Hoeveel Zorn cd's heb je? (En andere Zorn-praat.)

Carry on!

De albums zijn in volgorde van uitbrengen:

Pool (1980)
Spillane (1986)
Naked City (1989)
Angelus Novus (1998)
Music Romance, Vol. 1: Music for Children (1998)
Film Works, Vol. 9: Trembling Before G-D (2000)
The Gift (2001)
Love, Madness and Mysticism (2001)
Songs from the Hermetic Theatre (2001)
Hockey (2002)
I.A.O. (2002)

De CD waarop hij meespeelt is Blue Planet Man van Big John Patton.

Dit was een post met een hoog:

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Boy number 1: Ghe ghe ghe, mijne is 17 cm, hoe lang is de jouwe?!

Boy number 2: Haha, sukkel, mijnes is 17,5 cm naar beneden afgerond!

Boy number 3: Ja fuck he! Jullie liegen dat je barst.

Boy number 1: Pleur op mietje, je hebt zeker een korte. Ha, sukkel.

Boy number 2: Grootte telt.

Boy number 3: Ja hey, veel plezier met rukken, ik ga naar m'n vriendin.

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Op donderdag 19 juni 2003 00:55 schreef Acathla het volgende:
Even (OT?) een vraagje....

Wat is er nou zo ontzettend bijzonder aan John Zorn dat ik er iets van moet do.. kopen om eens te luisteren? Leg me dat uit. Ik heb deze Fok! "Hype" (jawel " " om niet op zere zieltjes te trappen) nooit echt begrepen. Enlighten me

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Op donderdag 19 juni 2003 01:17 schreef Tijn het volgende:

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Meen je dat serieus? Zorn lijkt me niet bepaald het soort componist die veel op de improvisatie gooit. Die gasten van Naked City hadden niet voor niks allemaal bladmuziek.

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Erg interessante site btw, bedankt.

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Op donderdag 19 juni 2003 01:22 schreef Summoner het volgende:
Ook "Yankees" is behoorlijk zware kost. Een serie improvisaties met Derek Bailey en een andere muzikant, waar ik ff niet de naam van weet.

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Op donderdag 19 juni 2003 21:59 schreef OProg het volgende:
Ik heb het al tijden op mijn lijst staan maar kom er eig niks van tegen

Vrijdagavond nog maar een keer @ R'dam kijken, iemand een tip waar te zoeken?

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Neem nu bijvoorbeeld het artwork in het boekje van "The Gift", dat zijn Japanse tienermeisjes in schooluniform waarvan sommige seksuele handelingen verrichten en een ander op een herentoilet probeert te urineren, door weer een ander staat een verbodsbord terwijl ze vastgebonden op een stoel zit. Vreselijk intrigerend natuurlijk, het geheel verpakt in een kartonnen hoesje met een afbeelding van inpakpapier. The Gift.

Hier dus een afbeelding. Maar wat betekenen die plaatjes nu? Het is een enorme grap natuurlijk, de naam bij die plaatjes en dan ook nog die enorm relaxte gitaarmuziek erbij van de cd zelf. Als ik een digicam heb of een scanner ofzo zal ik nog plaatjes van het boekje posten. Maar goed, terug naar het verhaal. Wat beweegt Zorn om voor zulk artwork te kiezen?

Nog een voorbeeld, namelijk "Music for Children." Hieronder weer een plaatje.

De titel is een beetje sarcastisch, maar dan weer het artwork. Op het plaatje zie je al een blonde pop met een enorm opgezwollen buik. Op de cd-cover zelf (die pop is weer een kartonnen hoesje) staat een afbeelding
van een of andere elfentuin, wederom Japans (nou ja, ik zeg nu wel constant Japans, het is in ieder geval oosters, laat ik er verder maar over doorgaan in de trent van Japans). Op de achterkant van het boekje staat een of andere versie van een oosterse naakte realdoll in een bed met spijlen. De rest van de afbeeldingen zijn van poppen of van zo'n Japanse elfentuin. de afbeeldingen worden afgewisseld met gedichtjes of spreuken.

Echt ontzettend interessant, die Zorn. Na wat Tijn heeft gezegd over het interview is mijn nieuwsgierigheid naar de persoon achter de muziek alleen maar toegenomen.

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Verrassend is de band niet meer en de composities zijn bekend.

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Maar kom op, als er iets absoluut niet gedateerd klinkt dan is het John Zorn.

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Op vrijdag 20 juni 2003 10:51 schreef Zander het volgende:

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Ik heb gisteren ook maar even een cdtje van Masada aangeschaft, kan nu even niet kijken welke het is, en die hoesjes zien er allemaal nagenoeg hetzelfde uit. Maar dit is echt mijn ding, avantgarde jazz met klezmer-melodieen. Super!

Op een bepaalde manier doet Zorn me ook wel enigszins aan Frank Zappa denken, met zijn enorme discografie van allerlei verschillende stijlen, die handsignalen die hij gebruikt om de band te dirigeren en vooral ook het feit dat hij volgens het interview liever niet terugkijkt op zijn oude werk maar telkens vooruit wil.

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Op vrijdag 20 juni 2003 16:01 schreef Litpho het volgende:

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Namens de Zonen van Zorn?

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JOHN ZORN ELECTRIC MASADA

Optreden op North Sea Jazz:
> zondag 13 juli 2003 : Paul Acket Paviljoen : 18:30 - 19:45 uur

Line-up:
John Zorn (sax); Marc Ribot (guitar); Jamie Saft (keyboards); Trevor Dunn (bass); Ben Perowsky (drums); Cyro Baptista (percussion)

Over deze act:
Wie de productiviteit van altsaxofonist en componist John Zorn eens goed bekijkt, krijgt meer en meer bewondering voor de geestdrift en creativiteit van deze muzikale duizendpoot. Op de cd van één van zijn bands, Naked City, staan bijvoorbeeld 41 nummers waarvan het kortste 10 seconden duurt en het langste 17 minuten en 40 seconden, maar de meeste zijn rond de 15 seconden. Het moge duidelijk zijn: het vooroordeel dat jazzmuzikanten soms wat lang van stof kunnen zijn, wordt door deze unieke muzikant volledig aan flarden geblazen.

Zijn zakelijke inzichten stelden hem ook nog eens in staat om honderden cds op zijn eigen Tzadik-label uit te brengen. Op dat label zet hij zich met series als Radical Jewish Culture en Great Jewish Music in voor de Joodse cultuur. Met zijn band Masada, waarmee hij een hele rits albums maakte, verweeft hij vrije improvisatie met Joodse volksmuziek. Verder schrijft hij filmmuziek (tekenfilms en sm-achtige porno hebben zijn voorkeur), composities voor strijkkwartetten en ga zo maar door.

Dit jaar presenteert hij in Den Haag de elektrische versie van Masada, met gitarist Marc Ribot en meesterpercussionist Cyro Baptista als speerpunten. John Zorn móet je een keer meegemaakt hebben, maar gevoelige zielen en jazzpuristen kunnen hem maar beter overslaan. Jazz Snob: Eat Shit, de titel van een van zijn composities (24 seconden), zegt in dit verband voldoende.

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Daar heb ik zin in na het uiterst verdrietige missen van de enige overgebleven mogelijkheid om Naked City in deze bezetting te kunnen zien.

Voor de Zornliefhebbers met ook nog eens een voorliefde voor moderne klassieke muziek.

Aporias betekent zoiets als 'ondoordringbare passage'.

De cd begint vrij druk met piano en het orkest, maar het wordt hoe verder hoe rustiger. Sommige dingen zijn echt geniaal gevonden, zoals het moment waar het koor begint en ook het zeer onverwachte klappen, wat de sfeer alleen maar ten goede komt. Het heeft wel een beetje iets droevigs, requiem he, maar het klappen geeft het ook weer iets levendigs. Nou ja, er zitten ook weer talloze Zorn-effecten doorheen op klassieke instrumenten, zo is er een moment waarop schijnbaar het geluid van een rivier wordt nagebootst.

Een zeer geslaagde cd met als enige minpunt dat hij nog geen 34 minuten duurt.

Ben ik trouwens de enige die in het plaatje hierboven een kerel ziet die een toeter in z'n hol geduwd krijgt? Misschien is het plaatje niet groot genoeg.

[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door Seborik op 12-07-2003 11:50]

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Op vrijdag 27 juni 2003 20:07 schreef Dinosaur_Sr het volgende:

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Jij als toekomstig psycholoog moet toch weten wat een Freudiaanse verziening is....?

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Zander zei ook al dat het m'n eigen perverse ideeën waren.

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Op zaterdag 28 juni 2003 09:02 schreef Vork het volgende:
Ik zit nogsteeds met mijn twee Zorn voor beginnens plaaten, te weten: Spillane en Naked City uiteraard. Wat zou hiervoor een logisch gevolg zijn, kom maar op met je tips

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Maar misschien hebben ze ze weer aangevuld. Als je een beetje van dat soort albums zoekt, zou ik de klassieke muziek van Zorn en de echt experimentele dingen zoals Pool, Hockey en Songs from The Hermetic Theatre vermijden.

[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door Seborik op 01-07-2003 15:48]

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Op vrijdag 20 juni 2003 10:51 schreef Zander het volgende:

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Masada

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Deze zijn in ieder geval niet live... als er alleen Cobra staat volgens mij ook niet.

Heb dit boek besteld, helaas is de levertijd 6 weken.

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Op zondag 13 juli 2003 12:18 schreef Zander het volgende:
Ben benieuwd of 'ie vandaag echt komt opdagen.

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We stonden zo dichtbij en konden het perfect zien vandaag (op NSJ.)

Met een plekje tegen het podium aan hadden we perfect zicht op hem en zijn band. De soms zo subtiele bewegingen en andermaal weer de uitbundigheid waarmee hij zijn band dirigeerde, zijn musici waarnaar hij goedkeurend knikte en zichtbaar genoot van de muziek die zij produceerden, zijn muziek. Prachtig om te zien. Ik vond het echt ontzettend bijzonder. De muziek was subliem en zelfs (nog) beter dan Masada op cd.

Zorn stapte op een gegeven moment weg van zijn barkruk en ging van een afstand staan kijken hoe zijn band de sterren van de hemel speelde met een enorme lach op zijn gezicht, ze hadden er zichtbaar echt plezier in. Geweldige musici had hij bij ook, ze lieten zichzelf ook meevoeren op de muziek, de bassist en gitarist zeker. En het applaus aan het einde van de set was oorverdovend, ondanks dat het vrij leeg was in het publiek. De band kwam terug voor een toegift (van ongeveer 10-15 minuten), waarna nog een keihard applaus volgde, zelfs nadat zorn al was afgekondigd.

Echt iets dat ik nooit zal vergeten.

Het was ook wel grappig dat Zorn tijdens de toegift met z'n mobieltje zat te spelen en hierdoor in een lachbui geraakte samen met de toetsenist. Dit was overigens tijdens een gitaarsolo.

De Get Records is echt geweldig voor de liefhebber.

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Op dinsdag 15 juli 2003 19:27 schreef MuadDib het volgende:

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Zei ik het niet?

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Ik moet ook eerlijk toegeven dat ik meer gefascineerd naar Zorn zat te kijken en wat zijn directies uitrichten dan veel te letten op de toetsenist achter hem...

De eerste cd is een soort van sm-spelletje, weinig kwaad en het speelse laat zich goed klinken. Het artwork is hier en daar wat twijfelachtig, maar goed iedereen z'n seksuele pleziertjes (ook de oude Japanners enkele afbeeldingen zijn oude kunstwerken). Interessant wat erover staat geschreven in het boekje. Enkele nummers waren al bekend van het Naked City debuut uit 1989 en de rest lijkt er wel sterk op, eveneens met veel gillen van plezier.

Dan Leng Tch'e. Na eerst de afbeeldingen letterlijk onder de loep te hebben genomen en de details grondig te hebben bekeken (wat op zich al gruwelijk is) de muziek beluisterd. Gruwelijk (nogmaals), dat is misschien nog wel het beste woord ervoor. Een muzikale executie in iets meer dan een half uur. Elke luisteraar van deze cd is getuige geweest van een gruwelijke daad van menselijke bruutheid. De plaatjes in het boekje moet je er eigenlijk constant bijhouden. Ze zeggen alles al.
Ik zag een man voor me, waar op gruwelijke wijze delen van ledematen en stukken vlees vanaf werden gesneden, de drums gaven het ritme van het mes aan. Boem... boem... boem...
Steeds dieper zakte ik in mijn stoel en een licht gevoel van misselijkheid kon ik niet onderdrukken.
Het krijsen begon, letterlijk krijsen. Waren het op torture garden (misschien) nog schreeuwen van genot, hier waren het schreeuwen van pure pijn. Een lijden waar geen einde aan leek te komen. Ik was dan ook blij dat de cd na slechts iets meer dan een half uur afgelopen was, eigenlijk.

Een muzikaal meesterwerkje. Het onderwerp is perfect gevangen in de muziek.

[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door Seborik op 16-07-2003 13:33]

Impressies van NSJ. Zo dichtbij stonden we dus, het lijkt nu zelfs wat verder weg.

http://www.bndestem.nl/regioportal/BNS/0,2622,1347-Cultuur-Nieuws!KCE!__1636749_,00.html

Wat mij erg opviel:

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Zorns eerste 'joodse' plaat, Kristallnacht uit 1993, is ronduit shockerend. Om de muziek, die niets minder is dan regelrechte horror-audio, een keiharde verklanking van de Holocaust waarbij de componist op de hoes zelfs waarschuwt dat te langdurige of herhaalde beluistering schadelijk kan zijn. Maar ook om de jodenster die prominent op de hoes prijkt, terwijl Zorn zelf Duitse concertorganisatoren in verlegenheid brengt door in München op het podium te verschijnen in een lange zwarte jas waarop een gele jodenster is genaaid.

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Op dinsdag 22 juli 2003 23:07 schreef Dezz het volgende:

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Uitleggen, ik heb niet alle tijd

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Waar zijn die cd's te vinden? Zitten die ook op het Tzadik label van Zorn?

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Bar Kokhba encompasses the wealth of material John Zorn has composed with his eminent quartet Masada. The album is a collection of Masada songs that have been rearranged for chamber ensembles. For this effort, Zorn enlists some of New York's finest musicians: John Medeski, Marc Ribot, Anthony Coleman, and Erik Freedlander, among others. The compositions range from groups of four to solo performances by Ribot, Medeski, and Coleman. While some compositions retain their original structure and sound, some are expanded and probed by Zorn's arrangements, and resemble avant-garde classical music more than jazz. But this is the beauty of the album; the ensembles provide a forum for Zorn to expand his compositions. The album consistently impresses, and the highlights include "Gevurah," "Paran," and "Mochin." Zorn's genius as both songwriter and arranger are evidenced, and the recording sits well among the traditional Masada material.

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Vandaag kwam er een lieve bestelbus een pakje brengen met daarin wat geweldige Zorn-cd's, voornamelijk van Masada.

In het boekje van Masada Live in NYC 1994 staat nog iets over de naam Masada:

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Masada was the name of the last Hebrew fortress the Romans had to seize during the first century in order to consolidate their rule. Neither the Roman Empire nor Judaism were bound for a happy future.

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Thus, unless this enfant terrible of contemporary music stops again to say, like he usually does, "Okay, let's do something different now," the name Masada needn't be as the historical example seems to suggest.

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M'n collectie telt nu 28 delen.

Namelijk (in chronologische volgorde van oorspronkelijke uitgave):

Pool (1980)
Archery (1981)
Yankees (1982)
Ganryu Island (1984)
The Classic Guide to Strategy Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (1985-1986)
Spillane (1986)
Naked City (1989)
Black Box - Torture Garden/Leng Tch'e (1992)
Kristallnacht (1993)
Masada, Vol. 6: Vav (1995)
Masada: Live in NYC 1994 (1995)
Bar Kokhba (1996)
Film Works, Vol. 7: Cynical Hysterie Tour (1997)
Angelus Novus (1998)
Masada, Vol. 8: Het (1998)
Aporisa: Requia for Piano & Orchestra (1998)
Music Romance, Vol. 1: Music for Children (1998)
Masada, Vol. 4: Dalet (1999)
Masada: Live in Jerusalem 1994 (1999)
Lacrossa (2000)
Cartoon/S&M (2000)
Film Works, Vol. 9: Trembling Before G-D (2000)
The Gift (2001)
Love, Madness and Mysticism (2001)
Songs from the Hermetic Theatre (2001)
Hockey (2002)
I.A.O. (2002)
Masada Guitars (2003)

Maar de verschillende Masada cd's worden echt massaal uitgegeven bijvoorbeeld dit jaar alleen al o.a. Masada Guitars, Voices in The Wilderness, Unknown Masada...

Hoop dat er snel iets van te vinden is, het klonk wel heel lekker op North Sea Jazz.

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Op woensdag 24 september 2003 16:30 schreef GroteBroeder het volgende:

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GRRR!!! Laat hem daar eens wat van uitbrengen!!! Ik vind de 'gewone' Masada ook erg gaaf, maar Electric Masada zoals op het NSJ te horen was, daar wil ik ook naar kunnen luisteren!!!

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De artiesten op Zevulun zijn Marc Ribot onmiskenbaar op gitaar), Mark Feldman op viool, Erik Friedlander op cello, Greg Cohen op bas, Cyo Baptista op percussie (samen met Marc Ribot aanwezig op NSJ 2003) en Joey Baron op drums. Ik weet alleen niet zeker of die laatste er ook bij was op NSJ.

Greg Cohen en Joey Baron spelen ook op de reguliere Masada albums. Een geweldig drummer overigens.

Marc Ribot speelt ook een aantal composities op Masada Guitars.

De eerste draait zoals de naam al doet vermoeden volledig om het gitaarspel van drie gitaristen waar Zorn al eerder mee gewerkt heeft en hun interpretaties van de Masadamuziek.

De tweede cd, Voices in The Wilderness, zijn allemaal interpretaties van bands en musici. De cd is ontzettend divers. Sommige nummers zit nu zelfs zang bij en andere zijn weer helemaal veranderd tot composities met elektronische instrumenten. Eentje is er ook bewerkt door Mike Patton. Het is echt goed gedaan.

De derde cd zijn werken die nog nooit eerder ten gehore gebracht. Ook deze zijn weer geïnterpreteerd door verschillende groepen en is dus net zo divers als Voices in The Wilderness. Alleen wat harder.

Het is echt een knap staaltje musiceren wat je hier te horen krijgt. Dat geldt voor alle drie de cd's.

Van de drie cd's lijkt Masada Guitars nog het meeste op het geluid van het kwartet.

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Op vrijdag 5 december 2003 20:10 schreef Bosbeetle het volgende:

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*Oren spitst !

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Op vrijdag 5 december 2003 21:45 schreef Bosbeetle het volgende:

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wat voor soort muziek is masada eik,misschien moet ik maar eens toegeven en een Zorn cd aanschaffen !

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Dan heb je allemaal andere projecten van Zorn waar hij het Masada liederenboek voor gebruikt, zoals bijvoorbeeld Bar Kokhba, wat Masada in een klassiek jasje is en wat meer aan klezmer doet denken dan het gewone Masada. The Circle Maker hoort hier eigenlijk een beetje bij. Dat is Masada gespeeld door een strijktrio en door een sextet met drums, gitaar en percussie erbij.

10th Anniversary is die andere serie van hem, waarin hij met de Masada melodiën aan de haal gaat, of eigenlijk anderen voor hem.

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Op vrijdag 5 december 2003 22:38 schreef fripper het volgende:

( en 1 Cobra cd vind ik meer dan genoeg )

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Op zondag 14 december 2003 21:51 schreef fripper het volgende:
OK, ik had het beter iets anders kunnen formuleren.
1 cd met muziek in de stijl van "John Zorn's Cobra Live at the Knitting Factory" vind ik meer dan genoeg. Ik ken de andere Cobra cd's niet dus daar kan ik natuurlijk ook geen mening over hebben. Ik was er (al dan niet terecht) van uit gegaan dat de Cobra cd's sterke overeenkomsten vertonen.

De Cobra cd die ik heb kan ik persoonlijk niet echt waarderen. Ik denk niet dat ik hem vaker dan 2 of 3 keer van voor naar achter heb beluisterd. Ik kan geen enkele stuktuur in dit plaatje ontdekken. Een beetje melodie op z'n tijd vind ik wel prettig. Dit is meer curieus dan echt leuk om naar te luisteren.

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Ik heb gisteren wel 'The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet :Voodoo' gekocht. Dat is Zorn zoals ik heb heeeeel graag hoor. Wereldplaat !

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Hij krijgt ook een vrij hoge waardering van Allmusic.

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Op zondag 14 december 2003 22:23 schreef fripper het volgende:

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Ik wil d'r naar leren luisteren ! Ik haal dat ding zeker 1 keer per maand uit de kast om te kijken of ik hem al leuk vind. Ik word gek van dat ding .

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Misschien een cd'tje uit The Parachute Years-periode.

Pool, Hocky, Lacrosse of Archery.

Hij zal ook nog wel gewone cd's gaan releasen, dus dat wordt een dure tijd..., maar wel erg leuk dat een serie concerten integraal wordt uitgegeven.

The first pieces I heard of John Zorn's were both titled Lacrosse, one from 1979 and the other from 1981. One was for a sextet, the other a quartet no longer remember the order in which I heard the music, which was first, quartet or sextet, but the intensity is something I still remember. Over the years, I've managed with my lazy ears to take in the incredible variety of Zorn's work, from his blowing tribute to Sonny Clark, to movie sound tracks, game pieces and his wonderfully absorbing Aporias (requia for piano and orchestra). I had never met Zorn before we sat down together to do this interview, but when he arrived at my door, midmorning on an unusually warm spring day, we jumped right into things; the conversation (and the coffee) flowed. From our two-and-a-half-hour sit-down we managed to find, for readers' benefit, a beginning and an end, but the tone of the morning was more of a to-be-continued sort of thing, as there was simply so much to say and so much to listen to. Not only is John Zorn fantastically diverse and prolific; he's got the charms of a storyteller.

john zorn This is a killer building, one of the best buildings on the Bowery. What was it originally?

michael goldberg It was the original YMCA.
jz You're kidding. So, I brought you some CDs. I don't know what you have or haven't got.

mg I've got a mess of your music.
jz But maybe you don't have the classical stuff.

mg No, I don't.
jz String quartet? Yeah, you need the classical stuff. Here's a brand new Masada. You listen to music when you're painting?

mg All the time. And loud.
jz Here you can do it loud. You've got the whole building! You've got all jazz shit here. Ornette! I was listening to him this morning, Live at the Golden Circle. So mostly jazz you listen to?

mg Well, I was listening to Neapolitan folk songs this morning. I love this guy, Robert Murolo. He's got a family but he gets arrested all the time for fucking young boys. So, they put him in jail for a year.
jz Jesus.

mg He's a big hero in Naples.
jz Man, he should be in the clergy now.

mg So, are you married?
jz No.

mg See, I am.
jz How long have you been married?

mg A long time, Lynn and I have been together now since 1969. She and I are totally different, which I think is why we're still together. She is a sculptor and she loves things like athletics, swimming, hiking.
jz And you probably don't do any of that stuff.

mg Well, I was in the service for four years.
jz Where were you, in Europe?

mg In North Africa, then in Burma.
jz Oh, Christ, you were in Burma!

mg Yeah, I was a master sergeant in Merrill's Marauders.
jz Oh, fuck! (laughter)

mg So when you write music, I gather you do it with a pencil or pen and paper?
jz Yeah, pencil and paper. These are your notes? This is horrible! We're having a great time, and you're going to ruin it now with an interview!

mg No, no, don't say that. We'll bullshit all the way. So, I used to be quite friendly with the drummer Elvin Jones, you know him?
jz Yeah!

mg We saw each other for a while. And I remember he and Coltrane and Jimmy Garrison came out to San Francisco, when I was teaching at Berkeley. I had half a ferryboat in Sausalito, a studio. They came out looking to score grass, with an entourage of the meanest looking guys I've ever seenabout 20 of them trampling all over my boat. I thought, What the fuck is going to happen? But they played, and it was extraordinary. So I said to Elvin, "You know, I'm trying to listen to the time you are creating, and I can get into it, but I can't get out of it." And he said, "Well, that's what it's all about." He said, "I don't get out of it."
jz It's like self-hypnosis, in a sense. When I'm writing, sometimes it gets to that place where I feel like the piece is writing itself and I'm trying not to get in the way. I'm getting ready to write a piece now, and it's been six months thinking about it, changing the instrumentation, changing the name, doing more reading. I'm reading a lot of Aleister Crowley.

mg I gather that you do lots of reading.
jz I like to read. I like to look.

mg I also gather you do lots of research for the music.
jz Lots of research for life and music, same thing.

mg I have a vice; I buy records and books.
jz Yeah, that's my vice, too. Except I include movies in that vice, and it's getting out of hand now. You know, when we were kids, we had to go to a theater to see a movie. And then television came in and you had to wait until midnight to see the one you wanted to see. Now, all you've got to do is go to a store and buy it and you can watch it whenever you want!

mg Your music is on that label Tzadik, and I was told that Tzadik means wise man, is that true?
jz Well, it means a lot of things, it's a letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

mg I asked my mother, and she said wise man.
jz Yeah. Or it could be justice, or righteousness, the concept of right. Or a rabbi or holy man in a small community. One of the reasons I started Tzadik, which is my own label, is to keep things in print. I got tired of labels dropping things out of print when they don't sell. Tzadik is driven by the need to keep important work in print forever, as a catalogue. You know, if we sell it, that's great, but . . .

mg How many titles has Tzadik put out?
jz About 250 now.

mg Whoa! Are you doing it pretty much yourself?
jz I have about two or three people, we don't have an office, we don't even have a dedicated phone line. We do it out of our own homes, and we make it work.

mg That's extraordinary. And does it make money to pay for itself?
jz It breaks even. We lose ten, twenty grand every year. But then the people who are working say, Look, I'll kick this back in, I don't need to take this profit share. It's very cooperative.

mg That's wonderful. So they're really believers.
jz Yeah, these are believerswhich is hard to findpeople who care. And I've been lucky. So it survives because of goodwill, and because there are still idealistic people in the world.[b]

mg Not many.
[b]jz Well, you're one.

mg Yeah, but I figure I'm a little crazy.
jz You can't be idealistic in this world and not be crazy. Because they've created such a deep structure now, you can't get in. And we don't want to get in, we're on the outside. But we're not on the outside looking in, we're on the outside looking out. So I feel we're in a very healthy place. The idealists will always be in society, and we will survive.

mg I feel your music is very compartmentalized, this kind of music and this kind and that.
jz On the label it was done that way deliberately. Because . . . well, I have certain obsessions.

mg Loads of obsessions!
jz Oh yeah, I have obsessions. And it's a way of focusing them. I guess the label is very supportive of the scene. It's a way of supporting specific things that I feel close to. People send me shit all the time that simply isn't appropriate for Tzadik. Like improvisation stuff, jazz stuff, those kinds of normal labelsno, not interested. More interested in the stuff that fits in between the gaps.

mg I was really impressed with the Masada group's first recording of Alef, how you were involved with melody. I hadn't heard that in your music before.
jz No, that was a major exploration of melody, to see if I could write a book of songs like Gershwin or Thelonious Monk.

mg Exactly. You can whistle them.
jz That was my challenge as a composer. Like with anything, to keep yourself interested in doing what you do, you set yourself challenges. So I said, Okay, I'll try to write a hundred tunes in a year.

mg And are you still doing it or did you finish?
jz No, I wrote 50 in a second year, 25 or 30 in a third year, and the fourth year another 25, and then I just stopped. It was basically a four-year project, I wrote about 200 tunes. I don't think in those terms anymore.

mg Will Masada play live anymore?
jz We just show up and hit, we don't have to rehearse. So, yeah, we will continue to play in New York, just for fun. And on the road for big money. It's not a band I can really say no to, because it's effortless. But, my concerns have gone elsewhere. You work on a project for a while and then . . .

mg From what I gather, you're very involved with recording and writing classical music. Have you ever thought about writing for a full symphony orchestra?
jz Yeah, I've done that.

mg Really?
jz Well, one of the things I gave you is a piano concerto for a 90-piece orchestra. See, that's what I started out with as a kid, studying classically. I didn't get into jazz until much later. And all of these various obsessionswhether it's movie sound tracks, or classical, or jazz, or rockall of that has been concurrent my whole life. At times different things come to the surface and get focused, and then they go out of focus and something else happens. I'm into working on concert music now because I get to stay home. I'm really tired of traveling. It's like, man, you got a band, you've got to tour with it because that's what makes the band good. That's why those bands got so good in the fifties and sixties, because they were working all the time. They get an engagement at the Five Spot, and they play for three months, six nights a week! You play that much in your own town, sleep in your own bed, the music is going to go somewhere.

mg I got into the Five Spot very early. I had some friends who lived right across the street who said, "Hey, they're playing music over there, you ought to go down and hear it."
jz This is like '58 or something?

mg No, earlier. It was about '55there were two brothers, Joe and Iggy Termini.
jz Yeah, of course, famous cheapskates.

mg My buddy Norman Blum and I would go there six nights a week and drink. We ran up a tab drinking cheap champagne. A guy named Ivan Black, I remember, who was a booking agent, he convinced Termini to get a good piano and get Monk in there. It was absolutely terrific to go there to hear the way this guy approached the same music, night after night, differently, all the time. Beautiful player.
jz What was the audience like then, how big?

mg It was mostly artists, and it got to be really crowded. I forget how it worked, but then Ornette came in. And he was there for about five, six months. So anyway, I listened to a lot of music then, drank a lot of champagne too.
jz (looks around) You got some serious shit under these neon lights, here.

mg That little figure is about 1200 B.C.
jz It's beautiful. But these lights are kind of . . .

mg They synthesize daylight. They're called North Light bulbs.
jz Oh, it's a special bulb. Did you used to work in real lightwindow or skylight?

mg I prefer it, but . . .
jz You own the top floor, can't you do something? Why don't you break it open and make a window?

mg It costs twenty thousand bucks.
jz What's twenty thousand, it's a bag of shells, man! Look at these horrible lights!

mg I'm used to it. (laughter)
jz This is giving me a headache; do you hear them buzzing?

mg I don't hear them anymore.
jz Well, I hear it. Break through that roof! Twenty grand? It's a bag of shells!

mg You've spent quite a bit of time in Japan, haven't you? I've been told that your music is very well received there.
jz I don't think it's well received anywhere. I think there are small groups of people that believe in it, or are intrigued by it, or are drawn to it for a variety of reasons. And some of the reasons could be shit, and some could be valid. I can't be involved in that at all. But Japan was my home for ten years off and on, back and forth. I had an apartment there and I felt a commitment. Eventually, I came back to New York as a real home. Japan's a very lonely place. People don't hang out. You know, like we're doing? You and I made a connection that's a real connection. I'm probably going to come over for dinner within the next couple of weeks, couple of months? That can't happen in the same way in Japan. People are very guarded. They won't call you, not because they're unfriendly, but because they don't want to impose on you. And as a result, people get very isolated. When my father died, I started thinking about friendship and about family, and the meanings of those words. They have very different meanings in Japan than they do here. I grew up with those definitions, I wasn't able to negotiate a complete transformation.

mg Why did you go there?
jz Music, food, film, friends. I was invited to play for three months. I really loved it, and stayed on. And I still go back every year.

mg And you got to speak the language.
jz I learned to speak the language and to read it. I became well versed in a lot of the underbelly of Japanese culture. And that was a real learning experience. It helped me figure out who I was. Learning another language helps you, really, with English. It helps you focus your communication in a very real way, and that was great. And being hit front on with a completely different culture helped me appreciate my own culture. I wouldn't have gotten into Jewishness as much as I did if I hadn't been in Japan.

mg Did it have something to do with the death of your parents, too?
jz The death of my father, going to Germany a lot and experiencing that whole thing, and then, thinking how many close friends and colleagues were Jews. It began to be kind of remarkable. Eventually, it came out in my life, like anything else that we think about that's real.

mg See, I don't feel myself very Jewish, unfortunately. I wasn't raised that way.
jz But it's part of who you are.

mg I'm aware that I'm a Jew. I have no problem with that.
jz Did you ever talk about it, like with Rothko? Or Feldman?

mg Not really. I've been talking about it with my dentist recently. My dentist, who I'm quite friendly with, is a French Jew. A very elegant man who has become more aware of his Jewishness and has been receiving instruction a couple of days a week.
jz He's been going to a rabbi.

mg Exactly. So he and I have been talking about that. He had been the dentist for the king of Morocco, and the harem. They used to send the jet over for him, he had a clinic there. He's got a lot of funny stories. So I guess I'm becoming a little more aware of what it means to be a Jew.
jz You must be incredibly aware, growing up through the forties.

mg But you see, my experiences with anti-Semitism
jz With the name Goldberg?

mg I was 17 when I went into the service, I needed my parents' permission. And I went into paratrooper training after basic training, down in Fort Benning. One night this guy from Oklahoma, a big guy who had "King of the Ozarks" shaved into his hair, says to methis from behind"Here's our New York Jew!" and lifted me into the air by the elbows as I came out of the shower, with a towel around my waistwearing clogs. So that night, we slept in double-decker bunks; he was in the upper bunk, and I took a brick and broke both his kneecaps.
jz (laughter)

mg Then they put him in the hospital. I went into the hospital and gave him a concussion with another brick. So that was my reaction to anti-Semitism.
jz That's a good, honest reaction.

mg Precise, it was precise. When you started playing the saxophone, you probably started playing bebop right away?
jz Within a year, I started to play bebop. It was the literature of that instrument at that time. You have to come to grips with that music.

mg Do you still practice?
jz No, I haven't practiced in over 20 years. Since 1981, that was it. I think of myself as a composer who happens to playit was a way of communicating with musicians, a functional way of interacting, but I'm not a player.

mg You play other instruments beside piano and sax?
jz Not really. I mean, when I was younger, I studied all the different things, guitar, played bass in a surf band, trombone, flute, clarinet. Learned everything for compositional purposes.

mg You ever play with that trombonist Ray Anderson?
jz Yeah, I know Ray! But I never played with him. He's, I think, firmly in the jazz world, and I'm not the kind of guy who can call someone up out of the union book, put my music in front of them and say, "Hey, check this out."

mg I used to be close with Morty Feldman.
jz That must have been amazing.

mg He had these eyes, he looked like Dr. Cyclops.
jz He had those thick glasses.

mg And he was a big fatty. I was going around with a painter named Joan Mitchell, and we had a date to meet our friend Barbaraan absolutely gorgeous woman, with blond-red hairout at Coney Island. So we asked Morty to come along with us. Seeing Morty in swimming trunks was like a horror movie.
jz Oh my God. (laughter)

mg We get to the beach, Barbara was on the beach towel, she stood up, and it was love at first sight. They grabbed each otherthey had never met beforeand they fell down on the sand and began . . . whatever they were doing. It was unbelievable. But I liked his music a lot, I still listen to it.
jz So you work on several paintings at a time?

mg Yes, and I've become mildly schizophrenic, because I'm doing several kinds of painting at the same time.
jz That's the same with me.

mg Yeah?
jz I go into a studio and do some rock-based movie sound track for somebody for a day or two. At the same time, I'm working on a concert music piece, and playing with Masada live at night. All concurrent. It makes sense in today's world. Was it like that in the fifties? Or did people need to focus more on specific things?

mg I don't know about music, but I do know that in the late forties, early fifties, making paintings was a viable revolutionary concept in the sense that one felt that you could change the world. That's what late Modernism was all about, you felt you were doing something important.
jz You don't feel that anymore?

mg Well, I think it was Lenin who said that freedom is the recognition of necessity. And I think that we, as artists, have that same kind of thing. We pare down to what's necessary to us.
jz We've made a lot of sacrifices to live the life that we live.

mg Exactly.
jz And people don't appreciate that. They think we're out here balling, you know? It's not that way. It's hard work, and you get isolated. And you get distracted by the normal human need for companionship and love and understanding and appreciation. Those are distractions from doing the work, I feel. That's why I can't read magazines or newspapers, I don't look at TV. I try to focus on what's important, which is really the work itself. Making sure that you do the best possible thing in the purest possible way with the most imagination and technique and honesty that you can pull together.

mg I want to ask you something about doubt.
jz We live with it every single microsecond of every day. I'm constantly in doubt about what I'm doing, I'm constantly tortured, and that's why I say happiness is irrelevant. Happiness is for children and yuppies. I'm not striving for happiness, I'm trying to get some work done. And sometimes the best work is done under doubt. Constant rethinking, and reevaluating what you're doing, working and working until you feel it's finished. And that's an interesting point too, that you've got to know when to stop. Sometimes there's a magical moment when everything comes together.

mg Exactly.
jz They're very infrequent, maybe they happen once every couple of years. I had it last on a violin concerto I finished, that isn't recorded yet. It's inspired by some of Joseph Cornell's work. When I was growing up in Flushing, Queens, we lived right near him; I used to see him hanging out at Manny's Candy Store on Fresh Meadow Lane. Anyway, I called it Comtes de Fées. It was right around the time that my mother had died. And structurally I was working with some very rigid rules. I don't always use rigid rules, but with this one, I wrote the violin part first, from beginning to end. Then I took all the pitches in the violin part, wrote them out on a piece of paper, and used that same ordering of pitches to orchestrate the rest of the piece. And I went halfway through, and then I started the ordering again. There was a page that was meant to be at the beginning that I ended up putting at the end, and then I used pitches from the violin part of that for an interlude. All of a sudden, everything came together in this strangeI don't know what it wasit was like a satori of some kind. I got like, Wow, this is amazing, it's all organic, it totally works.

mg Marvelous experience.
jz Very rare.

mg Listening to your early music, in terms of say, the saxophone, it seemed that you were looking to find every possible sound that the instrument could make. Is that true?
jz Early on I created a grid. I was very interested in Egyptian art and still am. I was looking at hieroglyphics and hieroglyphic dictionaries and I created a lexicon of sounds that were my language on the instrument. It could never be a complete document of all the possible sounds on any instrument, but it was a pretty copious list of very strange squeaks and howls and bumps in the night.

mg Who among the classical composers do you listen to, or like?
jz So many, it's hard to even begin. Gyorgi Ligeti, I like Steve Reich's music, Harry Partch, Xenakis, Feldman, Boulez and Stravinsky.

mg Nobody talks about Partch anymore.
jz Partch is the greatest. You create a language and then you speak in that language. Harry Partch created his own world from scratch. He created his own instruments, his own way of notating the instruments, created an ensemble so that he could get the pieces done right. In terms of the way I work with musicians, Partch is a major influence. And the idea of Duke Ellington having a band that you work with again and again. Harry Partch had a band of musicians that worked together, lived together. Sun Ra did that kind of thing. I don't want to live with these guys, but I have a pool of players that I know I can count on, who when I point to them, are going to do something great.

mg When you get into the studio to record, do you tinker with the compositions that you've created?
jz Sometimes they're completely created in the studio. Sometimes they're tinkered with, sometimes they're laid down just as I envisioned. You've got to remain flexible to live in this world, and when you work with people, there are a lot of question marks. You can ask someone to do something that maybe they can't do. Or, they'll do it differently than how you would have done it, but you've got to learn to accept their spin. That's the secret of a Duke Ellington concept, where you give something to someone and they transform it through their personal filter. And when you find someone whose filter interacts with yours in a very creative, helpful way, then you've got a member of the group. Then you've got a pool.
When I'm writing music, just me alone, pencil and paper, I'm thinking of the musicians who are going to be in between me and the audience performing the music. A composer's job is different than a painter's. You work right on the canvas and do what you need. The canvas goes to the audience and they see it. The audience can't look at a score and envision what's supposed to happen. I have to write for a musician who then goes on a stage and presents it to an audience. And what you're dealing with there is everything that's inside a human being: neurosis, ego, vanity, pettiness, and incredible sensitivity, supportiveness, enthusiasm, creative energy. I have to take all that into account when I put notes on paper. I have to create something that will excite a musician, so that the energy transfers from the page to the musician to the audience. The secret is that relationship.

mg Over the last two years, I've heard about four different records, one by this guy Tom Varner, who went back, Jesus, a hundred some odd years and took a whole bunch of old American songs. And Uri Caine recently came out with a record. A couple of other people are going back into the American songbook.
jz Tin Pan Alley.

mg Did you ever do any of that?
jz I haven't mined that so much. I got out of the habit of doing renditions of other people's music. It was very important to me early on as a way of defining my own musical language, to use these other pieces, arrange them creatively and filter them, as it were, through my language. Now I don't feel the need to do that. I've gotten to a place where I can speak almost eloquently in the language that I've developed over the past 25, 30 years.

mg Is your classical music persona different than that of your other kinds of music? In other words, when you go to a concert of your classical music, do you dress differently?
jz This is the way I dress, day or night.

mg You know what I mean?
jz I know what you mean, there are a lot of levels to what you're talking about. There's the persona that you put out almost inadvertently, because it's who you are. And then there's the persona that is perceived by other people, whether they know you or not. And then there's the work itself. I prefer to talk about the work rather than the persona. The persona is what the rest of the world wants to talk about. And why is that? Because it's hard to talk about nonverbal creativity? Or is it because they have some weird obsession with the cult of personality? People talk about what I wear, how I talk. I'm a down-to-earth person like you, who's going to tell it like it is. If someone's jiving me, I'll say, "Fuck you, you're jiving me." And people are threatened by that. And then they think you're some obnoxious asshole, when you're just someone who is very straight about shit. People are interested in people, is that what it is? Why aren't they interested in the work? People come to my house and it's like, where's the furniture? I don't have any furniture. If you want to sit, you sit on the floor. It's a small place, covered wall-to-wall with books, CDs, records, movies, everywhere, and that's it. They freak outwhat's going on here? I can't figure this out. There's no kitchen, there's no place to welcome a visitor. I say, "This is where I live."

mg No kitchen in your place? How come?
jz I needed room for books! So I got rid of the kitchen.

mg So you don't cook or anything like that?
jz I eat out.

mg Well, we've got to get you here for dinner. We're both good cooks. [yelling to his wife, Lynn] John does not have a kitchen in his place!
lynn umlauf (laughter) Fantastic!
jz I think the idea of an artist standing outside society is still alive. I think it's an important role. It's always been an underappreciated role, we become victims, we become targets, because our lifestyle has to be different in order to get the job done. And we make a lot of sacrifices to do what we do.

mg I totally agree, but some artists have accepted the society's values, and just amplified them.
jz That's the road to hell, if you ask me. You know, the elitist nature of what you do is so fascinating. Because you're not an elitist person at all, and the process of what you're doing is so real.

mg Absolutely.
jz See, music is different because you can make a CD and you can sell it to anybody for ten, fifteen dollars. Music used to be like art in that it was elitist. In the old days, courts and kings would have composers, churches hired composers. But to hear the music was something else.

mg Rubens, who was also a Dutch diplomat, used to travel when he went on diplomatic missions with a 16-piece string orchestra. And every time he stopped, they played music for him.
jz (laughter) I've read that, too.

mg That's my ambition! Let's end on that note.
jz That's a good one.

Heb nu de 10 gewone Masada-cd's compleet. Evenals de twee dubbelaars Bar Kokhba en The Circle Maker en het drieluik 10th Anniversary.

De live-cd's waarschijnlijk volgende maand ook.

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The Zorn Non-Interview

Ah, John, We Hardly Knew Ye

"If the tapes are rolling or you remember what I said, that's the fucking interview. You want to hear an artist's voice? You're hearing it."

This was about halfway through a telephone call with John Zorn, most of which involved him explaining why, after three months of negotiations, he had decided not to grant The Squid's Ear an interview. We were working on a special issue to coincide with his fiftieth birthday and a month of concerts he was doing at Tonic. We had suggested talking to him about the different projects that were to be presented, and he called the idea boring. Besides, he said, he'd much rather have a conversation with an artist than a journalist. We suggested he speak with another musician or composer about surviving in the so-called "classical" world. He nixed the idea without offering a reason, but assured us we'd come up with something. After a few more go-rounds, he went back to the original idea, and suggested early July. Phone calls in July weren't returned, however, and a little Web investigation revealed that he was touring Europe with Electric Masada. Upon his return, he'd decided not to do the interview.

"Look, Kurt, I think you can do this without me," he said. "Listen to the music and answer the questions yourself." When I suggested that our readers would like to hear his take on revisiting his work, he said that sounded like People magazine.

"These little peppery phrases that you put through the article don't even matter," he said. "What matters is what's happening, the music.

"What, how did I decide to work with this drummer from Chicago? He knows Bill, that's easy. You can figure it out yourself. Whatever you guys write about, you write about. I can't be concerned with it or I would have killed myself years ago."

How do you revisit old works, I asked him. Do you listen to your old records? Do you work from scores?

"No, not at all."

And a long pause. The silence, I told him, was deafening.

What is it like to go back and work with material that you've said was from an angry period in your life, like Painkiller or Kristallnacht when you're now doing very different sorts of things?

"Kristallnacht is not just an angry piece," he replied. "It's the story of the Jewish people.

"If you take a look at the month, there's no angry music in it. Don't make the mistake that every time someone screams on a saxophone, it's about rage, it's about some Japanese woman screaming and being tortured.

"Given the 20 minutes we just spent on the phone, I could have answered all of your questions," he said. "But I can't deal with it, man." We talked for another 25, after which I sat down to write. I soon realized, however, that the last thing I wanted to do was go through a month of Zorn performances, write about my impressions of the various projects and speculate about why certain things were not included. Turns out, I guess, I can't blame him.

Over the course of September, a surprising array of Zorn's projects, compositions and musical ideas will be presented at Tonic, his Lower East Side home since breaking all ties with the Knitting Factory, reportedly after discovering that they were broadcasting his rehearsals over the Internet without his knowledge. There will be improv meetings with Mike Patton, Ikue Mori, Milford Graves, Yamatanka Eye, Fred Frith, Susie Ibarra, Wadada Leo Smith and Derek Bailey. A half dozen "game pieces" will be presented, in which participating musicians have a set of constraints under which they can attempt to influence the progress of a performance during its course. Nine contemporary classical compositions, including a premiere, will be presented, along with as many nights of the various Masada permutations. And, of course, the uncatagorizable make up a large part of the bill: Kristallnacht, New Traditions in East Asian Bar Music, Locus Solus, Book of Heads, the sorts of things that make Zorn the enigmatic figure that he is.

What's left out? Well, Naked City for a start. After two shows in Europe over the summer, hopes were high that he'd bring the group home. Rumor is that the paycheck across the Atlantic was more than they could pass up. Stateside we don't treat our artists so well. Big picture might be that we get what we deserve. But what we deserve ain't so bad. We do have the home field advantage, after all, and 30 nights of Zorn is nothing to sneeze at. We shall endeavor in these pages to cover most, if not all, of the month. We'll also keep trying to get the man to talk to us, although the former goal holds much more promise. We hadn't set out to do a fanzine, we just kind of ended up there.

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John Zorn's Joyful Jazz
Why does the great composer sound so satisfied these days?
By Fred Kaplan
Posted Friday, Oct. 3, 2003, at 10:39 AM PT

Zorn free: Jazzman rediscovers joy of sax

Nobody could have guessed 10 years ago that, through the decade and into the millennium, John Zorn would emerge as the Pied Piper of a new joyful jazz. In the '80s, his journalistic profilers couldn't resist noting that Zorn is the German word for anger, and the man fit his moniker like a character in a Martin Amis novel. Zorn was an inventive composer, and he could play the alto saxophone with astonishing fluency, but he often preferred to blow it like a banshee, howling, screeching, and eking from its keys and mouthpiece a vast assortment of explosive special effects. He was an angry man, a perpetual outsider, and his music reflected that.

Then, around 1993, he started exploring his Jewish roots and came to realize that the essence of Judaism is precisely its outsider status. He found a paradoxical sense of belonging and community in this realization, decided to celebrate it in his music, and thus was born the band he called Masadanamed after the mountain-fortress where a group of 1st-century Jewish rebels committed suicide rather than surrender to the Roman conquerors.

All last month, Zorn celebrated his 50th birthday by playing every nightleading one or another of his dozen or so bandsat Tonic, a club on Manhattan's Lower East Side that serves as the showcase for the "downtown" music scene, of which Zorn is the main impresario. But all this year, Zorn has also been celebrating the 10th anniversary of Masada, and it seems clear thatwhile he'll still squawk and squeal on occasion, as well as compose more elaborate music for solo piano, string quartet, and symphony orchestraMasada is the life-soundtrack that most compels him.

Before he conceived Masada, Zorn, though generally considered a jazz musician, had never written jazz compositionspieces with a melody, chord changes, and a swing beat. In a fit of inspiration, he wrote 100 such compositions (over the following five years, he would write 105 more), all of them following this rule: They had to be written in one of the two "Jewish scales"a major scale with the second note flat or a minor scale with the fourth note sharp.

He wrote this music without specifying instrumentation, wanting it to be playable by any type of ensemble. But the group that came to be called Masadawhich was formed pretty much by accident in September 1993, while Zorn was playing at the Knitting Factory every night for a month to celebrate his 40th birthdayconsists of Zorn on alto sax and three musicians, then unknown but now at the top of the field in their own right: Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, and Joey Baron on drums.

A Masada tune often begins with Cohen walking a bass line that wouldn't sound out of place at a '50s Blue Note session, backed by Baron pounding out conga polyrhythms like Max Roach crossed with Sly and the Family Stone, followed by Zorn and Douglas coming in with the melody, sometimes lilting, sometimes frantic, always hoisting a bluesy swing, at once intense and insouciant.

It's this last qualitythe combination of expressive rapture and unruffled virtuositythat makes Masada joyful, even in the darker tunes. Some critics have described Masada as Ornette Coleman crossed with klezmer, but this is lazy shorthand. Coleman eschews conventional harmonies in his music, while Masada is structured entirely on chords. And klezmer lacks the fiery, free-style blues that Zorn unfurls in an improvised Masada solo.

Zorn, a quirkily methodical artist, devised a plan, back in 1993, to produce 10 Masada albumstitled One, Two, and so forth, up to Tenfollowed by 10 live recordings (in the form of five double-disc CDs). Along the way, he grew so enchanted with the music's untried possibilities that he formed several chamber groups, most notably the Masada String Trio (Cohen with Mark Feldman on violin and Erik Friedlander on cello) and Bar Kokhba (those three plus Baron, Marc Ribot on guitar, and Cyro Baptista on percussion), which resulted in a double-CD called The Circle Maker.

Finally, this year, in honor of the anniversary, he produced three more Masada albums: Masada Guitars (featuring guitarists Ribot, Bill Frisell, and Tim Sparks); Voices in the Wilderness (with a dozen different downtown ensembles); and The Unknown Masada (more ensembles still, playing some of the Masada tunes that had, somehow, not yet been recorded). Soon to come: an album by Electric Masada, an adventurous fusion band that has played at Tonic a few times and sounds less like klezmer than late-'60s Miles Davis. (Shiksas Brew?)

There are, counting the multiple discs, 28 Masada CDs in the bins, not including Zorn's 14-volume Filmworks series, a few of which draw on the Masada songbook. Is this too much Masada? Yes, probably (though, I must confess, I own all of them). There is a compulsion toward "compleatism" in many subcultures, particularly those that have a slightly subversive bent, and the tendency is heightened in jazz because of its improvisational core: At least when the musicians are inventive (and all of Masada's are), no two versions of a tune are alike.

But the appeal of multiple Masadas stems from more than cultish esoterica. Not many compositionsin whatever musical genrecould sustain renderings by jazz quartet, string trio, string sextet, solo guitar, and so forth. Yet these Zorn compositions do. And the different versions reveal different aspects of a tune. Playing a song called "Khebar," for instance, the Masada quartet emphasizes its rhythm. The string sextet brings out the harmonic colors. On the Voices album, the downtown rock musician Kramer treats it, wittily, as electronica. They're subtle heads, these Masada tunes, richer and more complex than they seem at first hearing.

All this would be geeky gamesmanship, were it not for the artistry of the musiciansmost of whom have played together for years, forming similar sensibilities, learning each other's moves, and developing reflexes to match. Even then, the music might be merely interesting, were it not for the passion of Zorn himself.

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD write that the whole Masada project "raises questions about opportunism" and wonder whether Zorn's sudden "interest in Hebrew culture" reflects "an eye to the market strategy." Apart from the anti-Semitic undertones (I doubt that the authors would attribute money-grubbing motives to, say, Randy Weston's African ventures or Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road project), the suspicion is way off. To a degree unmatched by nearly any other contemporary artist, Zorn is his music: the good, the bad, and the ugly (and, yes, that includes his tribute to the movies of Sergio Leone). Expansive, fastidious, mournful, mirthful, giddy, angry, but always serious (to paraphrase Son House, the Sephardic blues is not a plaything)Zorn and his music are all these and more, alternately or simultaneously, but always finely, joyfully honed.

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Op zaterdag 3 januari 2004 17:31 schreef search64 het volgende:
Ik heb net de nieuwe van Hemophiliac geluisterd en hijs briljant.

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* Seborik heeft hem ook.

Filmworks-serie is trouwens echt geweldig. Werken zeer goede musici aan mee zoals Marc Ribot, Cyro Baptista en vele anderen.

[Dit bericht is gewijzigd door Seborik op 03-01-2004 18:00]

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70401011646542135&sql=Acf9hs30wa3ng

Birthday Celebration Series 1: Masada Trio
Birthday Celebration Series 2: Milford Graves/John Zorn Duo
Birthday Celebration Series 3: Locus Solus
Birthday Celebration Series 4: Masada Quartet
Birthday Celebration Series 5: Hemophiliac

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Artist: John Zorn Electric Masada
Day: Woensdag Date: 28/4/2004
Time:
Venue: Koninklijk Circus
Tickets: 20/30/35 Euro
Reservation Info: 02/5078200 www.ticketclic.be
Website:

John Zorn : altsaxofoon
Trevor Dunn: Electric Bass
Cyro Baptista: percussie
Joey Baron : drums
Kenny Wollesen: drums
Jamie Saft: klavier
Marc Ribot: gitaar
Ikue Mori: Electronics

John Zorn is ongetwijfeld één van de belangrijkste componisten van ons tijdperk. Sinds halfweg de jaren '70 geldt hij als een van de belangrijkste vertegenwoordigers van de avant garde jazz afkomstig uit de New Yorkse Lower East Side. Deze goeroe van de New Yorkse avant-garde is met onnoemelijk veel verschillende projecten bezig en dit in zowat alle kunstvormen. Telkens luidt de beoordeling: baanbrekend en verrassend. John Zorn en zijn muziek willen vastpinnen op één genre is onbegonnen werk.

Zijn zakelijke inzichten stelden hem ook nog eens in staat om honderden cd's op zijn eigen Tzadik-label uit te brengen. Op dat label zet hij zich met series als 'Radical Jewish Culture' en 'Great Jewish Music' in voor de Joodse cultuur.

Voor het Masada-songbook schreef John Zorn al meer dan 200 composities. In telkens wisselende bezettingen (van klassiek over jazz) brengt hij tijdens zijn immer uitverkochte Masada concerten een selectie van die composities.

Deze keer komt hij met een all star line-up "Electric Masada", dat herinnert aan het legendarische "Naked City". Met John Zorn weet je nooit op voorhand wat er uit de instrumenten wordt getoverd maar met deze line-up (Marc Ribot (Git.), Jamie Saft (Keys), Trevor Dunn (Bass,Mr. Bungle), meester percussionist Cyro Baptista (Herbie Hancock), Ikue Mori (electr.) en twee wereld drummers Joey Baron & Kenny Wollesen : could be pretty wild !

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Claudia Heuermann: A Bookshelf On Top Of The Sky
12 Stories About John Zorn
Claudia Heuermann's A Bookshelf On Top of the Sky gives us a rare peek into the working methods of one of the most notorious and reclusive composers on the scene today. Filmed over a ten year period, this documentary includes live footage of Masada, Naked City, Cobra, as well as improvisations, his classical work and rare interviews. A prize winner at European festivals, this film documents Heuermann's very personal, fifteen year odyssey with the music of John Zorn. At times frightening, at times hilarious, at times frighteningly hilarious.

featuring: John Zorn, Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Joyce Hammann, Wayne Horvitz, Joey Baron, Yamatsuka Eye, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Anthony Coleman, Susie Ibarra, Josh Roseman, Jim Staley, Jamie Saft, Chris Speed, Briggan Krauss, Roberto Rodriguez, Mason Wendell, Mark Dresser, Greg Cohen, Dave Douglas, Jennifer Choi, Mike Patton, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, David Shea, Jim Pugliese, Ariadne Daskalakis, Michael Schröder, Matthias Kaul, Hartmut Leistritz, Uwe Dierksen, Stefan Schäfer, Anna Carewe, Astrid Schmeling, Nele B. Nelle, Otis Klöber, Stefan Blum, Kenny Wollesen, John Medeski, Dave Lombardo, Bill Laswell, William Winant, Cyro Baptista, Mihoko Fujimura.

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Milford Graves/John Zorn: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Two
Another one of the most talked about sets of the month was this historic meeting between two of music's most powerful and controversial iconoclasts. Playing together yearly since 1999 for very special occasions, their musical connection and spiritual bond has gotten stronger and stronger. This set, played before a packed house of screaming enthusiasts, was without doubt their best and most outrageous performance to date. Intensity, fireworks and incredible mutual respect made this one of the highlights of the month.

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Locus Solus: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Three
Continuing Tzadik's series of live recordings from Zorn's 50th birthday month is this classic reunion of three downtown legends, Arto Lindsay (Ambitious Lovers), Anton Fier (Golden Palominos) and John Zorn (Naked City). There has never been a band quite like Locus Solus. Dating back to 1982, the music of these improvised rock units is still as fresh as the day they first hit, and seems to get better with age. This high intensity set features all three players at their very best. Strangled vocals, loping grooves and structural complexity make these improvised rock songs a continual delight. A fascinating and charming set of tension, love, ideas, communication and miscommunication.

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Electric Masada: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Four
The long awaited first release of Zorn's most recent and most powerful Masada unit. A true downtown supergroup, blending the raw power of Naked City with the improvisational madness of Cobra and the lyrical soul of the Masada songbook, Electric Masada is considered by many to be the most exciting band Zorn has ever had. This set, the taut climax of a three night run at Tonic, features the full octet at its wildest and most creative. Incredible solos, jaw dropping ensemble conductions and much more.

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Locus Solus: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Three
Continuing Tzadik's series of live recordings from Zorn's 50th birthday month is this classic reunion of three downtown legends, Arto Lindsay (Ambitious Lovers), Anton Fier (Golden Palominos) and John Zorn (Naked City). There has never been a band quite like Locus Solus. Dating back to 1982, the music of these improvised rock units is still as fresh as the day they first hit, and seems to get better with age. This high intensity set features all three players at their very best. Strangled vocals, loping grooves and structural complexity make these improvised rock songs a continual delight. A fascinating and charming set of tension, love, ideas, communication and miscommunication.

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Electric Masada: 50th Birthday Celebration Volume Four
The long awaited first release of Zorn's most recent and most powerful Masada unit. A true downtown supergroup, blending the raw power of Naked City with the improvisational madness of Cobra and the lyrical soul of the Masada songbook, Electric Masada is considered by many to be the most exciting band Zorn has ever had. This set, the taut climax of a three night run at Tonic, features the full octet at its wildest and most creative. Incredible solos, jaw dropping ensemble conductions and much more.

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Op woensdag 7 april 2004 15:09 schreef Summoner het volgende:

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Damn, je hebt hem al?! Bij DMG besteld?

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Op woensdag 21 april 2004 00:07 schreef OProg het volgende:

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De blinde fan. (Tevens Carl McCoy fantopic.)

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Op donderdag 22 april 2004 13:37 schreef Dinosaur_Sr het volgende:

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moet dat niet komende week zijn?

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Op donderdag 22 april 2004 13:37 schreef Bosbeetle het volgende:

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zelfs jouw docenten weten al van je zorn fanatismes

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Zorn beperkte de communicatie met het publiek tot een voorstelling van de leden van zijn Electric Masada.