Wayne Horvitz: Naked
City was really the last big project that I did with John Zorn.
We met in Santa Cruz in 1978. My friend from college, Polly Bradfield,
had moved to New York City and begun working with John and others
in that scene. She called one day and said that John Zorn and Eugene
Chadbourne had some gigs in San Francisco and wondered if I could
set something up in Santa Cruz. We put on a concert for fifteen or
twenty people in the living room of a friend of mine. Robin
Holcomb and I moved to New York a few months later and I immediately
began doing stuff with both John and Eugene.
As I mentioned, Naked
City was really the last project I did with John. Before that
we had done years of improvised gigs, he played on my second album
“Simple
Facts“, we did a lot of John’s game piece, and even played
some weddings!

Xtreme Music: Both Yamantaka Eye (previously known as
Yamatsuka Eye) and Mike Patton have featured on vocals throughout
Naked City’s performances in Europe and North America. Please tell
us about your thoughts from the Naked City reunion concerts that took
place during June 2003 in Amsterdam, Holland, and Warsaw, Poland.

Wayne Horvitz: Well I enjoyed them a lot, and in many ways for selfish
reasons. One of the really difficult things about Naked
City when the band was touring was that it was right in that period
where everyone used synthesizers instead of real keyboards, and somehow
I never felt like we could just ask for a Fender Rhodes and a Hammond
B-3. So here I was night after night following a Bill Frisell solo,
which is already intimidating, on a fucking DX-7. On these last two
shows I asked for both, and especially the Rhodes was so great to
have, I was actually playing a real instrument, and one that is essentially
my main instrument… and I could hear myself! Piano was always tricky
in Naked
City because either I couldn’t hear myself, or else we’d suddenly
play a ballad and the ONLY thing I could hear was the piano because
I had it up so loud in the monitors, and suddenly I couldn’t hear
Joey at all! Naked
City really was a band that needed a small crew, at least a monitor
mixer and one technician. But we always toured like a jazz band, which
in some ways has its advantages, but not in others. Seeing Mike
Patton again was great, he is fantastic. Eye
of course was also a blast to play with, both of them are amazing.

Xtreme Music: Could you shed some further light on what happened to
a rumoured album recording from Naked City. A collection of cover
songs and eclectic arrangements from important and influential 20th
Century composers, dubbed as “Radio Vol. 2”?

Wayne Horvitz: You would have to ask John. Frankly it was so long
ago that I sort of lost track of what was what.

Xtreme Music: Who would you say are your main influences
that have helped shape your musical direction?

Wayne Horvitz: Well I wouldn’t say that Sonny
Clark per se was a huge influence on my music, but that whole
zone where blues-inflected piano intersects with jazz and post be-bop
in particular was always really attractive to me. Probably my first
introduction to that vibe was with hearing Bobby
Timmons, and when John Zorn hipped me to Sonny
Clark‘s music, I immediately took to it. Also, he really was a
very unique jazz composer, and prolific in his short life.

Xtreme Music: Please tell us about the writing processes
involved in producing music with Pigpen and Zony Mash.

Wayne Horvitz: Pigpen
was probably the least focused band I ever had, in that I really brought
in any and all types of music I was interested in writing, and in
that sense was probably the closest to Naked
City just in the pure range of material. At the same time we didn’t
do any covers, although other members of the band did contribute a
few pieces. The guys in Pigpen
could really turn on a dime conceptually, and we had a lot of fun
as well. Briggan
Krauss is still one of my all time favourite improvisers.

Zony
Mash was a totally different animal. I never intended to record
or tour that band. When Robin
was pregnant for the second time I didn’t want to tour for a while,
but I also didn’t want to stop playing and thought it would be a good
time to try something. At first I tried to find a regular night in
Seattle with a piano and work on some acoustic music, but that didn’t
work out so I put my Hammond B-3 down at the OK
Hotel in the lounge, and called up Timothy Young who I hadn’t
really worked with. I felt that I really was just a folk-rock organ
player with a pianist approach to the instrument and thought this
would be a chance to get my organ playing together. The tunes were
really a reaction to what I had written for The
President, and the Horvitz, Morris, and Previte Trio, and Pigpen.
All those bands were very ensemble oriented. Instead I just wrote
some themes for us to solo off on in a more traditional sense. Ironically,
although it took a couple of years, what really became exciting about
Zony
Mash, and subsequently Sweeter
Than The Day, was the ensemble playing.

Xtreme Music: What music are you currently working on producing and
recording.

Wayne Horvitz: I am mostly focusing on pieces for classical players,
and pieces for classical ensembles plus a featured soloist. I recently
premiered my ninety minute Oratorio: “Joe Hill: 16 Actions For
Chamber Orchestra And Voice” which featured Robin
Holcomb, Danny
Barnes, Rinde
Eckert, and Bill
Frisell. I am working on my second piece for String Quartet and
Improviser. I am about to record my new quartet, with Peggy
Lee [Cello], Ron
Miles [Trumpet], and Sara
Schoenbeck [Bassoon], so I am busy writing music for that. I am
in the middle of producing a record for a singer-songwriter friend
here in Seattle, Karen
Pernick. Next week I am helping Robin
finish her CD for Tzadik,
and later in the month, I finish editing two string quartets of mine
that I recorded in Vienna also for a Tzadik
CD. Still playing with Sweeter
Than The Day, doing some solo piano shows, and really enjoying
improvising with this trio containing Briggan
Krauss, and Dylan
Van Der Schyff when we get the chance to play.

Xtreme Music: What positive highlights and experiences
can you share from your extensive music career?

Wayne Horvitz: Well playing music is the positive highlight, much
more than that and I would have to write a book.

Xtreme Music: Please mention some of the Naked City compositions
that have become your personal favourites, and if possible, why are
these particular choices important to you?

Wayne Horvitz: Well, I was always partial to “Sex Fiend”,
just because Zony
Mash played it, and we actually finally got really inside it.
One of the great things about Naked
City was how large the book was, but it was also a drawback because
we were always looking at the chart, and often didn’t play a tune
two nights in a row. At the same time some of my favourite pieces
were “Leng
Tch’e” and the whole “Absinthe”
CD, which was a difficult but rewarding process.

Xtreme Music: For those who enjoy music from Naked City and Zony Mash,
what music recommendations can you supply from specific artists and
albums?