Videos of Elastic Jargon at the bottom of this page.

Reviews:

Tom Hull/ Jazz Prospecting (CG #16, Part 8) april 2008:

Maurice Horsthuis: Elastic Jargon (2007 [2008], Data): One thing I've found is that there's usually an exception to any generalization one might make. By now, you know how much I hate the sound of massed violins, how lame I find classical string quartets, maybe even how estranged I feel from so much advanced contemporary composition (or whatever you call it -- maybe only because I get so little opportunity to follow it). Even at best I figure those things are projects, something that, given more exposure and understanding, I might some day learn to sort of like, a little bit at least. But here's an exception: all strings (4 violins, 2 violas, 3 cellos, double bass, and electric guitar), a very limited pallette with a lot of sawing back and forth, but it's really flowing, with waves of ideas, crashing and bubbling. Need to hold it back as a sanity check. Horsthuis plays viola. He's part of Amsterdam String Trio, which has at least four albums. He's also played with Misha Mengelberg's ICP Orchestra back in the 1980s; also with Han Bennink and Maarten Altena. Group name could be Maurice Horsthuis' Jargon, in which case album name might be Elastic. [A-]

Ed Hazell Issue 17 of Point of Departure Launches 4 May 2008 :

Maurice Horsthuis Jargon - Elastic Jargon Dutch violist-composer Horsthuis has crafted a post-modern gem of an album for his 11-piece string ensemble, Jargon. The music is, in the composer's words, "elastic, not eclectic," and it's an important distinction. The compositions' common technical vocabulary, its musical jargon, draws from a couple hundred years' worth of European classical music, tango, and American idioms such as jazz and blues. But the music doesn't jump among styles; it fuses them into one language. Bits and pieces might recall one period, style, or individual composer, but there's always another component undermining a direct resemblance. At its best, the music confounds any attempt to reduce it to any single identifiable source. "Op Kauwgom" patches together a Bartokian theme with Baroque underpinnings and Classical flourishes tinged with occasional blues inflections. This elusive stylistic quality also characterizes the incongruous merging of Reich, Mozart, Stravinsky, and electric guitar outbursts heard in "BoxRing." "La Philo" sounds like a Burt Bacharach melody supported by Mahler. It sounds as if most of the music is written out, but there is some improvisation and Horsthuis also delights in blurring or even erasing the distinction between the two. Like Misha Mengelberg, Horsthuis loves puns (verbal and musical). The title "Op Kauwgom" or "On Chewing Gum," plays on the elastic nature of the candy and its use as an improvised adhesive-an apt, if homely, metaphor for Elastic Jargon. Behind all the playfulness lies Horsthuis' subtle intelligence and genuine affection for strong melody, rich orchestration, and lively performance. Horsthuis and Jargon never resort to outright parody or ironic distancing from its sources; they embrace them and sing in their chains like the sea.

JazzTimes.com > Reviews > Concert Reviews
Written By:
Larry Appelbaum

Next up was a nine-piece string ensemble Maurice Horsthuis' Jargon that included some youngsters who may have looked a little wet behind the ears but played with great maturity. Was it jazz? Who cares! They played in tune with a lush, full sound.

Sans frontières stylitiques, Maurice Horsthuis mène un ensemble à cordes qui emprunte ses influences plus à la musique classique et contemporaine qu'au jazz stricto-sensu. Ses compositions font une large place à l'évocation, voire au descriptif en relatant des ambiances, des moments de vie, des espaces. Leader-compositeur plus que soliste, il laisse largement s'exprimer ses comparses et l'ensemble joue (littéralement) la musique avec un plaisir évident. ...Un moment de musique sublime!
CultureJazz le 29 avril 2006

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