Bill Horvitz

Bill Horvitz stretches the boundaries of guitar music and points it in new and exciting directions. Horvitz fuses traditional and extended techniques in a most inventive way; his strikingly personal instrumental vision endows the music with an infinite array of tonal color. His long and varied experience in the realms of jazz, rock, classical, folk, and new music have resulted in an entirely original compositional voice--a voice that is forceful and innovative, yet always intelligently accessible.

Since 1974, Horvitz has led both large and small ensembles. Between 1978 and 1988, he lived and worked in New York City, where he explored and extended the sonic range of the guitar in a wide variety of settings. While in NYC, he led the quartet Living With Apparitions and was a member of the band The Public Servants. He has collaborated with many composers and improvisers, notably J.A. Deane, Joseph Sabella, Butch Morris, Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, Bobby Previte, Shelley Hirsch, Denman Maroney, Herb Robertson, Roy Campbell, Richard Dworkin, David Hofstra, George Cartwright, Phillip Johnston, Myra Melford, George Lewis, Bill Laswell, Dave Sewelson, Eugene Chadbourne, Frank London, and Walter Thompson.

He currently leads the Bill Horvitz Band featuring Steve Adams on woodwinds and Harris Eisenstadt on drums. The band recorded its third CD in November 2007, which should be out in early 2008. He also works with the improvising quartet Out by Five with Jon Raskin, George Cremaschi, and Garth Powell , the Harris Eisenstadt Ahimsa Orchestra, and Moe Staino's Moekestra! He recorded the CD Tuolumne Songs, compositions for solo acoustic guitar.

In 2006-2007 Bill composed the music for a 20-piece ensemble,
The Bill Horvitz Expanded Band, in tribute to his late brother, Philip. The music has been performed and recorded in California and NYC to great acclaim and will be released on CD in early 2009.



His latest project is TONE BENT, a vocal and guitar collaboration with composer and singer Robin Eschner, trading off on the melodies and harmonies as they perform their original songs and an occasional favorite old chestnut with a new shell. Whatever the song, Tone Bent will deliver it with gorgeous harmonies and inspired guitar playing, pulling you along through the range of emotions. The Tone Bent CD "Say What You Will" is available as of October 1, 2008 and can be found at www.tonebent.com

Horvitz collaborates frequently with poets and other writers, combining electric and acoustic music with spoken word. He has composed music for film, dance, art installation, and theater, most recently the play Anatomy of Gray, (2008).