Cell Walk

"The 17 original pieces of this album highlight the duo’s great affinity for experimenting with unorthodox extended techniques and textures, compositional strategies, and improvisational ideas, always in the service of beautiful melodies and songs. The profound, common language of Horvitz and Schoenbeck captures the listener immediately. There is a rare kind of relaxed intimacy and a natural fluidity in their interplay. There is also an expressive synergy that is focused most of the time on reserved, lyrical tones, and an organic and transparent basis that keeps enriching the melodic, chamber conversations. Schoenbeck demonstrates the full sonic palette of the modern bassoon as a classical instrument that feels at home in many musical arenas, especially on Horvitz’ playful homage “For Lou Harrison”, her own composition “Deep Well Well”, and the open improvisations where Horvitz added subtle electronics...all performed with grace and elegance, beauty and imagination."

"Much of the record’s allure is owed to muted expression. Horvitz’s chamber songs often have a way of declaring themselves with a whisper. The central phrase of “American Bandstand” feels like it’s been floating through the air forever. “Ironbound” is both gothic and spectral, with a stealth drama at its core. Schoenbeck’s pair of tunes are comparatively abstract—I had to check to see if “Marcuselle” was one of the program’s five fully improvised works. Six performances use minimalist electronics for textural options, enhancing the music’s fabric. But Cell Walk’s real attraction is the way these disparate elements are aligned. The bassoonist growls a bit; her partner often relies on silence. “Tin Palace” and “For Lou Harrison” move quickly; “Sleeper Ship” and “Sutter St.” exude calm. Most of the 17 tracks clock in at under four minutes. As they reveal their relationship to each other, each evocative miniature reminds that a sketch can have the emotional impact of a symphony."

"Pianist Wayne Horvitz and bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck are half of the chamber jazz group Gravitas Quartet, and they bring the same fragile beauty and humble majesty to the mix on this riveting duo session. No piece better encapsulates the potent magnetism generated by this duo than their rendition of Horvitz’s “American Bandstand,” a work that flirts with diving deep into a heartbreaking melody and effecting its slow dissolution, without ever fully manifesting either state. It is beauty creating tension, creating beauty by way of proxy."

"This gem of a recording pairs-up the formidable duo of bassoonist Sara Schoenbeck and pianist Wayne Horvitz for a session of lovely pieces that are improvised, composed or straddling points in-between. Having worked together for 20 years in Horvitz’s chamber jazz group the Gravitas Quartet, which includes Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee, they speak one another’s musical language. For every outsider jaunt such as Deep Well Well, there is an equally near, neoclassical feeling piece such as Laughter or Ironbound. Horvitz is always a solid player but it’s exciting to hear Schoenbeck take the bassoon in such interesting directions."

"Schoenbeck and Horvitz settle in for a collection of (mostly) miniatures that both rise to great heights and sink to dark depths, all the while showcasing synergy and sympathies of an extraordinary nature. The program includes spellbinding melodic drifts spied from a distance and sourced from the heavens, descents into catacombs echoing cacophonous lines, meetings with the proudly sedate, and curious turns of phrase that soothe and suggest multiple pathways. The music is never short on surprise, and it's always focused on a fine balance in voicing and vision(s).
Cell Walk, broaching fresh territory in multiple ways, suggests an unusually aligned sense of understanding shared between two unique artists. This is the rare case where the phrase "one of a kind" can be applied to the individual(s), the collective entity and its album all at once. Delivering music with incredible depth of presence, Sara Schoenbeck and Wayne Horvitz prove mesmerizing."