JOHN ZORN

Picking Up the Tab For Free Jazz

How do you describe the taste of chicken if you don't like chicken ? Some would say you shouldn't by virtue of being deemed a closet vegetarian. Others would say by being objective i.e as if by some other worldly journalistic conceit you were able to inhabit the sense organs of a 3rd party chicken lover. Until such time as the 'Vulcan Mind Meld' becomes standard issue for humanoid critters, prejudice, subjectivity, aesthetic sensibility and plain vanilla you will stubbornly hold sway.

What's sauce for the goose cannot camouflage a deficit of golden eggs.

I have an innate aversion to the 'abstract' in any art form and with music, especially so. That said, I don't consider either my tastes to be conservative ones or my willingness to persevere with challenging music to be found wanting.The important thing is that I want to delight in and appreciate all music but if I can't I do resent the corollary that my resistance is invalidated by my lack of understanding. It's sound, I've got ears and a (tiny) brain plus I'm sincere (I think I'm actually over-qualified)

There's a Carl Stalling 'cartoon violence' surface to this music reflected by the faux 'urban primitives' artwork which depicts scenes of self mutilation, S & M, torture, suicide and metropolitan dissolution peopled by grotesque cutesy parodies of suffering. The New York School of Highly Strung Arts has often been guilty of elevating our basest instincts into a vicarious confrontation of ugliness its graduates would run a mile from if encountered in the street. This is fantasy combat for those who've never been in a fight. Similarly, the notorious artwork that adorns the various Naked City releases features gratuitous imagery of executions, corpses, medical illustrations, yet more S & M plus torture victims and smacks of whining self-aggrandisement that hitherto I believed was the preserve of the boyish blasphemies from the metal brigade. The sleeve-notes really don't help in dismantling this prejudice either e.g. F**king hardcore rules, smash racism (?) Inside every Webster University Conservatoire student there is a big apple street punk just bursting to get out. Right on bro. We can't judge the book by the cover but in this instance, deprived of any articulated statement being discernible therein, it's all I have to go on as regards intent.

The 17 tracks are short and mercifully have titles, as given their uniformly searing blandness, how else could you tell them apart ? That Messrs Zorn, Berne, Dresser, Baron and Vatcher are all consummately skilled musicians is not even up for debate here but the quintet appear to be hell-bent on regressing to a primordial state where notions of form and structure are considered impediments to drawing from the well of pure subjective creativity. Rather ironically, the charges of self-indulgence hurled at many a Prog giant are dwarfed by this avant dinosaur. What vestige of architecture still remains on this scorched earth location comes courtesy of the indelibly recognisable melodic skyline of Ornette Coleman's original tunes.(Which is a double whammy for your reviewer as I loathe the source and the destination equally e.g like hearing a Bay City Rollers album of Osmonds covers)

That Zorn strenuously resists all preconceived labels and categorisations for his music is of course a laudable sentiment but we are left with the overriding conclusion that it can only be described by what it isn't or what it lacks. (Bald ain't a hair colour) I do have a great deal of respect for John Zorn as a facilitator for music that would not ordinarily find a commercial outlet (via his artists 'not for profit' co-operative record label Tzadik) and he should be applauded for his efforts in this regard. He has recorded and contributed to more music than even someone as prolific as the late Frank Zappa and I'm not going to pretend that Spy v Spy is indicative of any of his other work (cos apart from the aforementioned Naked City project, I ain't heard any)

If sublimated aggression is your 'thang' and have an affection for shrill disaffection, grindcore, noiserock, carry a subscription to The Wire and think the latter's Ian Penman a literary genius - take a ringside seat.

(I'll be over in the corner with a white towel)

Heavily experimental John Zorn album. He doesn't play there at all ( it is not rare in Zorn's albums), but the only musician is guitarist Marc Ribot.

So, it's a guitar sound album. Not guitar music, but guitar sound. John Zorn is a person, who initiated these heavy experiments with guitar sounds, and Marc Ribot is playing musician.

All album consists of 35 very short, often just some seconds long, recorded sound pieces. In rare moments it could be named as musical sounds, but more often it is just some sounds were taken from guitar by all possible ways.

If interesting in few moments as experiments with guitar sound, in it's bigger part the album is almost unlistenable.

For collectors and heavy fans only.

John Zorn plays as part of quintet with two drummers, bassist and altoist. The material is Ornette Coleman's compositions in chronological order ( from 1958 t0 1987).

All compositions are shortened till 2-3 minutes brutal energetic free jazz/avant pieces. From very beginning sounds a bit shocking, but has usual Zorn's atmosphere. The problem is that all pieces are short and of more or less same rhythm ( and all are driven by crazy drive and enormous energetic). So very soon you will become tired, or possibly bored by them.

Interesting album for researchers, but as whole work could attract very limited listeners.

John Zorn is great experimentalist, his music varies from beautiful to interesting to inaccessible. But he is almost never boring. The Big Gundown is his first great album, and the successful basic for all the range of future "movie" serie works.

As it is stated in album name, Zorn recorded his tribute to great music soundtracks by Ennio Morricone. It means, that quite often you will be able to catch, what movie's soundtrack was taken as raw material for one or another composition.

But it is John Zorn, so all pieces are heavily reworked. Zorn uses different teams of musicians for each track, Bill Frisell and Fred Frith are between them. The music is very eclectic mix of some original movie sound from 60-70-ss, neoclassic minimalism, free jazz techniques, avant-noise inclusions, heavy-rock and blues moments as well. Some songs have vocals ( Tre Nel 5000 contains Diamanda Galas singing, and you will feel it at the very first moment!).

All in all album is a hot dish: some pieces are excellent, some noises are terrible, some sounds are out of place, and nothing is in balance, but just chaotically mixed. But all this build very strange and in it's own manner beautiful atmosphere, when you don't need to see movie to listen this soundtracks. They are kind of art by itself.

I agree, that this album is still raw in many places, but it is first really successful result of Zorn's "movie" eclectics, and it gave the roots to big green three of Zorn's most successful experimentations in future.

Spillane is John Zorn's tribute to Mickey Spillane, American thriller writer ( I think almost everyone know TV serial about private detective Mike Hammer, based on his book). The album is one between few Zorn's first "movie" albums, and one of popular as well.

Whenever there are at least three great reviews on PA , I just will try to concentrate on my impressions.

There are two long compositions on this album. The first one is longest (25+ minutes) and is named by the album name. The composition has a bit unusual structure ( but quite characteristic for Zorn's music): short musical pieces were recorded on what is named "cards", and after John just combined these cards in order it looked best to him. Whenever the music on each card was very different - from free jazz, to 60-s movie soundtrack sound, to some bluesy and classic pieces, to avant-garde sounds, - all combination presents very eclectic mix, but organically melted in one composition. Big importance in this mixture is given to some spoken words (as movie fragments, in English and even in Russian - as short citation from Soviet propaganda-style movie) and many different movie-like noises. So, even if not all pieces are equally attractive, you wouldn't be bored.

Three other, shorter, album compositions are more usual, but again, in quite Zorn- ish style. Two-Lane Highway ( part I and II) both are excellent electric blues based compositions ,played by renowned blues guitarist Albert Collins. Zorn by himself (as often) doesn't play there at all, but are more idea author and manager. Both songs , even if based on bluesy roots, sounds enough fresh and attractive ( and are real gem for electric blues lovers). Not too much experimental, to be honest.

Last, fourth song, is longer composition again. It is pure avant-garde track based on strings cacophony, very nervous sound and occasional vocals in Japanese. Even if strange construction, this song build a logical frame for two bluesy compositions, placed between two much more unusual songs.

Everything in total build a strange, unusual, but very close to everyone musical "movie world" of Zorn, which he will develop in many more his later works.

Not masterpiece, but interesting and strong Zorn's album.

One way progressive bands act progressive is by depicting historical or literary scenes through music. Yes did a phenomenal job musically portraying a battle in "The Gates of Delirium," but they did so through appropriate timbres, tones, dynamics, and most importantly, genuine compositional ideas. Then some artists, like John Zorn, provide a more literal interpretation of their setting. Kristallnacht, or "The Night of Broken Glass" was an anti-Jewish pogrom in Germany and Austria, occurring on November 9th and 10th in 1938. Over two-hundred synagogues were destroyed, and almost a hundred Jews were murdered, but one of the most historically poignant aspects of those two horrible days involved the destruction of Jewish shops and storefronts, hence the name of the event. So, rather than craft movingly bitter pieces of actual music, Zorn decided to treat listeners to things like eleven minutes of the sound of glass breaking. Heavy-handed symbolism aside, there is one real amazing moment on this album, and I would be unfair if I ignored it: "Gahelet (Embers)" stands out as a gorgeous piece, and probably one of the most masterful works I've ever heard in the genre. On the one hand, the album at times does a fine job creating a genuine Yiddish feel or showing the loneliness, despair, bitterness, and hope that was part of being Jewish in the first half of the twentieth century. On the other hand, parts of this album could do its own glass-breaking- I'm sorry, but I have no use for noise or for ensembles full of members who play their instruments independently of one another and call it music. Perhaps the point is to make the listener feel the pain the Jewish victims felt, but frankly that strikes me as cruel. "Shtetl (Ghetto Life)" Lone brass wails in an inconsolable way. Adding context is the enraged and repeated rants of Nazi Germans. Squealing violin, a simple bass, and a not unpleasant trumpet dominates the rest of the piece.

"Never Again" I'm surprised anybody would listen to this. It is no exaggeration when I say that this is almost eleven minutes of what is practically white noise. Turn on a television with no reception and crank up the volume- there we are. Well, not quite- the TV lacks that constant, ear-piercing frequency. It's unfortunate when the occasional near-silence is the best part of the track. When will I next listen to this piece? I think the title gives a reliable hint.

"Gahelet (Embers)" This is by far the most interesting piece on the album, bathed in minimalism, as it were. It strikes me as sad and lonely, like the defeated Jews who surveyed the damage of their property and livelihood after two days of trials.

"Tikkun (Rectification)" This is a livelier violin piece that uses more rapid notes, giving it an upbeat Yiddish flavor, but it soon devolves into rambling.

"Tzfia (Looking Ahead)" This "work" (I'm struggling to find an appropriate word, so I use that term very loosely) involves occasional blasts of noise, in which a saxophone blares like an enraged elephant, or a noisy guitar goes all over the place. The quieter moments are not all that interesting, but at least are not unpleasant. The senseless guitar solo, laced with irate noise, is pure balderdash.

"Barzel (Iron Fist)" Here is another barrage of inane and painful noise.

"Gariin (Nucleus-The New Settlement)" This undirected track sounds like a band is practicing their instruments individually, perhaps tuning and warming up, before the real show is to begin. Sadly, it's the performance.

My first meeting with Zorn's music was when I first listen to the successful Naked city Album and i was fascinated by his amazing ability to do so complicate music with metallic sound . for me ( and for many others for sure ) he is one of the pioneers in the avant garde and the Jazz realm .

His new cd Famina is something that better remind me more like a tribute to the Modern classical composers like Pierre Boulez or John Cage's Music (and someone said it's sounds like Hildegard von Bingen, Meredith Monk, Simone de Beauvoir, Frida Kahlo, Madame Blavatsky, Isadora Duncan, Hélène Cixous, Gertrude Stein, Abe Sada, Sylvia Plath, Louise Bourgeois, Margaret Mead, Loie Fuller, Dorothy Parker, Yoko Ono and the moon goddess En Hedu'Anna. it seems that he's main reason for calling this album Femina is mainly because the instrumentalists of this album are mainly women . The band consists of Jennifer Choi on violin, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano, Carol Emanuel on harp, Okkyung Lee on cello, Ikue Mori on electronics, Shayna Dunkelman on percussion, with Laurie Anderson opening the album with a few seconds of narration. the style of the music is more Classical and rely on other espects . this is not a regular John Zorn cd . it's seems to be more softy - but at the other hand you still can notice the "Harshy" sound that Zorn use to make . for me this album is very unique because the music seem to affected bu Chinese Traditional music . the on disadvantage that i have on this album that it is very short - just 35 minutes long ... BUT - It's still a fresh , Mystherious , Full of magic and Adventurous album . This album will not dissapoint any enthusiased Fan of Zorn , Nor Experimentalists , Very High recomanded !

It is still fall 2009, but John Zorn released five (!) albums this year yet. It means only one thing - he is as active as usual.

"Alhamba Love Songs" is more jazzy album. Without sax, where John Zorn is composer and ..eer, project manager. All music is played by classic jazz trio - piano, bass and drums. And the music is nice.This album contains melodic, moody and not too complex tunes, mostly jazz from 60-s imitations, with light scent of fusion.

The music is very catchy, pleasant, some kind of pop-art-jazz. This album is similar to "O'o" released later this year, but just played by jazz trio, not bigger fusion band.

Another accesible Zorn release, pleasant even to unprepared listener. Strong 4,5. ( still not enough original to be 5 * rated)

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!

If one is interested in dipping their toes into the pool of John Zorn's more avant music, this would be a good place to start. At times boisterous and rowdy and at other times soothingly beautiful, Feminia encompasses all that's great about John Zorn the Composer. There is a good mix of the style of his more accessible Film Works series paired with the unpredictability of his "game pieces" (i.e, Cobra, Xu Feng). I'd also perhaps throw in a bit from his classical works as well for reference.

For this recording Zorn enlisted a small ensemble of talented women who should be familiar names to devoted followers of the Tzadik label. If you think you've got what to expect from this CD all figured out because of the title and the cast involved then you're going to be pleasantly surprised. I've heard some of these performer's solo works and I was still highly intrigued how their talents interacted with one another.

Feminia is only 35 minutes, but is filled with many more inspired passages than most CDs double it's length. This is definitely one of the better John Zorn releases of the two dozen or so CDs I have heard of his.