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Michael Hornstein ist als Saxophonist, Komponist und Musikproduzent mit dem Track „Carma“ auf der renommierten Compilation Cafe del Mar Vol. XIV aus dem Jahr 2007 vertreten. Durch diesen Titel gehört er heute zu den meist gehörten Saxophonisten weltweit.
... eine ganz andere musikalische Richtung schlägt Hornstein auf seiner CD "Westend" ein: Zwischen Ambient und Jazzangesiedelt, ist ein klanglich dichtes, hinreißend melodisches Album zum perfekten Chill-Out entstanden. Das Altsax entwickelt vor dem Hintergrund von Bockius' Bassspiel und elektronischer Samples geradezu hypnotische Klänge. In die Kompositionen sind Hornsteins vielseitige musikalische Erfahrungen eingeflossen: Blues und Cool-Jazz, Ausflüge in die Welten von Trip-Hop und Drum And Bass. Im Auftrag des Goethe-Instituts war Hornstein unter anderem in Südeuropa, Georgien und Mexiko unterwegs - auf "Westend" sind am klarsten die Eindrücke seiner Professur in Bogota zu hören: In Titeln wie "Calle 19" und "Futuro Pasado" interpretiert er traditionelle lateinamerikanische Rhythmen neu. Die Samples reichen von Percussion und E-Piano-Klängen, über Motor- und
Straßengeräuschen bis zu rhythmischen Blubbern und langgezogenen Tönen, die an Walgesänge erinnern. Doch die Elektronik wirkt nie effekthascherisch, bewusst sparsam eingesetzt steht sie stets im Dienste einer herausragendem Musikalität. ARMIN GREUNE SZ/22/4/2006
Let It Go, release 2006, Unique Chillout Jazz, all tunes available on i tunes
CD "Draught" Mezei Szrilard Leo Records London
Online Review Amazon:
... on the contrary, it is endlessly tuneful. Mezei and his soloists just makes full use of the traditions on their horns. Hornstein on the alto is a wonder. He has obviously listened to players like Sonny Simmons and Anthony Braxton but he also has absorbed the whole history of his horn. In fact, his sensibility is almost like (O, off the top of my head) Johnny Hodges channeling Eric Dolphy or Braxton. Great stuff.
And don't worry- there is plenty of just plain wierdness. Listen to the mass group freak outs that commence "Female Boxing". I have only two small provisos to my general enthusiasm. The one tendency that Mezei has as a composer that I don't get is that sometimes he just turns the group off behind the soloist. It sometimes sounds as if he is abandoning them. Which seems wrong simply because he is so good at orchestration. This may simply be his style in which case so be it. But I would like to hear other works by him to be sure.
Recorded 2003 and released 2005 in Bogota: "Danza Mestiza" with Juan Carlos Padilla, Luis Pacheco, Havier Aguillera. Fiesta Jazz Australia online review:
Juan Carlos Padilla & Michael Hornstein "Danza Mestiza" 2004 Millenium Records Colombia. What a refreshing and terrific Cd, full of Colombian rhythms played in a jazz format. The Colombian Bassist Juan Carlos teams up with a German saxophonist (Michael) and the icing on the cake is the percussionist Luis Pacheco.
"Warm Weather" mit Blank & Jones, release on the album Relax 2, Sony BMG, 2005
Jazz On Mars, solosaxophone with live electronics, 1999
Irgendwann wollen sie es alle einmal wissen: Nur mit sich alleine auf der Bühne der Interaktion mit dem Publikum ausgesetzt, die Isolation im Studio,
um nur die ureigene Schaffenskraft auf den Tonträger zu bannen, der dann die Herausforderungen des Marktes zu bestehen hat. Die Live-Aufnahme birgt eine hochinteressante Auseinandersetzung: Ausgehend von der Wahrnehmung, dass keine Stille auf der Welt ist, es keine absolut stillen Orte gibt, setzt sich Michael Hornstein mit Hilfe seines Instrumentes mit dem Raum auseinander, gibt call and response auf die Stille oder Nicht-Stille des
Konzertraumes, oder auch auf vorproduzierte virtuelle Klangräume aus dem Computer. Michael Hornstein muss zweifelsohne als Prototypus des complete saxophonist gelten, der über das gesamte Ausdrucksspektrum des Altsaxophonsvon meditativer Klangaskese bis zu archaischer expressiver Sinnlichkeit, von zarter Koloratur bis zu Parker´schem Schmerz, verfügt. Damit bekommt die Auseinandersetzung mit der Gewalt des Raumes Sinn, wird nachhörbar auf der ungeschminkten, fast rohen Live-Einspielung von Jazz On Mars. Mit diesem Schritt vom intensiven Ensemblespiel, das ja bislang eine der Stärken von Michael Hornstein war, hin zum Solospiel beweist er nur Konsequenz: "The longer I make music, the more important silence becomes to me."
* * * *
Jörg Meilicke
"Innocent Green" enja 9099-2
Recorded 1995 in New York
Michael Hornstein as leader and composer, the band features Gary Peacock on bass, Billy Hart on drums, and as guestartist: Bobo Dorough
"... Hornstein shows with the greatest of ease, how he swings his fat sound..."
Peter Bölke, Spiegel
"A record you can listen over the days again and again with increasing pleasure... Di Gioia and Hornstein as kongenious partners of Gary Peacock, Billy Hart and Bob Dorough..."
Roland Spiegel, AZ
"13 Steps ON Glass", recorded 1996 in munich
With Sunny Murray, Wayne Dockery, Odeon Pope, enja
"Canto Mestizo" 2003 with Pacho Davilla, Teto Ocampo, Urian Sarmiento
Dry Red, altosaxophone and piano duo with Roberto Di Gioia, released by edition collage, munich, 1994
Linernotes Langsames Blau enja 8028 - 2:
Its rare indeed that a musician entering the international music scene has something new to say. There are many virtuosos around, but few have found their own voice. Michael Hornstein is a young altosax player from Munich whose musical experiences far exceed stylistic boundaries. Hornstein is a hipster in the best sense of the word: doing the right thing at the right time. When everybody else finds out what its all about, he is ahead again.
I first heard Michael Hornstein on alto playing "Cherokee". He was fifteen years old. Punk was on the rise, a rejection of traditions and esthetics. Whilst everybody else was rebelling, Michael Hornstein was teaching himself the saxophone by memorizing Charlie Parker Solos. Michael Hornstein had things to say he couldnt express with Rock. The next fifteen years Michael Hornstein played Jazz, Rock, Rhythm and Blues, he worked as a studio musician in Bogotá and jammed with the new York jazz scene. He toured with people as diverse as Albert Mangelsdorff, Bob Dorough and Udo Lindenberg, and composed film scores. For the last three years he has been working with his trio on his own compositions and ideas.
When I saw his new group for the first time, I was amazed. I hadnt heard Michael Hornstein for about five years. What he has developed with the double bass player Christian Lachotta and the drummer Fred Braceful is unique. With his saxophone Michael Hornstein tells the story of a musician who has merged his European roots with the history of Jazz. He has developed a tone on his alto that is so powerful and expressive, you would normally expect it from a tenor player. His is complemented perfectly by Christian Lachotta, who found his own style through his work with classical orchestras like the Bayrisches Rundfunkorchester and soloists like Gidon Kremer, as well as by playing with jazz musicians like Mal Waldron and Attila Zoller. Fred Braceful, who has made a name for himself as one of the most sensitive players of modern Jazz, is finishing the group sound of the trio with his multilayered rhythms. Detroid-born, Braceful developed his unconventional drum style in the Loft Scene of the 70s. Not only can he groove, he also plays melody and reacts to every nuance in the music. The three form a band in which the musicians transcend their traditional roles.
"Langsames Blau" is the first release by the Michael Hornstein Trio and the first album on enja bearing a German title, since the lyric term in not translatable. The Michael Hornstein Trio uses freedons of Modern Jazz, masters the refinements of contemporary music, and channels the energy of collective improvisation. The results are new sounds and thriliing music.
Adrian Kreye, New York, Januar 1994