A World of Piano Jazz Masters: Wayne Horvitz

In celebration of creative music, the Center for the Arts and producer Glenn Siegel present A WORLD OF PIANO, a series of solo piano concerts by three modern masters of the jazz keyboard. Joanne Brackeen (February 5), Wayne Horvitz (February 12) and Burton Greene (February 19) have established international careers and represent a broad range of approaches to the piano.

Wayne Horvitz has written for theater, dance and film, and has participated--often concurrently -- in a number of ensembles that reflect his wide ranging fascination with disparate musical formats. From rhythm-and-blues to free jazz, from classical minimalism to urban noise, Horvitz has spent his career building bridges and exploring possibilities. “Horvitz' understanding of country, blues, folk and even singer-songwriter-type music is quite plain,” writes Jazz Weekly. “Like Monk and Herbie Nichols, Horvitz is able to create memorable and distinctive melody lines from seemingly disparate, even mundane, motifs and phrases.” Born in New York City in 1955, Wayne Horvitz came of musical age in the “NY Downtown” scene of the late 1970s and 80s, recording with Eugene Chadborne, Christian Marclay, Arto Lindsay, Denis Charles and John Zorn. He founded and co-led the New York Composers Orchestra, and over the years has directed The President, the Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet, Zony Mash, Pigpen, Mylab, and Sweeter Than the Day. His newest ensemble is The Gravitas Quartet. Horvitz has written for Seattle's ACT Theater, and choreographers Paul Taylor and Liz Lerman.

Tickets are $15 for the general public and $10 for students. They are available at State Street Fruit Store and at the Northampton Center for the Arts during office hours and at the door.

A World of Piano is made possible by support from Friends of the Northampton Center for the Arts and the Northampton Arts Council. Thanks to WMUA, 91.1FM and the UMass Fine Arts Center.