he keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, the alto saxophonist Briggan Krauss and the percussionist Le Quan Ninh gave it to us straight at the Stone in the East Village on Wednesday night. It was tabula-rasa free improvisation: about an hour long, aggressive but not signifying any particular school, loud and soft but mostly loud, way more gestural than narrative, instinctive, abstract, efficacious.
Billed as the HNK Trio, these three had never played together before this year. Currently theyre touring five American cities, financed by a grant from an improvised-music exchange program created by two nonprofit organizations, Chamber Music America and French American Cultural Exchange.
Mr. Horvitz, who was involved in the hybridized jazz and improvised music scene in New York during the 1970s and '80s, moved to Seattle a little over 20 years ago, and there he became even more unclassifiable. Hes involved in chamber music, folk songs, opera, straight-ahead jazz, and projects like Wednesday's show, in which he played keyboards and prepared piano. (He and his wife, the composer and pianist Robin Holcomb, have programmed this months concerts at the Stone.)
Billed as the HNK Trio, these three had never played together before this year. Currently theyre touring five American cities, financed by a grant from an improvised-music exchange program created by two nonprofit organizations, Chamber Music America and French American Cultural Exchange.
Mr. Horvitz, who was involved in the hybridized jazz and improvised music scene in New York during the 1970s and '80s, moved to Seattle a little over 20 years ago, and there he became even more unclassifiable. Hes involved in chamber music, folk songs, opera, straight-ahead jazz, and projects like Wednesday's show, in which he played keyboards and prepared piano. (He and his wife, the composer and pianist Robin Holcomb, have programmed this months concerts at the Stone.)
