Thursday February 26 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS
The Wayne Horvitz and Sara Schoenbeck Duo navigate through original tunes and improvisatory soundscapes. With feet firmly planted in a genre-less zone, electronics and an ever-expanding textural palate serve to deepen the feel of a shared melodic language.
Sara Schoenbeck and Wayne Horvitz first met as improvising musicians at the 4- day, company style “Time Flies” festival (Vancouver B.C.) in 2000. In 2004 Horvitz formed the Gravitas Quartet with Schoenbeck, Ron Miles (Trumpet) and Peggy Lee (Cello). This quartet recorded two CDs, and performed throughout Europe and North America. In 2015 Horvitz fused his ensemble Sweeter Than the Day with the Gravitas Quartet to create a septet performing compositions based on the poems of Richard Hugo. “Some Places Are Forever Afternoon” resulted in a CD, touring throughout the US, and an episode of NPR’s “Jazz Night in America”, hosted by Christian McBride. In addition, Schoenbeck and Horvitz have performed in numerous improvised collectives, special projects, and the occasional duo concert.
In 2018, the duo Schoenbeck/Horvitz was created, with subsequent concerts in NY, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Ann Arbor, Sacramento, Northampton, Bellingham, Edmonton, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago and Detroit. Their first CD, entitled “Cell Walk”, was released on the Songlines label in May 2020.
Washington, D.C.-based guitarist Anthony Pirog is a musician who knows no stylistic limits. Educated in jazz but enthusiastically embracing diverse forms from indie/punk-informed rock to ambient experimentation, Pirog has emerged as one of the most noteworthy artists on the 21st century D.C. area music scene, defying predictability with live appearances in myriad configurations, from solo experimental sets to his genre-defying duo with cellist (and life partner) Janel Leppin, the hard-charging instrumental rock quartet New Electric, and his avant jazz trio with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Ches Smith. Pirog even led a performance of Terry Riley's landmark minimalist composition "In C," featuring an ensemble of 22 musicians, at D.C.'s Sonic Circuits experimental music festival in 2011. It's safe to say that no one knows precisely what to expect from Pirog, and that fact alone might make him noteworthy, but it's also helpful that he employs technology with uncommon intelligence, is guided by a surefooted artistic conception in each of his projects, and happens to possess killer chops.