Due to public demand (well, Tony L asked for it anyway), heres a sort-of introduction to John Zorn. Rather than waffle on about him at great length, I decided to pick 10 records I particularly like (hence missing out another 20 I also really like, but what the hell), and only waffle about them a little bit. Be aware, however, that this only touches on the complexity and diversity of Zorns output, which ranges from death-metal to cartoon music via film soundtracks, free improv, electronica, childrens music, chamber music, and, with his most recent release, Rituals, even encompasses opera. Its only a matter of time before he starts writing some kind of symphony. My feeling is that in 100 years time Zorn will be regarded as not only a great improviser and collaborator, but also as one of the most important of all American composers, but the sheer quantity and variety of his recorded work may sometimes seem daunting. Rather than add to the where the hell do I start feeling, heres a simple list of 10 killer Zorn albums. All of these apart from Spy Vs Spy and Harras are available on Zorns Tzadik label, at
http://www.tzadik.com/ which also releases lots of brilliant stuff by other people, and has the estimable objective of keeping all of its catalogue in print for eternity, regardless of its commercial viability. The Naked City records, The Big Gundown, and Spy Vs Spy were all available on vinyl on their original release, the others are CD only.
The Big Gundown (1985)
Zorns first major release, an album of Ennio Morricone film music recorded with around 40 musicians from the New York downtown improv and free music scene, including many stellar musicians who went on to become regular Zorn collaborators: Joey Baron, Cyro Baptista, Tim Berne, Mark Feldman, Anton Fier, Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Mike Patton, Robert Quine, et al.
Morricone summed it up well when he wrote, Many people have done versions of my pieces, but no one has done them like this. Too right. The first showcase for Zorns predilection for jump-cutting from style to style in rapid succession, he creates a complex multilayered soundscape out of which a mammoth guitar riff, or a bar or two of virtuosic sax playing, or a funky drum signature, will emerge for a few seconds, only to immediately transform itself into something entirely different. This is a technique Zorn would perfect with his later group, Naked City.
Spy Vs Spy (1988)
A small group record, two saxes (Zorn and Tim Berne), two drummers (Joey Baron and Michael Vatcher), one bass player (Mark Dresser), play the music of Ornette Coleman. Zorn was heavily influenced by hardcore metal at this point, a music hes never lost his taste for, and he plays Ornette incredibly fast and aggressively, with virtually every piece on this record clocking in at under two minutes. Sonically murky and and stylistically single-minded and repetitive (quite deliberately so), probably not everyones first choice but an essential document nevertheless.
Naked City (1989) / Radio (1991)
The first and fourth of 7 Naked City studio albums, and one live album, all of the studio albums have recently been reissued in a single remastered box on 5 CDs, and the live album, recorded at the Knitting Factory in NYC, is also available from Tzadik. A small group which featured during its four year history some or all of Zorn, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, Joey Baron, Wayne Horvitz, and, on screaming vocals, Mike Patton (of Faith No More) and, best of all, Yamatsuka Eye (of Boredoms).
Zorn: The Naked City project (which, compared to the completely improvised ones, is based on composition) was to see how many kinds of music can be made with the same ensemble, to write very different things for the same group. An incredibly diverse listening experience, which takes the jump-cut technique of The Big Gundown to its logical conclusion, resulting in a series of records which continuously teeter on the edge of chaos without ever falling apart. In one 2 minute track, the group will often play anything up to a dozen different musical styles, sometimes simultaneously. Amazingly, it works. Additionally, each record is liberally sprinkled with what Zorn describes as hardcore miniatures, short bursts of incredibly dense noise, some of the noisiest noise in the history of noise, but also some of the most exhilarating. By the time of the last studio record, Absinthe, the group were making beautiful ambient music, but around the same time they were also recording Leng Tche, a 30-minute piece of extremely potent hardcore guitar noise. I know of no other group in the history of recorded music who played so many different things, so well, in such a short time span. These two records are great ways to dive into the Naked City experience, but I cant really think of any good reason not to own all the others as well.
The Bribe (1986)
A spin-off project from Zorns Spillane album, a hard-boiled film noir composition, a soundtrack to a non-existent film, almost Naked City-lite, but extremely good fun to listen to, more so than Spillane itself. Zorn is one of the most cinematic of musicians anyway, and the occasions when he scores music either for a real film or for one hes invented in his head generally produce memorable results. This is quite an easy listening experience by the standards of some of Zorns music, and may be a good place for the uncertain to start.
Harras (1996)
A live trio record with Derek Bailey on guitar, William Parker on bass, and Zorn on alto sax. Bailey and Zorn are long-time collaborators, Zorn was a regular participant in Baileys Company Weeks of free improv in London in the 80s. One thing both Bailey and Zorn share is a commitment to small-group free improvisation, and they play together brilliantly, so much so that Parker, whos usually a commanding presence on any record hes a part of, is almost completely sidelined here. Proves, to anyone who doubted, that Zorn is a brilliant improviser on alto, and deeply indebted to the free jazz tradition, even if its an idiom he rarely explores so straightforwardly as he does here. A truly masterful record, one of the finest documents of free improv I know. As much Baileys record as it is Zorns, Baileys angular, argumentative style complements Zorns alto perfectly. Brilliant stuff.
Masada, Live in Middelheim (1999)
Masada has been a regular working group since 1993, releasing 7 live albums and about 10 studio records, and amassing an enormous catalogue of around 200 songs. The group is a pretty traditional jazz line-up, Zorn on alto, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Joey Baron on drums, and Greg Cohen on bass, and its two major influences appear to be Ornette Coleman and klezmer, the traditional Jewish folk music form, a conjunction of styles which works superbly. Zorn and Douglass muscular, very brassy brass breaks out at regular intervals into passages of beautiful, mournful, bluesy music which is both recognisably jazz and recognisably klezmer, while Cohen and Baron maintain an identifiably jazz rhythm section.
This recording was made after the group had had a 6 month layoff and came together, without rehearsal, for a concert recorded for Belgian radio, and is astonishing from start to finish. It opens with a blast of amazing kinetic energy with the definitive version of Nevuah and includes a version of Neeman, one of the most beautiful of all Masadas tunes, which is simply gorgeous. I would strongly recommend all of Masadas live recordings (the studio albums are less essential, this is a group which really flies in performance in a way it doesnt in the studio), but this is the pick of the bunch.
If you want to see how hard-wrought this music is, get hold of the DVD of Masada Live At Tonic, 1999, watching the sheer physicality of the group playing is an instructive experience. The musics great too.
The Circle Maker (1998)
2 CD collection of Masada tunes rearranged by Zorn (who doesnt play on the record) as chamber music, featuring guitar, cello, violin, drums, and bass. A record which is, purely and simply, beautiful, revealing the haunting, majestic tunes at the root of the Masada project. A record which almost anybody can like, a long way from some of his more extreme experiments. Other rearrangements of Masada tunes can be found on the equally lovely Bar Kokhba (which adds trumpet, piano, and clarinet to the instrumentation of The Circle Maker), Masada Guitars (solo guitar, featuring Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, and Tim Sparks), Voices in the Wilderness (a goody-bag of wildly different interpretations by around 20 different groups, a great record), The Masada String Trio (fabulous) and The Unknown Masada and Masada Recital (neither of which Ive heard yet).
Electric Masada (2004)
Recorded live at Tonic, NYC, as part of a marathon series of concerts by endless combinations of Zorn groups past and present held in September 2003 to celebrate Zorns 50th birthday, 10 of which were released on CD last year, this is Masada reimagined as a completely deranged, extremely loud mutant jazz-rock-fusion group, and is a complete hoot from start to finish. Less hardcore-influenced and more funky than Naked City, but still with a recognisably klezmer core, a group that completely blew my head off when I saw them live in London a year or so ago. Fantastically entertaining, they made me laugh out loud with their audacity almost as much as Naked City did. Potentially another killer group, this is, so far, the only recorded example of their work.
Songs From The Hermetic Theatre (2001)
An oddity, this, a mostly solo record of electronic music, but in the absence of Zorn making a record with The Aphex Twin (which I suspect would be the greatest record ever made by anyone, ever) this will have to do. Anyone can make bad electronic music, but Zorn brings a discipline and a compositional eye to the process which results in a record which genuinely seems to do things Ive not heard before, a rarity in this genre. Not an essential record by any means, but one I play a lot.
-- Ian
