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Joe Hill, 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voices and Soloist was released on
New World Records on
April 1, 2008. From the liner notes by Paul de Barros:
Perhaps the best way to characterize Wayne Horvitz's Joe Hill: 16 Actions for
Orchestra, Voice, and Soloist, based on the life and times of the legendary labor
activist and organizer is as a radio play that tells the story of a man's life in
words, instrumental music and songs. Like a song cycle, Joe Hill incorporates
much previously-written material (nearly all of it re-harmonized). There are
songs by Hill himself, such as The Rebel Girl and There is Power in the Union,
but also by others, including the folk poem The Lumberjack's Prayer,
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Mississippi John Hurt's Spike Driver's Blues, and an old English street
cry, Chairs to Mend. It also employs spoken word, including Joe Hill's
famous Last Will and Testament, plus words used as narration and dramatic
dialogue. But song cycles don't usually include ravishingly beautiful
stretches of chamber music, much less a completely open line in the score for an
improvising guitarist in this case, the most influential one of our time, Bill
Frisell. This Rubik's cube of jazz, folk, classical and popular music is
strikingly elegiac and autumnal in tone, more requiem and lament than celebration
or call to action. This is appropriate to its theme of martyrdom, though
there are also many exhilarating, jaunty, and humorous sections. Apart from
classical music and the blues, its' other major influences are what has come to
be called Americana, or to be more specific, Appalachian music's nasal
vocals, affection for open fifths, ambiguity between major and minor thirds, and
the jazzy Broadway writing of Leonard Bernstein, particularly his penchant for
rapid time-signature changes. Horvitz has chosen to tell Hill's story in
music that is both complex and direct, ironic and sentimental, dissonant and
gorgeous, popular and artful, and that relishes a well-wrought song as much as
long-form development.
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beautiful solos, and the group interplay that the band is so well known
for. "This is more of a playing record", says Horvitz. "It
isn’t live, but it’s a lot closer to that feeling than Forever or Sweeter
Than the Day - a little looser and a little edgier: it’s got more up-tempo tunes
and we stretch more. Tim does some things that just knock my socks off. We
actually recorded this the same week I recorded the new Gravitas CD, and we do three
or four of the same tunes. The contrast is fantastic between the two bands, and
I am blessed to have not one, but two ensembles bringing so much life to my
pieces."
Some of that edge can be heard on The 29th Day of May, despite its gentle
theme, as well as on A Moment for Andrew (for pianist Andrew Hill),
and Between The Floors, both featuring a mutated swing feel driven by newest
member Eric Eagle (drums). Other highlights include Tim Young’s
blues groove on A Walk in the Rain, two gorgeous ballads, Good Shepherd
and Undecided, and the lovely Waltz from Woman of Tokyo, excerpted from
a score for the silent film of the same name by the iconic Japanese director Yasujiro
Ozu.
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in addition to Holcomb on vocals and Jon Hyde on pedal steel, and lasted for
almost two years. Each week featured special guest vocalists and the band maintained
a strict rule of "no original material, and no rehearsals." Guests over the
years included Reggie Garrett, Karen Pernick, The Tallboys,
Dave Keenan, Nova Devonie, Arni Adler, Grant Dermody,
Orville Johnson, Laura Veirs, Joe Miller, Casey MacGill,
Del Ray, Garfield High Horns, Jed Jedrzejewski, Jim
Burns, Paul Hiraga, Terri Moeller, and many more, including two
Christmas shows where the entire bar sang along.
A typical night with VARMINT might include renditions by Holcomb of Black
Jack Davey and Cluck Old Hen (traditional), Mister Man
in the Moon (Michael Hurley), Enlightenment (Sun Ra),
Dues (Ronee Blakley from the movie Nashville), the Al Green version of
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams) and Close To You
(Burt Bacharach), with Tim Young singing Solitary Man (Neil Diamond) and
It Won’t Be Long (Johnny Paycheck), as well as Jon Hyde singing
Last Date (Floyd Cramer) and rippin' through the instrumental Bar
Hoppin'. Dave Keenan would sit in on Reuben’s Train (trad),
Laura Veirs would sing Frieght Train (Elizabeth Cotton), and Arni Adler
would guest on If He Swings on a String (made famous by Marlene
Dietrich.)
In the summer of 2006, the core band went to Montana to record at Snowghost
Studios with engineer Brett Allen. In just 2 1/2 days, the band burned
through 20 tunes with a "catch it live while it’s hot" attitude. With very
few fixes or overdubs, these tracks, mixed over a year later, were released in
February, 2008 with a guest-filled CD release extravaganza at the
Tractor Tavern,
Seattle.
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OTHER NEWS
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