O'O

I am not sure how many Progressive Rock lovers know about John Zorn at all. It is not very strange, because he came from free-jazz background, so he's well-known in avant-jazz circles.

Whenever he is represented in PA site, I would like to say, that he is a GREAT figure in modern music. In fact ,I think he is in modern avant-garde jazz and rock music the same, what was Frank Zappa in seventies and eighties.

The problem with John Zorn is the same, as was with Zappa music: he released enormous amount of albums with different teams of musicians, and all albums are very different musically. I don't want to speak now about Zorn's main projects, but just want to say, that if some albums are very strange and heavily accessible, another are very pleasant to listen.

There we have the album from John Zorn so called "soundtrack" series. For any newcomer I strongly recommend to start from these series of albums as most accessible for listening. Generally all the albums from these series contains jazz-fusion/rock/easy listening mix heavy influenced by soundtracks to Zorn beloved films from 50-60 ss.

In "O 'o'" album you can find some pretty tunes from jazz from 60-s, early fusion and many jazz-rock and blues-rock (!) songs. Please note, that Zorn by itself isn't presented as musician on that album ( it's not rare example in Zorn's discography).So, no sax at all, but perfect mix of piano/organ, electric ( rock) guitar, vibraphone, bass and drums/percussion. The music isn't too much complex, but sound absolutely beautiful, very melodic. All the sound is almost acoustic and are perfectly recorded and mixed.

You don't need to be a jazz lover, or avant-garde lover at all just to find this album excellent! Very highly recommended for every prog fan as excellent entrance to magic world of John Zorn!

Jazz in an elevator...

If you enjoy listening to the musician that is John Zorn and approach this release by John Zorn expecting to hear John Zorn, then you might be a little disappointed as John Zorn doesn't actually perform on this album. In addition, if you enjoy listening to the sub-genres that are RIO/Avant-Prog and approach this release in the RIO/Avant-Prog section expecting to hear some RIO/Avant-Prog, then you may be further disappointed as this is anything but.

The Good: Some really nice hotel lobby jazz and a really nice title, to go with the really nice album artwork.

The Bad: Doesn't hold my interest for more than 15 minutes unless I leave it as background music.

The Verdict: Pleasant enough.