Wayne Horvitz

• projects as a leader/co-leader •

Electric Circus is a large, mostly electric ensemble that remixes classic soul, funk, and rock for the 21st century.
Composer Wayne Horvitz uses "conduction" - in the tradition of Lawrence "Butch" Morris - utilizing brief riffs, motifs, and grooves culled from classic recordings by James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone, Willie Dixon, Los Lobos, Captain Beefheart, Electric Miles Davis, The Grateful Dead, The Pointer Sisters, Sun Ra, The Bangles, The Clash, The Allman Brothers, Parliament Funkadelic and many, many more.
In the course of a set Horvitz guides the ensemble through a psychedelic montage combining tight ensemble sections with far reaching improvisations. At times three songs might happen simultaneously in three different keys with three different tempos - other times the band lays in and has a dance party - and often enough the music leaves the songs for whatever is possible.
Instrumentation can vary - a typical lineup features drums, two percussionists, two guitars, acoustic and electric bass, keyboards, multiple horns, electric violin, vocals, and sometimes and often a lightshow.
After performing Electric Circus exclusively in Seattle since 2015, conceptualist and conductor Wayne Horvitz is now presenting the band using local musicians, in a variety in venues in Europe, Canada and the United States including Porgy and Bess in Vienna where the band presented two sets to a packed house with an overwhelming enthusiastic reception.
This approach allows a good size group of any city's best soul, groove and jazz improvising musician to collaborate with Horvitz and experience the whole idea of conduction - all in a context that ranges from total madness to hard core rocking the house.

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