Événement

Horvitz/Miles/Previte Trio; Robin Holcomb: Larks, They Crazy

First formed in 1985, the Horvitz/Morris/Previte Trio featured three of the finest improvisers in the 1980s New Music and jazz scenes. After two years of touring the US, Canada, and Europe, the trio released its debut album entitled Nine Below Zero. In 1988 the trio followed it up with Todos Santos, which featured improvisatory readings of pieces by composer Robin Holcomb. John Rockwell of TheNew York Times has declared the trio "absolutely first rate . . . it is virtuosic, varied in texture and mood, clever in sonorous combinations," while Musician Magazine declared their debut a "delicate, masterful record." With percussionist Bobby Previte (drums, marimba, synthesizer, drum machine), Wayne Horvitz (piano, synthesizer, drum machine) revives this captivating trio with the stellar cornetist and trumpeter Ron Miles replacing Butch Morris, who no longer performs on cornet while he concentrates on his "conduction" form of shaping live music.

Sharing the bill is pianist/composer/singer Robin Holcomb in a reprise of her 1989 landmark Sound Aspects release, Larks, They Crazy. The album featured many of the top-working musicians in New York, including Horvitz, Previte, Marty Ehrlich, Doug Wieselman, and David Hofstra. Like Todos Santos, the album gathered much attention upon its release. Featuring some truly ambitious music, the drama of her compositions well deserves revisiting. Mark Dery of The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Holcomb has done something remarkable here: she has created a new American regionalism, spun from many threads country rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker quilt, and no less beautiful."

For this performance, Holcomb is joined by the expansive, irrepressible Skerik on tenor saxophone, old New York friend Doug Wieselman on alto, D'Vonne Lewis on drums, and Geoff Harper on bass.

Wayne Horvitz photo by Daniel Sheehan.