Miracle Mile

Chronique

Keyboardist Wayne Horvitz first made a name for himself in New York's early '80s downtown avant-garde scene, most notably as a member of John Zorn's genre-bending experimental supergroup Naked City. Horvitz has since relocated to Seattle to pursue a variety of projects, including work with his band President. True to his highly individual aesthetic, MIRACLE MILE features a heady, instrumental cross-pollination of jazz, ambient, groove, and modern chamber music. Horvitz's use of textural space and rhythmically complex interplay often recalls Phillip Glass, Steve Reich and the work of electronica artists such as Aphex Twin.

There is no evidence here of the hyper-aggressive sonic assault Horvitz helped mount with Naked City. Instead, the feeling tends toward subtly evocative, trance inducing atmospheres. In "The Front," the album's opener, a lyrical saxophone melody floats over a shifting rhythm track of odd sounds. Throughout the album, moods shift--from the loping, cool jazz themes of "Variations on a Theme by W.C. Handy," to the quietly anxious electronic pulse of "I'm Downstairs," to the gorgeously hypnotic "and sing this song"--to create a whole that is delicately varied, yet unified in approach. This is intelligent, accessible hybrid music that indicates new possibilities for contemporary jazz.

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