4 Plus 1 Ensemble review

The WIre February 1997 Tim Owen For his own 4+1 Ensemble, Horvitz is joined by Reggie Watts (keyboards), Eyvind Kang (violin), Julian Priester (trombone), and Tucker Martine (the '+1' component, processing)/ Priester needs little introduction. A former member of Herbie Hancock's Sextant ensemble, his trombone has cropped up in intriguing contexts, such as Paul Schutze's Phantom City. Kang is similarly associated with adventurous sessions, from the power trio overdrive of Dying Ground to Bill Frisell's largely acoustic quartet. The nostalgic Americana of the latter record is a close corollary of much of 4+1. At times Horvitz evinces a very individual appreciation of rhythm, particularly the the ability to govern dynamic tension via its manipulation. Between the bucolic pianism of "Take Me Home" and the closing Electro-folk funk stew "Calder/Snake Eyes". 4+1Ensemble covers a lot of territory. There's very little grandstanding amid the attentiveness and considered contextualisation. On first hearing, Martine's processing is utterly unobtrusive, but with repeated listening his sensitive interjections reveal themselves, crafting ambiences and undercurrents, and generally broadening the textural palette of the ensemble. It's a very different approach to processing from that of Evan Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble, where it becomes the dominant mediating principle. Here, Martine is very much an instrumental voice, an equal partner in a balanced equation.