Lindsey Horner

Bassist Lindsey Horner is one of the more versatile musicians in Jazz and modern music. He has performed and recorded with scores of artists across many genres, from mainstream and cutting edge Jazz and improvised music, singer-songwriters, to Irish traditional and other World musics.

Born in New York City in 1960 to a show business family, he grew up playing many instruments and taking in all the artistic and musical activity that center of world culture has to offer. At the age of 18 he moved to Dublin, Ireland to study at Trinity College where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree. While there, he fell in with some of the well established Jazz musicians who had made names for themselves on the European and international scenes.

At the age of 19 he began playing in the quartet of Irish jazz guitarist Louis Stewart, who had only recently left the employ of pianist George Shearing. He also formed many alliances and played much music with other musicians of his own age who have gone on to great things; among them drummer Stephen Keogh, late flautist Brian Dunning, bassist and composer Ronan Guilfoyle, and German tenor saxophonist, Matthias Schubert.

During this same period, he became more aware of and involved in Irish Traditional Music especially as it was being redefined at the time by artists such as Andy Irvine, Paul Brady, and members of The Bothy Band. He eventually played with many of these artists, both in person and on recordings.

Returning to his native New York, he studied at the Juilliard School from which he earned a Master of Music degree in Bass performance. He began to play with musicians who were on the cutting edge and who came to be thought of collectively under the rubric, “The Downtown Scene” which coalesced around The Knitting Factory, Roulette, and other venues located south of 14th street in New York. Artists such as Bobby Previte, Tim Berne, Bill Frisell, Don Byron, John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Marty Ehrlich, Dave Douglas, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Greg Osby became his collaborators, colleagues and friends.

In the spring of 1990, The Knitting Factory organized a tour of Europe which included the trio of pianist Myra Melford, drummer Reggie Nicholson, and Lindsey on bass. This led to several successful years of touring for the trio and four highly acclaimed recordings. During this period, Lindsey also released the first of his own recordings, NEVER NO MORE.

During this same time, Lindsey was also increasingly active playing in the orchestra pits of several Broadway shows, most notably LES MISERABLES. He played on the Grammy award winning recording of that show and to date has played for well over 30 Broadway productions.

In 1995, he began a long and fruitful musical collaboration in New York with the non-pareil Irish singer-songwriter, Susan McKeown, whose own songs are steeped in the centuries old traditions of the Celtic world while also being entirely original and contemporary. Lindsey has been a member of her band, THE CHANTING HOUSE, as well as several other configurations. Susan and Lindsey have also recorded two efforts as a duo, MIGHTY RAIN and a perennially well received winter/holiday set entitled, THROUGH THE BITTER FROST AND SNOW.

The late 1990s saw Lindsey produce two more recordings of his own music, MERCY ANGEL and BELIEVERS with a quartet including long time musical partner pianist Neal Kirkwood, veteran drummer Jeff Williams and Belgian tenor saxophonist Erwin Vann. He followed Erwin back to Belgium, where he lived for two years playing with  some of the excellent musicians there and all around Europe, among them guitarist Philip Catherine and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.

While living in Brussels, Lindsey also formed a trio with American ex-patriates, reed player Michael Moore and drummer Michael Vatcher, longtime residents of Amsterdam. The trio, JEWELS AND BINOCULARS, focused on instrumental, improvisational interpretations of the music of Bob Dylan. They released three recordings, the last of which, SHIPS WITH TATTOOED SAILS, made its way onto many “best of the year” lists and also featured fellow Dylanologist, guitarist Bill Frisell.

Returning to the US by way of a two year stay in Pittsburgh, Lindsey continued to play and record with a wide array of artists. He released DON’T COUNT ON GLORY in late 2005, which has some of his Pittsburgh colleagues on one extended track. He also fulfilled a long-standing musical aspiration by having longtime friend, the brilliant trumpeter Brian Lynch, feature prominently on the session.

His next effort, UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, was a summation of sorts, a CD of multicultural World Jazz featuring musicians from almost every period of his career thus far: Erwin Vann from Belgium, Augustin Foly from Togo, special guest Andy Irvine from Ireland, Colter Harper from Pittsburgh and Jeff Berman, Rob Thomas, Alison Miller, Randy Crafton and Chris Cunningham from New York.

in 2017, he realized a long held goal with a solo bass recording, ONE MORE FOREVER on which he is joined on about half the tracks by longtime friend and collaborator, Jeff Berman.

Lindsey co-led a band with fellow multi-instrumentalists, singer and guitarist, Timothy Hill and percussionist, Randy Crafton, called SLEEPING BEE. They released two recordings,  HEYDAY MAKER and COME DOWN IN THUNDER. With the untimely passing of original member, Andy Goessling in October of 2018, the band decided to pack it in - at least for now.

He is currently in his fifteenth year with the band of Irish American fiddle player Eileen Ivers, whose exciting style is at the forefront of the rethinking of Irish traditional music as it also combines elements from African, Latin, and other World and Americana sources.

In addition to his work on both acoustic and electric bass, Lindsey can also be heard  playing bass clarinet, tin whistles, guitar and baritone saxophone.