Customer Reviews

Way Out East (Hybr)

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4 star:		(1)
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The intersection of chamber music, jazz, and New Music often produces wonderful listening experiences. One thinks, for example, of Peter Garland, Sylvie Courvoisier, Bang on a Can, and Stuart Dempster.

I really wanted to like this music, but I confess I'm having trouble accessing its vibe. Wayne Horvitz, its organizer and leader, describes this as chamber music that just happens to contain improvisation.

I'm OK with that description. I'm not altogether OK with what happens in the actual execution. Yes, it has its moments of crystalline beauty. Yes, there's a lot of killer precision playing. Yes, there's a kind of attractive angularity. But I have to say it seems slightly stilted.

Then again, maybe that's what Horvitz and co. are going for: highly arranged, classically oriented, jazz-tinged chamber music for the new century. One could do worse. And I have to say, it's growing on me, willy-nilly. One day I may actually thoroughly enjoy it, rather than just appreciating it; I certainly hope so.

Absolutely worth checking out, especially if you have proclivities toward this sort of thing. ****1/2.

Listening to this for the second time in two days, I think it is among Horvitz's finest recordings. (I'm also a big fan of "Sweeter than the Day" and "From a Window."
The "Gravitas Quartet" explores the unusual combination of piano-trumpet-cello-bassoon with grace and aplomb. The bassoon is a marvelous instrument for jazz composed improvisations--I'm glad to hear more and more of it.