ROULETTE: Collective Music Ensemble / Electric Circus in Brooklyn NY
Composer and pianist Wayne Horvitz presents an evening with two of his ensembles, Collective Music Ensemble and Electric Circus, both incorporating his friend and mentor Butch Morris’s technique “Conduction.” This event follows Horvitz’s workshop on…...
What’s Going On Festival: Year Two November 13-17, 2025
Conduction, Improvisation and the Culture of Structure. Celebrating the legacies of Lawrence “Butch” Morris, Sun Ra, and Henry Threadgill November 13-17, 2025 Stay tuned for more info!...
Wayne Horvitz is a composer, pianist and electronic musician who has performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He is the leader of the Gravitas Quartet, Sweeter Than the Day, Zony Mash, The Four plus One Ensemble and co-founder of the New York Composers Orchestra.
He has [d] an evened-out, coherent composing voice that contains [ed] bebop and rock, gospel hymns and country, free jazz and funk and midcentury film music and Charles Ives. There is [was] very little posturing or provocation or wackiness in it.” The New York Times
“Like all the best art, The Snowghost Sessions improves with each listen, vying hard for the top spot on year-end lists that will be rampant before we know it. Kudos to Horvitz, Harper, and Eagle, and to Songlines Recordings for this gift.” InOnTheCorner.com
“Wayne Horvitz…has had such an impact on extemporaneous music since the early ‘80s…” Keyboard Magazine
“There’s nobody else out there I hear even attempting to cover some kind of similar range… untethered to form, a sponge for inspiration and recreation, a spirit unabashedly unwilling to stop.” AllAboutJazz.com
“This music, as it was on his 2015 release, is pure Horvitz magic, but the harmonic sparseness commingled with sudden sharp melodic rises feels similar to the way the Absaroka Mountains suddenly shoot up from a vast range of farmland, dusted with snow.” The Best Jazz on Bandcamp October 2018
“…a dazzling sonic playground full of some wild rides…stretches the art of sound collage into new frontiers.” National Public Radio
“Wayne Horvitz is a fellow worth knowing, a real character. There’s never any telling what he’ll do next, except that it’s bound to be something astonishing.” Audiophile Audition
“If Sartre made a noir flick, he’d have wanted Wayne Horvitz to score it.” Giovanni Russonello, The Playlist New York Times
“Horvitz evinces a very individual appreciation of rhythm, particularly the ability to govern dynamic tension via its manipulation.” The Wire UK
“Wayne Horvitz’s music remains multifaceted and transportable, from the hinterlands of avant classical to down-home folksy charm, from small group getups to large-ensemble blowouts.” AllAboutJazz.com
“New Works was nothing short of life-changing in my development as a listener, improvisor, and all around musician. It opened me up to a new freedom of expression that I’ve carried with me ever since.” Jahnvi Madan, Composer, Clarinetist, New England Conservatory
Shaina Shepherd and Skerik with Electric Circus and Sun Ra’s Rocket #9
