Wayne Horvitz and Zony Mash
Brand Spankin’ New
Knitting Factory
Wayne Horvitz is a composer, pianist, and keyboardist who has performed extensively over the world, working with John Zorn and Naked City, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, and Butch Morris, among others, making him one of the lead musicians in the Avant Garde/Knitting Factory scene in NYC. After playing with so many experimental bands, he wanted to move away from that, and simply play some groove oriented funk. To fulfill his need to play the sounds he was after, he assembled Zony Mash (named after a Meters song).
Following the tradition of their first album, Cold Spill , Zony Mash play their own brand of intricate funk with touches of Horvitz’s more experimental sounds. Unlike the first album, the keyboards are the predominant instrument while the drums and bass lay down a solid yet flexible base for Horvitz to bounce his Hammond, Moog, and electrical pianos grooves off. Brand Spankin’ New reminds me of the first two Charlie Hunter records. The drums and bass are similar to CH’s, but with Hunter’s guitar/bass experimentation replaced with a similar style of keyboard playing. It’s nice to hear experimental funk that has a solid rhythm section that counterbalances the experimental parts played by the organs/keyboards. Just the right amount of complexity mixed with groove-oriented jazz.
Knitting Factory Works, 74 Leonard St., New York, NY 10013
