John Zorn Music

John Zorn's game pieces are generally dense, difficult to understand, and make little sense without seeing them live-- essentially, they are rules for improvisation and interaction between musicians, often cued in various forms.

"Lacrosse" is one such where evidentally the intent is short events-- this was Zorn's first released recording, and is filled out with a number of bonus tracks-- the first disc includes the originally issued takes (3, 4, and 6) and three unissued (1, 2, and 5) with musicians Mark Abbott (eletronics), Polly Bradfield (violin, viola), Eugene Chadbourned (guitars), LaDonna Smith (violin, viola), Davey Williams (banjo/guitar) and Zorn himself (alto and soprano saxes, clarinet). The second disc is the "twins version", with Chadbourned and Henry Kaiser on guitar, Bruce Ackley on soprano sax and Zorn on alto.

Because this is largely about events, and combinations thereof, its pretty difficult to make sense of; a lot of it sounds pretty random. What is most interesting is that more than any other setting, it allows the personality of the musician to come out-- only John Zorn could play the reed parts on this, only Eugene Chadbourne's sort of broken guitar lines could exist in this setting. There are moments of stunning power on these records, usually when the band's interaction takes off-- take 3 around 19:00 for a good 2-3 minutes is fantastic for example, ditto for about 30 seconds at 9:00 on take 4 or the nearly psychic interaction between Zorn and Chadbourne at about 1:30 or take 1, or the string interplay at around 1:45 broken up by Zorn's squeals in take 2, but because the piece is based around short events, there's not a whole lot of time for development. In some ways, the twins version, with a smaller band, works better-- Ackley in particular seems particularly well suited to engaging Zorn, although again, it can be frustrating because there is no coherent structure.

Conceptually, the game pieces as a rule are interesting, and I actually find "Lacrosse", even as bizarre as its structure is, to be quite an engaging and interesting listen, but if you're not a fan of extremely abstract music, even for Zorn, this is not for you.

John Zorn. Nobody melds esoterica and raw, unapologetic juvenility quite like he. "Lacrosse" is a good instance of this. This is the only of the "game" discs that I've heard from Zorn, so I have to admit up front, my context isn't all-encompassing. What I can definitely say about this pair of discs is that they are simultaneously fun, and inaccessible. Which is to say the interplay between various instruments, acoustic and electronic, making funny noises back and forth and enjoying the occasional, feverish, uncoordinated improvisational outburst, is fun to listen to -- but this alone is what makes up the two full-length discs. To the Zorn-uninitiated, this is 2 CDs of random goofy noises. To the Zorn-initiated, this is 2 CDs of random goofy noises, but doesn't that make you think about what music really is anyway?

The liner notes, which are reasonably extensive and generally very interesting, will certainly have you asking yourself that question. The extent to which the recorded material supplements the would-be profundity of those questions is a somewhat different matter.

I never know quite what to think of Zorn. Generally I like him, and generally, I like "Lacrosse." But usually in small doses, and not usually with the delusion that this is genuinely as fun for Zorn's listeners as it is for him and his associates.

John Zorn's Naked City was one of the most extraordinary bands, having covered more ground than certainly anything I've ever heard. And while they're best known for their hardcore miniatures and arrangements of material as diverse as Ornette Coleman, John Barry and Henry Mancini (all of which was featured on their debut album, Naked City), each release by the band seemed to document some new facet, "Leng Tch'e" being no exception, although in this case, the ground covered is a grinding, pulsing and fierce slab of avant-grindcore.

The album consists of one track-- a sprawling beat of a piece stretching just over half an hour consisting of an extended exposition that builds to the explosive climax and dies down in a slow fade. "Leng Tch'e" is translated as "slow slicing" or the "death by a thousand cuts", a form of Chinese torture apparently used for execution. Zorn's goal was to represent this musically, and the result is brutal.

Driven by a feedback wail from guitarist Bill Frisell, the piece begins as a slow, throbbing monstrosity, building to a boil driven by the rhythm section (particularly drummer Joey Baron, who interjects passages of fierce percussive assaults throughout). About fifteen minutes in, the piece builds to a head and Zorn on alto and Yamantaka Eye on vocals scream together, a brutal, fierce wail from both of them, pretty much nonstop for a good ten minutes or so before the tension releases, albeit just to more tension.

Is this one for everyone? Probably not. It is a bit much and can be a bit overwhelming, and certainly it is a musical representation of pretty much legendary brutality, and it achieves its goal in that regard. Some folks will love this, myself included, it's undeniably powerful music.

A quick note-- this recording is rather hard to find in its original release and is more readily available paired with "Torture Garden" on Black Box [Torture Garden/Leng Tch'e] or as part of the band's The Complete Studio Recordings.

Ok John Zorn is very very talented and he has tried our patience with a lot of really hard-core stuff but this is really dismal. He should be ashamed of himself. Even Arto Lindsay, after years of tasteful music has returned to the horrble stuff he did with DNA. Avoid.

Locus Solus is one of the more difficult projects in John Zorn's catalog-- the concept is essentially improvised rock music, including the lyrics, Zorn is joined by guitarist/vocalist Arto Lindsay and drummer Anton Fier for this set. There must be some rules for the improvisation as Zorn has been categorizing this as a game piece, but the music's construction shows little in the way of pattern that I can recognize (maybe it'd be more apparent seeing it live, which I haven't done). Generally, one musician starts each piece, stretching up to five minutes of length (though commonly much shorter), and the others join in. The high level of musicianship on this recording allows such an abstract concept as bringing heavy improv and lack of structure into a rock idiom to work at least reasonably well.

Most of the pieces are injected with quite a bit of humor, in both the interaction between the musicians and the vocals from Lindsay-- musically, Fier tends to lay down rock style backbeats over which Lindsay splatters any number of chords and Zorn wails, occasionally yielding from noise into coherent lines. With his extensive vocabulary on the instrument, he's able to pretty seemlessly blend in between Lindsay and Fier. But this shouldn't be taken as serious music per se, these guys are clearly having a blast putting this together, and it shows, the structure and the pieces are pretty goofy. Now mind you, there's some great moments ("Doll Moment" has a fantastic groove and some great playing from al parties, "This Year's Skirts" is bizarrely genius), but for the most part, its a fun record thats kind of a throwaway. I really enjoyed it on first listen, but its not really something I find myself reaching for frequently.

... it might sound like this! In September 2003, during the month-long celebration of John Zorn's music, Zorn staged one of his wildest game pieces: Locus Solus. Twenty years earlier, he came up with the idea --- Zorn, a drummer, and one other musician improvise hardcore rock and roll. There are no rules. The music is fast, loud, and chaotic. The lyrics are made up on the spot. Nothing is repeated or written down.

Locus Solus would be a self-indulgent waste if these guys were serious about it. But it's all for fun. On this CD, Zorn teams up with Anton Fier (drums) and Arto Lindsay (guitar and vocals). They make the audience laugh as they hammer away, screech, and babble. The moment they start to lock together into a groove of some kind, they skitter away and start improvising in a new direction. It's frustrating but fun. If you've never heard Zorn before, don't start here. If you want something completely crazy and loud, this is your album.

Apart from having to admit that I grew up with Kurt Weill and memorized the Three Penny Opera by the age of 5 (OK, I had unusual parents for the time!), this is really one of Hal Willner's (the producer) greatest concept albums ever. He is responsible for turning many stars onto Kurt Weill's music and lyrics-Marianne Faithful, Lou Reed (I think. . .), etc. Can't believe it's not on CD and glad I still have my vinyl and record player. Hal Wilner also produces amazing live shows, in LA I've seen a couple of Halloween Edgar Allan Poe events with great performers, turned me onto Anthony years ago. Follow Hal, study Weill!