Wayne Horvitz (born September 1, 1955) is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer. He came to prominence in the Downtown scene of 1980s and '90s New York City, where he met his future wife, the singer, songwriter and pianist Robin Holcomb. He is noted for working with

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

's Naked City among others. Horvitz has since relocated to the

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

area where he has several ongoing groups and has worked as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) was a Private college, private art school, art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914 by music teacher Nellie Cornish. The college's main campus is in the Denny Triangle, Seattle, Denny Triangle ...

Biography

Horvitz, a "defiant cross-breeder of genres",de Barros, Paul
"Wayne Horvitz"
Liner notes to ''Wayne Horvitz: Joe Hill: 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voices, and Soloist''. New World Records. has led the groups The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, and the Four Plus One Ensemble. Works for theater and dance include music for the 1998 production of ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a ...

'' for Seattle's ACT theater (directed by Gordon Edelstein); productions of

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...

's Elektra and the American premiere of

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

's ''Mountain Language'', both directed by

Carey Perloff Carey Elizabeth Perloff (born February 9, 1959) is an American theater director, playwright, author, and educator. She was the artistic director of American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco from 1992 to June 2018. Biography Per ...

. In 1992 choreographer Paul Taylor created a new work, OZ, to eleven compositions by Wayne Horvitz in collaboration with the White Oak Dance Company. Other theater and dance works include music for

Bill Irwin William Mills Irwin (born April 11, 1950) is an American actor, choreographer, clown, and comedian. He began as a vaudeville-style stage performer and has been noted for his contribution to the renaissance of American circus during the 1970s. ...

's Broadway show, Strictly NY, and productions by the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Ammi Legendre, Nikki Apino and House of Dames and the Crispin Spaeth Dance Company. Horvitz has also composed and produced music for a variety of video, film, television and other multimedia projects, including two projects with director

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has earned acclaim as an independent film, independent auteur. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures. His ...

, a full length score for PBS's Chihuly Over Venice, and two films about the creation of Seattle's EMP museum. His 85-minute score to

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

's film The Circus, for two pianos, two clarinets, and violin premiered in January 2000 in

Oporto, Portugal Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. As of April 2007 Horvitz performs with Gravitas Quartet, Sweeter Than The Day and Varmint. Since 2008, Horvitz has led The Golden Road, playing music from the early years of

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...

. In December 2011, Horvitz opened the Royal Room, a live music venue in Columbia City, Seattle. Since that time he has developed his technique of ''conduction'', a framework for conducted improvisation using hand gestures that refer to precomposed musical structures that draws on his previous work with Butch Morris.

Discography

Leader

* ''No Place Fast'' (Parachute, 1979) * ''Simple Facts'' (Theatre For Your Mother, 1981) * '' Dinner at Eight'' (Dossier, 1985) * ''This New Generation'' (Elektra/Musician, 1985) * ''Monologue'' (Cavity Search, 1997) * ''Film Works'' (Avant, 2003) Wayne Horvitz, 4+1 Ensemble (+

Reggie Watts Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts (born March 23, 1972) is an American comedian, musician, beatboxer, and actor. His improvised musical sets are created using only his voice, a keyboard, and a looping machine. He refers to himself as a "disinfo ...

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboard instruments, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has w ...

Julian Priester Julian Priester (born June 29, 1935) is an American jazz trombonist and occasional euphoniumist. He is sometimes credited "Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto". He has played with Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock. Biog ...

Tucker Martine Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...

) * '' 4+1 Ensemble'' (Intuition, 1998) * '' From a Window'' (Avant, 2001) Wayne Horvitz, Gravitas Quartet ( +

Ron Miles Ronald Glen Miles (May 9, 1963 – March 8, 2022) was an American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, and composer. He recorded for the labels Prolific (1986), Capri Records (Jazz record label), Capri (1990), and Rykodisc, Gramavision. His final album, ...

, Peggy Lee, Sara Schoenbeck) * ''Way Out East'' (Songlines, 2006) Wayne Horvitz, Sweeter Than the Day ( + Timothy Young, Keith Lowe, Andy Roth) * ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'' (AB) is an American Music television, music performance and dance television series that aired in various iterations from 1952 to 1989. It was hosted by Dick Clark who also served as the program's Television producer, pr ...

'' - later released as ''Forever'' (Songlines, 2000) * '' Sweeter Than the Day'' (Songlines, 2001) * ''Live at the Rendezvous'' (Liquid City, 2005) Pigpen (Wayne Horvitz, Briggan Krauss, Mike Stone, Fred Chalenor) * ''Halfrack'' (Tim/Kerr, 1993) *''Kind of Dead b/w Pattern 56 Interlude'' 7" single (Cavity Search, 1993) * '' V as in Victim'' (Avant, 1993) * '' Live in Poland'' (Cavity Search, 1994) *'' Miss Ann'' (Tim/Kerr, 1995) * ''

Daylight Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunlig ...

'' (Tim/Kerr, 1997) The President (Wayne Horvitz, Bobby Previte, Dave Sewelson, Kevin Cosgrove, Joe Gallant / Stew Cutler, Doug Wieselman, Dave Hofstra) * '' The President'' (Dossier, 1987) * '' Bring Yr Camera'' (Elektra/Musician, 1988) * '' Miracle Mile'' (Elektra Nonesuch, 1992) Zony Mash (Wayne Horvitz, Timothy Young, Fred Chalenor / Keith Lowe, Andy Roth, Briggan Krauss) * '' Cold Spell'' (Knitting Factory, 1997) * '' Brand Spankin' New'' (Knitting Factory, 1998) * ''

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

'' (Knitting Factory, 1999) * '' Live in Seattle'' (Liquid City, 2002) * ''Live at the Royal Room'' (Fully Altered Media, 2012)

Co-leader

Robin Holcomb / Wayne Horvitz * ''Solos'' (Songlines, 2004) Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, William Parker Trio * '' Some Order, Long Understood'' (Black Saint, 1982) Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, Bobby Previte Trio * ''Nine Below Zero'' (Sound Aspects, 1987) * ''Todos Santos ... Play Robin Holcomb'' (Sound Aspects, 1988) Wayne Horvitz / Ron Samworth/

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

/ Dylan van der Schyff * ''Intersection Poems'' (Spool, 2005) Mylab (

, Wayne Horvitz…) * ''Mylab'' (Sony BMG, 2004) New York Composers' Orchestra (Wayne Horvitz, Herb Robertson, Steven Bernstein, Marty Ehrlich, Ray Anderson, Robin Holcomb,…) * ''NY Composers Orchestra'' (New World, 1990) * ''First Program in Standard Time'' (New World, 1992) Ponga (Wayne Horvitz, Dave Palmer, Bobby Previte, Skerik) * ''Ponga'' (Loosegroove, 1998) * ''Psychological'' (P-vine, 2000) Donald Rubinstein, Wayne Horvitz and Zony Mash * ''A Man Without Love'' (Blue Horse, 1998) The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet (John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Ray Drummond, Bobby Previte) * '' Voodoo'' (Black Saint, 1985) John Zorn,

Elliott Sharp Elliott Sharp (born March 1, 1951) is an American contemporary classical music, contemporary classical composer, multi-instrumentalist, performer, author, and visual artist. A central figure in the Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimenta ...

, Bobby Previte, Wayne Horvitz * '' Downtown Lullaby'' (Depth of Field, 1998)

As sideman

With

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant ...

*'' Is That You?'' ( Elektra/Musician, 1990) *'' Good Dog, Happy Man'' (Nonesuch, 1999) With Robin Holcomb *''Larks, They Crazy'' (Sound Aspects, 1988) *''Robin Holcomb'' (Elektra/Musician, 1990) *''Rockabye'' (Elektra/Musician, 1992) *''The Big Time'' (Nonesuch, 2002) *''The Point of It All'' (Songlines, 2010) With Bobby Previte *''Empty Suits'' (Gramavision, 1990) *'' Slay the Suitors'' (Avant, 1993) With Michael Shrieve *''Fascination'' (CMP, 1994) *''Two Doors "In the Palace of Dreams"'' (CMP, 1995) With Hal Wilner and James Grauerholz on

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist. He is widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major Postmodern literature, postmodern author who influen ...

*''Naked Lunch'' (Warner, 1995) *''Let Me Hang You'' (Khannibalism, 2016) With

*''

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

'' (Parachute, 1981) *'' Locus Solus'' (Rift, 1983) *''

The Big Gundown ''The Big Gundown'' () is a 1967 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Sollima, and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian. It was followed by Run, Man, Run in 1968. Plot Possessing a reputation for bringing criminals to justice, ready-to- ...

'' (Nonesuch, 1985) *''

Cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

'' ( Hathut, 1987) *'' Spillane'' (Elektra/Nonesuch, 1987) *'' Naked City Live, Vol. 1: The Knitting Factory 1989'' (Tzadik, 2002) *'' Naked City'' (Elektra/Nonesuch, 1990) *'' Torture Garden'' (Toy Factory, 1990) *''

Grand Guignol The Théâtre du Grand-Guignol () was a theater in the Pigalle district of Paris (7, cité Chaptal). From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialized in horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amor ...

'' (Avant, 1992) *''

Heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

'' (Avant, 1992) *'' Leng Tch'e'' (Toy Factory, 1992) *''

Radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

'' (Avant, 1993) *''

Absinthe Absinthe (, ) is an anise-flavored Liquor, spirit derived from several plants, including the flowers and leaves of ''Artemisia absinthium'' ("grand wormwood"), together with green anise, sweet fennel, and other medicinal and culinary herbs. His ...

'' (Avant, 1993) *''

The Bribe ''The Bribe'' is a 1949 American film noir directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Marguerite Roberts, based on a story written by Frederick Nebel. The film stars Robert Taylor, Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton, and Vincent Price. Plot I ...

'' (Tzadik, 1998)

Composer

* Seattle Chamber Players - Otis Spann and Other Compositions, 2001 * Koehne Quartet - Whispers, Hymns and a Murmur, Tzadik, 2006

References

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horvitz, Wayne 1955 births Living people Musicians from Seattle American jazz keyboardists Tzadik Records artists Elektra Records artists Avant-garde jazz pianists Cornish College of the Arts faculty Cavity Search Records artists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American keyboardists Naked City (band) members Ponga (band) members