COBRA

And now that I'm reading about this, it's all making a lot more sense. As you'll notice in the album credits, John Zorn himself is nowhere in sight (despite his musical language and humorous cacophony being written all over this: literally so!). This is a 1994 performance of his still officially unpublished "game piece" (a sort of structured improvisation with rules and prompts). I find this concept super interesting, as it can be representative of not only the improvisational and unexpected nature of Jazz, but also have the sheer appearance of a sort of classical orchestration (with an ensemble cast of performers and someone somewhat acting as conductor, in this context considered a Prompter, and here specifically Makigami Koichi).

This may strike some at times, as it did me, as similar to Zeuhl. Vocals are focal and at the fore in this version of the piece. There is chanting and a sort of mirrored echo relationship vocals have with the instrumentation (I often think of another Japanese band when I think of modern Zeuhl, Koenji Hyakkei). It also feels absolutely alive, as the best of improvisational music (and any artform) should be. So I definitely draw a parallel to, say, Koenji Hyakkei. For a fantastic, fun example of this at play, see "Sunbu" or "Taian".

This sort of performance would be fascinating to witness. All the moving parts and the unexpected nature of it all. Not as jarring or inexplicably bizarre as some of Zorn's other material, but still, unsurprisingly, only so approachable.

Released on HatHut's Hatology Cobra contains two discs, one studio, one live. Utilizing the aforementioned techniques the results of each disc is varied, with neither piece sounding alike. The freedom of interpretation leaves room for a wide variety of genres to be explored, not dissimilar to the mashing found in albums like 'Naked City', but with less coherency. Each piece spontaneously unfolds beneath a veil of dissonance, at times hint towards interesting music, but general these are just fleeting glimpses quickly petering out. The live disc is the more successful of the two interpretations. In the studio the ensemble feels weighed down by an awkward restraint, while the live disc the tension abates resulting in a semblance of harmony.

If your a fan of Zorn and wish to hear one of the games pieces I'd drop this one and pick up Archery, not fantastic but a little more successful than Cobra. For me, I sold the disc some time ago, and have not regretted it.