Wayne Horvitz - Way Out East - Jazz - SACD

What really makes the music shine is Wayne's gift as a composer, the way his themes and harmonies insinuate themselves into the listener's consciousness and often touch you in those vulnerable places with their tart nostalgia and bittersweet melancholy. You can hear the long history of jazz in some of these pieces; others seem to break free from genre expectations altogether. Since the late 1980s Wayne has been composing for various classical music ensembles â€" string orchestra, string quartet, and various other chamber groups, sometimes with electronics and/or improvising soloists such as Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang or cellist Peggy Lee. The Gravitas Quartet (Horvitz, Lee, Ron Miles on trumpet and Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon) splits the difference between Horvitz's classical work and jazzier writing for groups such as Sweeter Than the Day. Given it's members’ deep experience of new music, jazz and improvisation, and the ensemble fluidity of their work together here, the Gravitas Quartet are at the forefront of groups that are redrawing the landscape of contemporary music.