JOHN ZORN

Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

An excellent release!

John Zorn has to be one of the top 5 musicians alive with the biggest discography, he is a prolific mind who never stops or sleeps, and who is always aiming to create and to share. Among his creations, he has tones of albums and projects, and one of them is named Chaos Magick, featuring amazing musicians from the jazz, prog, avant-garde scenes. As far as I know, this line-up had released four records prior to this one, entitled Parrhesiastes, which saw the light the past November 1st.

Sometimes while digging through Zorn's discography might be difficult to find a clear musical path, because he is always changing and exploring, so in a same year you might listen to a classical guitar album, or maybe a funk- oriented record, or why not, a prog rock one. This time, he is giving us a feast of musical genres united in one single record which is divided in three long compositions, so be ready, because this journey will be quite interesting.

The album opens with 'In The Footsteps of Hermes', the first minute is a soft conversation between keys and drums, Kenny Grohowski is a hell of a drummer, by the way. As you can imagine, in long songs there are always changes in time and mood, and here it is not the exception. After some 3 minutes of a jazzy, delicious sound, electric guitar appears and all together explode into a progressive rock feast where the energy of drums, guitar and keyboards is spread. Then after minute five they stop, and begin to create a new passage where mystery appear, even silence. Of course, we can witness a vast amount of textures and nuances during the whole track, in the end we are surrounded by amazing musicians, such as the one and only Jon Medeski, as well as Brian Marsella and Matt Hollenberg.

'The Eventual Valorization of the Perhaps' is a track full of surprises, and it reflects once again the creativity of Zorn and the amazing performing skills of his four bandmates. Its first passage is nice and dreamy, however, after a minute it changes, becomes faster and embraces a jazzy and prog fusion sound that is truly enjoyable to our ears and souls. Then some funky guitar that suddenly morph into a metal-like, and then vanishes to join that soft and delicious jazzy sound keys and drums produce. Important to say that parrhesia is a term used in ancient Greece, which means something like freedom of speech and using the truth for the common being, in spite of personal risks, of course, parrhesiastes is the person who uses it, and I believe this album reflects it somehow, because the musicians are all free to do whatever they want, and all of them tell the truth through their instruments, through music.

Finally, 'Form, Object and Desire', which is a vertiginous track that shares loads of sounds and emotions, it goes from tension to excitement, from doubt to certainty, and in the end all is freedom, so we, in real life, have a mixture of emotions and attitudes, just like the music. I like the guitar work, sometimes soft, even acoustic, but mostly exploding. Organ and electric piano produce countless nuances, and once again, the drums are outstanding. Is it rock, or prog, or jazz? It actually doesn't matter, the journey is quite interesting, one just have to receive its diverse passages with open arms and ears.

This is a great record and one of my most played albums this November, so if you like Zorn and good music in general, this will make your day.

Enjoy it!

4.5 stars. John Zorn has already released five studio albums this year but lets talk about one of his 2012 recordings called "Mount Analogue". This is one long 38 plus minute suite performed by five very talented musicians who all add vocals. There is actually no singing but we get these vocal expressions that bring ART ZOYD to mind, disturbing and deep growls almost. We have a Brazilian percussionist who has played with ELECTRIC MASADA and THE NILES CLINE SINGERS, the vibes player is American and played with ELECTRIC MASADA while the drummer is American also playing an African drum called a calabash. An American keyboardist adds piano and organ and played with THE NILES CLINE SINGERS and lastly the American bass player a graduate of Berkley and he also went to Israel to learn stuff. He plays a skin covered three stringed bass called a gimbri as well as an oud plus of course his normal bass setup.

He was also on 2017's "Interpretation Of Dreams" by Zorn and that one I recently reviewed and it really set me up for this album. That 2017 album is much more stripped down as we get bass, drums and vibes only on two tracks while a string quartet and piano are all we get for the other song. I was so drawn to that record surprisingly. This one even more because it is more adventerous and involves many more instruments overall. We still get those warm vibes but along with them it's the piano leading the way much of the time while the bass and drums support. More percussion sounds too along with those ethnic instruments but very much in the style of "Interpretation Of Dreams". I also like how much atmosphere is on here usually from the cymbals or organ.

And while this can be sophisticated and fancy it clearly has moments that are dark and disturbing(vocals). This flows beautifully and changes often but seamlessly blends into each section. I'm not going to describe the ride because it's a long one but man I looked forward to putting this on when it was it's turn last week. We all know Zorn is a musical genius and he sure likes the extreme so this is like a slice of musical heaven to be honest. Space to breathe yet he changes it up enough to have me looking forward to his next move. Simply an inspirational recording.

What to say about John Zorn? Composing difficult music as a teenager this is one gifted man. He's involved in hundreds of recordings so you'd think there would be something for everyone except he always seems to have one foot in the Avant style. Still I have discovered several recordings of his that I value highly after thinking Zorn just isn't for me.

"Interpretation Of Dreams" is an interesting album with Zorn composing the music but not playing on it which is often the case. It reminds me of 2010's "Mount Analogue" mostly for the vibes and style. I just love the sound of this record. Three long tracks and I really like how he set this up with the opener and closer featuring the same three musicians playing bass, drums and vibes so obviously some continuity here but thankfully the middle track changes things up as we get THE JACK QUARTET of two violinists, cello and viola along with piano. Lots of tempo changes and contrasts thankfully but what a warm sounding recording with that middle track bringing a charge to the proceedings.

This was released in 2017 along with "Midsummer Moons" an album of two guitarists and that's it, not my cuppa tea but the other 2017 release "Garden Of Earthly Delights" really hits the spot as he goes heavy and extreme. This is in the middle but a 4 star record in my opinion. I have a lot of respect for this one.

This is a new instalment in the prolonged saga of collaborations that John Zorn periodically proposes to an elite of top notch instrumentalists who are entrusted to visit his musical concepts. Now comes the turn for guitarists, and once again the guitar and brilliance of Bill Frisell is here to lead the trio proceedings.

The album title refers to a well-known short story by Jorge Luis Borges (El Jardín De Senderos Que Se Bifurcan) which is a particularly accomplished variation on a prime topic in Borgean narrative: labyrinths. There are also a nod to Samuel Beckett in the opener, which presents an appropriately intrincate intertwined design given by the trio interplay. The Secret Mirror is more like a curve ball, since it's a fictive stage play depicted in another Borges short story, An Examination Of The Work Of Herbert Quain (Examen De La obra De Herbert Quain). This is a track verging into contemporary chamber music a la Oregon, with great taste for it. In the same Borgean vein we find also Circular Ruins (Las Ruinas Circulares), reminding the League Of Crafty Guitarists style, The Zahir (perhaps the calmest track), The Encounter, and finally Orbus Tertius (Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius), a story about a conspiracy of schollars who write and insidiously spread an encyclopedia about an invented universe, which takes the place of the actual one in the end. Also appropriately, this is the most angular moment for the trio, and a high mark for their musicianship in this album.

In short, very good instrumental music with provocative literary references, there's a certain air to the guitaristic passages in Oregon's music, particularly in the jazzier moments (which are many).

Gurgle! Fart! Spit! Splat! Splunk!

The at times minimal, at times cacophonous, Avant-garde Jazz stylings of Mr. John ZORN, featuring here Derek BAILEY (guitar) and George LEWIS (trombone). Released in 1982, this is... a world to itself.

These are like musical scrawlings. Like scratches of ideas, etched into a bizarre little disc. 5 songs. They are as follows:

1. "City City City": scratching, scurrying, randomness, pings, pig squeals, meandering. Do you want full sentences, or what? I don't know what I can offer you here.

2. "The Legend of Enos Slaughter": now with more squeals(!), now with more scurrying randomness(!); Is the trombone the voice of this Enos Slaughter, or just farts? I got nothin'. Avant-garde Jazz, though I've tried (and succeeded with, in part; Hello Dave HOLLAND, John SURMAN, Roscoe MITCHELL, etc.), is not really in my wheelhouse (or understanding).

3. "Who's On First?": The shortest piece on here at just around 3 minutes. What is there to say that I haven't already? (Sorry?)

4. "On Golden Pond": And from the shortest track, we get to this, the longest track at nearly 18 minutes (and if this was on LP, as I assume, they must have really stretched its sides thin...). A few words here: rattle-tat-tat, gurgles, sawing, struggling, more farting, bubbling and more gurgling. Actually calls to mind some of the weird *SNORK* sounds made by Zappa and Co. on Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The Money. We actually also get some of our first bits of what I would consider melody! Neat! /s

5. "The Warning Track": more meandering, more squeaking and squawking, what I'm unsure are vocalizations or the sound of lost horns. Have I mentioned farting in this review yet? I want to make clear, here and now, these are not real, actual farts.

So... the consensus so far, I'm going to have to agree. Is this music? Of course! Is it bizarre? Oh yeah... Who on here, at least, is going to be interested in this collection of songs? Not too many. And to those who, as I have, decide to venture here, best of luck to you.

This is the fifth album which features The Moonchild Trio, which consists of Michael Patton, Trevor Dunn and Joey Baron performing John Zorn compositions, headed over by Zorn himself. Typically, Zorn doesn't play in any of the other albums by The Moonchild Trio, but this time around he brings his crazy saxophone along for the party along with guitarist Marc Ribot.

If you are already familiar with The Moonchild Trio, you already know what to expect here: Patton's crazy wordless vocalizations which would murder a normal singer to perform, Dunn's amazing bass work and Baron's progressive and unpredictable drumming. The music is anything but predictable or normal, can be rather chaotic and sounds like nothing you've ever heard, but this time around, with Ribot joining in, things get more angular, heavy and dark than ever before.

The first track "Seven Sigils" kicks off with simply the rhythm section, bass and drums churning out an ever changing riff, and you might be fooled into thinking you are listening to some great heavy progressive music, but then Patton comes in and everything just goes nuts. At one point, Patton's vocals soar up to unnatural heights, but when it comes down from the stratosphere, it's no longer Patton singing, but Zorn's strangled saxophone somehow got substituted without anyone noticing. That's how crazy it is. The insanity continues with Patton's tongue wagging sounds, Zorn's tortured sax and pounding bass and drums that will make anyone sit up and take notice. It's not always chaotic as things do get grounded from time to time, but soon goes off into left field again before you know it.

Ribot's guitar doesn't show up until the next track "The Book of Los". It brings the track in with a nice softer sound and Zorn brings in the piano to help out. Soon Patton starts to vocalize, but is using a lot of restraint this time at first. The rest of the band soon joins in and the main feeling is quite pensive and reflective, that is until about halfway in to the track when the guitar starts to go AWOL from this and Ribot demonstrates that he fits right into this crazy improvisation. At this point, Patton (not to be outdone) suddenly scares the listener to death with a crazy scream and then there is no return from the insanity after this.

It's this kind of thing you can expect from this album, a lot of crazy improvisational sections and also a lot of level- headed sections where things might resemble normalcy for certain brief sections. There are three tracks called "Apparitions" which are avant-garde improvisational tracks spread throughout the album and these are typically shorter tracks lasting about 4 minutes each of discord and such. You will notice, though, that this album a bit heavier than even most of The Moonchild Trio's albums, more in a metal vein than ever before. You'll notice this in "Supplicant" which might even fool you into thinking you are listening to extreme experimental metal. This one is probably the most accessible of the tracks, one that will win over the metal afficianados, with the heavy guitar and bass riffs and Patton's unusual growling/screaming/squealing. But then, you also hear the amazing songwriting skills of Zorn stand out on tracks like "Warlock" and "Tabula Smaragdina", the latter features a great bass and drum duet to open it up.

Is it possible that all of this chaos and noise can be considered a masterpiece? Yes it can. If you don't know how, then you have never heard Zorn and The Moonchild Trio, but this is probably my favorite album from them. There is so much going on here, and it's actually not hard to pick it out even if you don't like metal or avant prog. This album is quite amazing and can only be best explained by listening to it. I will say it may not be to everyone's taste mostly because of Patton's crazy singing, but you have to marvel at his talent if nothing else. I doubt if there are many people that can sing like this and survive with their voice intact. This is a masterpiece if there ever was one.

The album "Hen to Pan" belongs in John Zorn's "21st Century Classical Music" series, so, if you are looking for extreme music on this one, you won't find it. To understand Zorn's discography, you have to understand that it encompasses many different series, sub-projects and groupings, so in that respect, it is much different than many of the other artists in the Archives, and thus, it can also be quite confusing. Without some background on each album, you can never know what you are getting into, which is why, up front, I wanted to mention that this belongs in the classical music department, even though it is still quite avant garde.

In this episode of John Zorn's discography, we get some chamber-style music that consists of two cellos, piano, violin and drums. But, this is quite different from what you expect from chamber music from the baroque, classical and romantic periods. Rather, it's from the 21st century, so it's going to be progressive as far as classical music is concerned. Most will consider it chaotic and noisy. However, knowing a bit about what is going on here will maybe make things a little easier to understand.

First, the basics. Throughout these 5 tracks on this album, only one performer remains constant on all tracks, and that is cellist Jay Campbell. This is the person that Zorn wanted to focus on this album, as he was considered to soon be a "new music superstar" according to a blurb from the Tzadik label. The music on this album is dark and somewhat difficult for the layman to listen to, and, unlike much popular music, will take time and insight to really appreciate. The music hearkens back to Zorn's earlier chamber music, except here it is much more aggressive.

The album has three versions of the composition "Ouroboros" which above all else, is a work written for two cellos. It starts off with the Trio Version 1 which features not only Campbell on cello, but also Michael Nicolas, who will be the 2nd cellist on all three versions of "Ouroboros". The third person in this trio is Tyshawn Sorey on drums, who plays on both "trio" versions featured on the album. For those that don't know, the ouroboros is an ancient symbol that depicts a serpent eating its own tail. Just because there are three versions here doesn't mean the music is a complete repeat of something you've already heard. Much like Zappa's classical music, and much of 21st century neo-classical music for that matter, the performers have a lot of freedom as long as they play within a certain range, style or dynamic. So getting 3 versions of "Ouroboros" might not be as redundant as you might think. The 3 versions make up tracks 1, 3 and 5, 1 and 3 bookend the album with both trio versions, while track 3 is the duo version with only the two cellos, no drums.

The sound of the first trio version begins without warning, instantly with the cellists sawing away at the high notes of their instruments and the drums frantically pushing them forward. However, the sections are dynamic, ranging from pianissimo to double forte without any regard to convention. Some places are quite fast and dramatic while other places are pensive and quiet. This is chamber music on steroids. The 2nd track is "Occams Razor" which features Campbell's cello accompanied by Steve Gosling on piano. This track is formed in the style of a canon of sorts, not quite as chaotic, but with some very fast passages where the cello and piano play together almost impossibly, note for note, only to separate off on their own interesting tangents, sometimes going quite wild and other times pensive and sort of a dissonant pastoral which can be just as unsettling as the louder sections. It's definitely a different feel from the previous track, but the timing is at 9 minutes, just like the previous track. The 2nd version of "Ouroboros" comes next, this time as the duo version, only the two cellists, Campbell and Nicolas, without drums this time. It's interesting to hear the two cellos playing against each other, especially when one plays high notes and the other plays pizzicato low notes. It's almost more argumentative sounding but also playful at times without the drums and some sections have a lot of percussive sound to the playing (especially the picking parts). The mutilated melody fragmentations seem to stand out a lot more too.

The 4th track is called "The Aristos" (subtitled "Ten Metaphysical Ambiguities for Violin, Cello and Piano"). You get Campbell on cello and Gosling on piano again, but this time joined by Chris Otto on violin. This is basically what it says it is, 10 strange shorter works together on one track that adds up to over 13 minutes. These short works are separated by space and the style of each is quite different from each other, so it's fairly easy to discern one from another. There's plenty of dynamic variety on this track, feeling like moods. The last track is the second trio version of "Ouroboros". This seems to me to be a lot more peppy and playful with some noticeable variations. However, many of the differences might not be apparent right away, but will come after listening more often.

Granted, I understand that this type of music might not be for everyone. However, the performances are amazing and very technically difficult. The music also becomes more appealing the more you listen to it. Those that don't like neo- classical styles will probably have a hard time with it, but I can attest that the music is quite entertaining, colorful and enjoyable. Also, the production is perfect, with each instrumental line equally mixed. Although it may seem like noise to some, this music is quite complex and not easy to compose, so how Zorn can continually put out complex music and record it to be able to put out several albums a year is beyond me. Yet, everything he does has a lot of quality and complexity, it's like it is second nature to him. Anyway, this is quite an excellent album for the style of music that it is, yet even though it is progressive and avant garde, it is classical, so I can't say it's a progressive rock masterpiece, even though it is a neo-classical masterpiece. 4 stars.

Named after the 1914 French novel by Raymond Roussel, LOCUS SOLUS was one of JOHN ZORN's earliest recordings originally released in 1983 as a double album on the Rift label and then remastered and re-released on CD in 1991 on the Japanese late Eva in 1991 with several bonus tracks and then picked up again by ZORN's own Tzadik label and released a final time in 1995. As a seeker of adventurous musical experiences, i sniff out weirdness like dog treats but once in a while something so strange and so bizarre randomly falls into my lap that i have to sit back and go - whooooooooaaaaaahhhhhh! What did i just hear?

JOHN ZORN of course is well known for his avant-garde and frenetic free jazz workouts but LOCUS SOLUS is fairly weird even by ZORN's standards which means that those inured to only traditional forms of music will refer to this as pure noise and those who crave such wild manic music experiences will take them to the promised land of crazy unhinged sonic delight. The 68 minute run of pure mindf.u.ckery is roughly divided into four parts with different lineups. The bizarre nature of LOCUS SOLUS provided the blueprint of what would become the band Painkiller and after a listen to this it's obvious that Mike Patton was so enamored with this album that he adopted many of those weird spastic sounds in Mr Bungle and even borrowed the album title "Disco Volante" from one of the tracks.

This is one of those extreme avant-garde albums from ZORN with anarchic compositional structures, random electronic sounds, processed spoken word poetry, grindcore, freeform jazz saxophone squawks that sound like a coop of tortured chickens and excessive guitar noise. While the noise rock scene in Japan is considered ground zero for that kind of thing, it seems like LOCUS SOLUS is the epicenter that reverberated across the world. The first eight tracks feature Peter Blegvad on vocals although they are so processed and distorted that it sounds like a manic robot. There are several drummers on board with tribal drum parts as well as extreme metal bombast. Likewise there are turntable effects and wild array of other sounds ranging from whistling to clarinet solos and organ runs.

This is a very demanding album for sure as there is absolutely no recognizable forms of music to be heard. This is about as avant-garde and thinking outside of the box as you can imagine and all the more remarkable for its energetic prowess and that it was released as early as 1983 as it sounds like something that should've emerged in the mid-90s. The punk infused explosive tracks are succinct with most around the 2 minute mark or less but at over an hour's worth of this it is quite enervating. This is the stuff avant-garde dreams are made of but for those not accustomed to this degree of musical freedom, this will come off as jarring and completely startling. Not for everyone but i totally dig this twisted unapologetic noise-fest.

John Zorn could arguably be the most diverse artists listed in the Archives. Not only that, he also has one of the largest discographies of all the musical artists out there. It can also be one of the most confusing, as he has his name attached to several different projects, and I would dare say that most of his discography doesn't even have his name listed as a performer. However, he is active in each of his projects as a composer, producer, and instigator of each one of them.

The Gnostic Trio is one of his many projects, but it is also a project within a project in a round-about way since the first one under this project name was originally included in a group of albums that he oversaw that had to do with mystically influenced albums. Since this original group of mystically-themed albums, Zorn has explored mystical themes quite a bit. Let's not get into that though, as you could write an entire book about it. Instead, let's focus on The Gnostic Trio which consists of the dynamic guitarist Bill Frisell, the vibraphonist Kenny Wollesen (who has collaborated with Zorn quite extensively) and the amazing harpist Carol Emanuel. These three musicians have formed the core of The Gnostic Trio and under this name have made at least 7 albums under Zorn's large umbrella.

The first album this project released is this one: "The Gnostic Preludes", released in 2012. This album is made up of 8 preludes, most of which are around 6 minutes long. The music is quite accessible, but it is also quite complex in it's own right. All three musicians are excellent at their craft, so the music is quite professionally done and easy to listen to, but also very enjoyable. But as simple as it sounds, it isn't due to the fact that it it necessarily has a typical structure. There isn't much dissonance in the sound, but there is some, however, it is some of Zorn's most accessible music, so don't expect anything really avant-garde, however, it is highly artistic and quite beautiful.

The spiritual/mystical aspect of the music is apparent in its laidback and exalting tone which is enhanced by Frisell's signature style, his laid-back tone and style, yet even with his status, he still becomes an equal partner in the trio's structure. The three musicians work together beautifully, each one working in supporting roles at times and at other times, each one taking the lead when needed. Simplicity in a folk-ish sense in the central feel of the music, yet the individual tracks still have their own personalities. The album does not fall into the trap that other albums with a similar, simple line-up might have, that of sounding too much the same throughout. For example, "The Middle Pillar" hints around at a Spanish flamenco sound while "The Book of Pleasure" leans more toward a jazz-inflected chamber piece. In "Music of the Spheres", both Frisell and Wollesen perform a fascinating interplay while Emmanuel provides a lovely background to their antics.

No doubt that this is one that most everyone will enjoy. It is also a great front-door to Zorn's work as it is quite intensive. However, if you are afraid of what you might have heard about Zorn's other works and projects, this one is quite safe, yet it has a very poetic and mystical feel to it. It is easy to forget that this music is made up of 3 instrumentalists as it seems so vast, not shallow like many new age artists that were around at the time. This is far from that, it is authentic and it is the heart that you feel in this music, that it is authentic and all the more interesting because of that. If you love your music simple, stripped down to a simple guitar, vibraphone and harp, that can still manage to challenge your deepest musical passions, then this is for you. It is definitely one that people should be giving more attention to.

Well, possibly you already know that John Zorn is as much a contemporay "serious" composer as a musical chameleon that goes through a wide variety of genres and styles from one album to another. And if he's capable of doing this, is because the ever rotating collaboration of the most amazing artists in each field of music.

In this album, the purely instrumental trio, in which stands out the guitarist Bill Frisell, takes us to a territory akin not to jazz, but rather (in my ears at least) to the hipnotic suggestion of kraut-rockers Popol Vuh, a soundscape generated by a crystal-clear exposition and continuous recombination of minimal melodic and rythmic cells that grow and evolve in a larger organism: first each track, then the entire record.

Not a "desert island record", but a worthy addition to the open-minded progger collection.