the blues distinguish it as a Horvitz piece.
John Kelman, All About Jazz.com
Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb - the legendary husband-and-wife team that has had such an impact on extemporaneous music since the early '80s - take turns improvising on this hour-long solo piano recording.... The music is generally sparse and contemplative, but not *too* sparse and contemplative. It's a relaxed listen that touches on free jazz, polytonal hymnsong, traditional jazz (there's a nice version of "Stars Fell On Alabama",) and postmodern classicism, without really being any of those.
Carl Lumma, Keyboard Magazine
Simplicity of means doesn’t mean simple-minded. Married pianists/composers Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz shared a solo-piano album, Solos (Songlines), alternating tracks, mixing covers and originals, spontaneous improvisations and through-composed pieces, Holcomb favoring ambiguous tonalities and chord-cluster rumblings and Horvitz leaning toward blues and Wayne Shorter. The complementary styles make for overall unity and perfect sequencing.
Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix, December 24, 2004
Mylab
It's easy to tell how the pieces on Mylab (Terminus) began: as vamps and loops for jamming in the studio. Yet it's impossible to guess where they’ll end up. Mylab's core duo, the keyboardist Wayne Horvitz and the drummer Tucker Martine, refuse to settle into their own grooves; they add unlikely overdubs, dissolve the track's foundations and flesh out musical connotations from country fiddle to big-band saxophones. Every free association yields a new treat.
Jon Pareles, New York Times 4/4/04
This is a brilliantly conceived and superbly produced debut album that indicates Martine and Horvitz’s musical future will be a major thrill.
PVV, Billboard Magazine 2/7/04
Talk about a sonic experiment gone horribly right, check out this supernatural melding of genres from Mylab. All I know is that their debut album is the most imaginative collage of groove, melody, harmony, and texture I’ve heard in a long time.
Jude Gold, Guitar Player 2/04
... a dazzling sonic playground full of some wild rides. Mylab stretches the art of sound collage into new frontiers.
Ned Wharton, NPR Weekend Edition Editor’s Picks 2/04
My big pick for next week is Seattle’s Mylab and their self-titled debut, a fantastic landscape of haunted pop-instrumentals from the duo of pianist Wayne Horvitz and producer Tucker Martine. Like Morphine meets the Latin Playboys side-project of Los Lobos, this Terminus Records release is mastercraft sound architecture and worth searching out.
Positively Yeah Yeah Yeah (Ohio)
Filling a niche nobody (but them) knew existed, Tucker Martine and Wayne Horvitz have made a trippy instrumental album conversant with rock, jazz, bluegrass and the intangible music known as "ambient". Sounds messy, right? It is, but in a wonderful kind of way. They’ve done a remarkable job pulling together disparate genres, creating a sound collage that makes sense.
Nick Marino, Atlanta Journal Constitution 2/17/04
They’ve concocted a thouroughly mind-bending, genre-obliterating disc just about equally emphasizing groove, melody, and pure sound. But Mylab does not sound like a de-constructionist take on old-time music (a la Moby)... it is extremely intoxicating.
Eric Snider, Tampa Weekly Planet 2/04
Sweeter Than the Day
".... a great showcase for Horvitz's beautiful compositions, his really strange angular chord progressions."
Ned Wharton, NPR's Weekend Edition
On piano, Horvitz is economical yet lyrical, never venturing far from the strong melodic hooks which characterize his compositions, but constantly working small suprises. An irresistible antidote to gray days.
The Wire UK
Horvitz' understanding of country, blues, folk and even singer-songwriter-type music is made quite plain on this CD. None of these elements are represented in an obvious way, and that's perhaps the main reason why this disc appeal so strongly. The strength of the music lies in Horvitz' beautifully crafted compositions. Like Monk and Herbie Nichols, Horvitz is able to create memorable and distinctive melody lines from seemingly disparate, even mundane, motifs and phrases.
Dave Wayne, Jazz Weekly
(Four stars) **** ... this set probably subverts most UK-audience assumptions about Horvitz ... its' offbeat lyricism and trancelike guitar-blues atmosphere. A real surprise.
John Fordham, The Guardian (London)
Elegant and subtle, these lovely compositions uncoil slowly enough that they’ll likely repay a lifetime of listening.
Alex Varty, The Georgia Straight (Vancouver BC)
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