John Zorn Music

Eccezionali esecuzioni e ottime musiche per uno dei migliori album Masada.
P.S.: piace anche a Pietro, e se non è una garanzia questa...

"The Unknown Masada" is the third in the Masada Tenth Anniversary series of releases, and like the previous volume ("Voices in the Wilderness") is an anthology of different performers doing Masada tunes. The difference here is that whereas that last volume consisted of performances of previously recorded songs from the Masada songbook, this volume consists of previously unrecorded pieces.

Like "Voices in the Wilderness", this record suffers from a sort of inconsistency induced upon it by having a dozen tracks by a dozen different artists-- the material is all at worse listenable and at best highly enjoyable. Several of the cuts really impressed me, Yoshida Tatsua's "Shofetim" is a sort of prog rock meets Masada sound, with overblown organs and a great synth solo. Julian Kytasty's solo bandura perforamnce ("Kadmut") is quite impressive (although its an instrument I'm largely unfamiliar with, so I can't speak to specifics about the performance), its a delicate an quiet arrangement that recalls the best of the "Masada Guitars" sort of sound, plus it contrasts nicely with the followup-- the Fantomas arrangement "Zemaraim"-- sludgy death metal take on a Masada theme. Its certainly destined not to be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it.

And there's a couple pieces where some element stands out-- Rashanim's "Olamin" is a pretty standard performance by the, but is saved by Matthias Kunzli's inspired and superb drumming, and Jamie Saft's "Zarach" is full of interesting ideas, finding a home between trance, dub, and jazz, but is mangled for me by an irritating sample. And as one would suspect, some of the performances were a bit disappointing-- I found Erik Friedlander's "Kinyan" a bit overarranged and busy, and while Dave Douglas and John Zorn sound to be having a good deal of fun on "Veheul", its not a particularly inspired take and seems to work hard to avoid falling into a Masada (the band) cliche.

In the end, this isn't a really essential compilation. The standout tracks make it worth having for anyone who exlores Masada's music, but its not one that comes off my racks very often.

Following two great "new arrangement" Masada albums (Masada Guitars and Voices in the Wilderness), John Zorn brings in another large group of musicians to play their interpretations of the Masada songbook. But this time, they're playing songs no one has heard before. On the other albums, you could compare the new arrangement to the original version on one of the ten studio albums. This time it's all new.

The music is fun, fast, and more rock and roll than previous Masada albums. Heavy bands like Ruins and Fantomas plow through these klezmer tunes at high speeds. If you want to get into Zorn's eclectic klezmer music, this is a good place to start. Longtime fans will love it, too.

The third in a series celebrating John Zorn's 10 year anniversary of his Masada ensemble, The Unknown Masada may go the furthest afield yet. Where the previous tribute CD, Voices in the Wilderness, made an attempt to expand the sonic possibilities of previously documented Masada tunes, this album reveals both unrecorded compositions and drastically different ensembles.

Where Voices in the Wilderness utilized a variety of groups to perform Zorn's klezmer tinged jazz pieces, most of those ensembles were either primarily acoustic in nature or more overtly improvisational in their execution. This album, on the other hand, features tunes that have been rarely performed by any of Zorn's various Masada ensembles, if only because most of these pieces are more compositionally intricate.

Dave Douglas' piece is exemplary of the albums best features. Not only does it feature an expanded variation on the classic Masada group (including Zorn himself no less) it has enough tricky time changes and stellar solo spots to make the album worth owning for this cut alone. Interpretations by the likes of Erik Friedlander, Naftule's Dream, and Eyvind Kang mingle with lesser known, but equally talented artists.

The only weak spots lie in the more rock oriented material, which comes of as overly arranged and less freewheeling. Both Fantomas and Yoshida Tatsuya (from the Ruins) contribute tracks that often sound merely like distorted Middle-Eastern chord changes pounding away into oblivion. These however are the exception to a highly varied album whose merits outweigh its flaws.

Simultaneously solves two difficult problems . . .

. . . That of the limited range of klezmer music, and that of the stylistic incoherence of anthologies. The first by employing the widest possible variety of performers--everything from The Fantomas purveying klezmer thrash to Julian Kytasty playing solo bandura; from the Medieval-sounding "Shagal," performed on oud, fiddle, ceterina d'amore, and accordion with vocals, to "Demai," featuring Wadada Leo Smith and Ikue Mori. The second by performing all John Zorn compositions. Thus, the annoying sameness of much of klezmer is overcome by such a shocking variety of musicians, while the problem of anthological diffuseness is conquered by focusing on the music of a single composer. The results, it must be admitted, are pretty spectacular: a huge range of aural soundscapes, mercurial, constantly shifting sonic palettes, top-notch artists bridging what would seem like impossibly variegated musical styles. The closest comparison I can think of is that wonderful disc Africa Straight Ahead, which does something similar for African acoustic jazz (though the two disc, of course, sound nothing alike).

Let me come clean for a moment. Although I've come to greatly respect and admire John Zorn's Tzadik label, with such fabulous discs as Susie Ibarra's Songbird Suite, Mephista's Entomological Reflections, Jenny Scheinman's Shalagaster, Tim Sparks's At the Rebbe's Table, Cyro Baptista's Vira Loucas, Marc Ribot's Scelsi Morning, R. J. Rodriguez's El Danzon de Moises, I haven't much cared for Zorn's music in the past. My main objection has been that I detect too much of the mannered and ironic about him. For jazz music to succeed, it needs to operate out of genuine appreciation and appropriation, not cool distance. It's ironic that the artists on his label often seem to do a better job of pulling this off than he himself does.

Bottom line: I guess Tzadik's kinda like ECM; it doesn't always work, but when it does, it works wonders. As it does here. Eminently worth picking up.

This is a terrific CD. From Webern to John Lurie, to John Zorn's wild "Forbidden Fruit," to a stunning rendition of Barber's Adagio in it's original String Quartet form, this album rocks. Okay, probably not the most appropriate description of a string quartet album, but it does--it rocks. I think this is my favorite recording of the Barber Adagio. Some challenging pieces, but for anyone that loves contemporary classical music, this is a great set.

I love the Kronos. I love their pluck and their popularity with a young audience. I love them for opening ears to contemporary music. But sometimes I wish they'd prove that they can get less edgy when the music calls for it. Sometimes I hear them forcing the music bar by bar and missing whatever unity the whole piece should have.

On this CD, the weakest performances are Arvo Part's Fratres, which doesn't want to be overinterpreted, and Anton Webern's Six Bagatelles, which isn't and shouldn't sound like minimalism. Lots of other quartets have recorded the Webern, in case you want to compare.

The best performances, IMHO, are Aulis Sallinen's brief and beautiful Winter Was Hard, and Alfred Schnittke's Quarter #3. Frankly I didn't expect the Kronos to handle Schnittke well, but they do. In fact, this is the best Schnittke I've ever heard, and worth the price of the whole CD.

The Terry Riley piece reminds me of the title of William Faulkner's most famous novel.

John Zorn's Forbidden Fruit is probably a durian, an acquired taste; I'd say the Kronos does it well...if I were sure what "well" might be. Unlike other reviewers, I find the Barber Adagio unconvincing; should it sing more or should it sob?

This is a fairly early Kronos disk, recorded when Joan Jeanrenaud was still the cellist of the quartet. It's certainly a performance well worth hearing and keeping in your collection, even if some of the tracks need to be skipped. And if you ever have a chance to hear the Kronos live, jump at it! They have wonderful stage presence.

I think this album should recieve 5 stars. I think this because Forbidden Fruit by Zorn is a great piece of music which everyone should be familiar with. He quotes some great stuff in the work...among other things an excerpt from Beethoven's Grosse Fugue for String quartet. The rest of the music on this CD is fantastic. I feel the reviewer below gave three stars due to a inability to understand Zorn. But if you don't fall under that category or if you are willing to listen and be openminded I reccomend this CD without reserve

This album was my introduction to the Kronos Quartet. It is as good an introduction as I've heard. It illustrates both the positive and negative aspects of this talented quartet.

Some of the works on this recording are quite wonderful. Most exciting to me is the excerpt from Terry Riley's Salome Dances for Piece. The movement is exciting and stunningly played. It is also interesting to compare the version here with the version on the Kronos' recording of the complete work. If you listen to them side by side you can hear the extent of improvisation in the work. The most interesting thing is that, despite the improvisations, the work has a similar impact in each version.

Other gems on the CD include the Salonen title track, the Piazolla pieces, and a passionate reading of the Barber Adagio, perhaps the best I've ever heard. The Kronos also does a fine job with the Webern, though the competition here is much more fierce. And they also do a great job with the Schnittke Quartet, though I have always found the Russian composer's work hard to get close to.

Some of the other pieces are less successful. The quartet version of the Part Fratres is not bad, but does not have the impact of the all cello version. The Jon Lurie piece is a throwaway. And I have never understood the world's fascination with John Zorn. Just don't get it.

All in all, this is a good introduction to the work of the Kronos and most interesting for an alternate version of a major score by Terry Riley. But it's not a must have.

John Zorn is a musician whose force of personality is stamped clearly on anything he touches-- any project Zorn becomes involved in is more a part of his idiom than anyone else.

But there's some early recordings where this isn't the case, where Zorn was still developing his vocabulary and his sounds, where he was still the "game piece" guy rather than anything else. "Yankees", recorded in 1982, is just one of those pieces-- still playng an assortmetn of reeds and game calls and before any of his classic albums were completed, its little wonder that Zorn's personality is somewhat subsumed beneath the elder Derek Bailey.

This trio (Bailey on guitars, Zorn on reeds, George Lewis on trombone) exists largely inside Bailey idiom-- the scratching, scraping, and meandering and vast use of space that Bailey's music has at its best is apparent here, and the three play improvisations in these regards. At its best, its evokes imagery more powerful than one would believe possible-- "City City City" FEELS like a walk down a city block, but at its worst, its feels like nothing ("On Golden Pond").

I suspect Bailey fans would be more interested in this than zorn fans-- for myself, Derek Bailey's music appeals to me more from a theoretical than an actual standpoint. Its a decent listen, but I doubt I'll ever pull it out of my racks more than once or twice a year.

Sorry, this is of the Listen-Proof variety to me. I've got around 30 Zorn albums, but sold this one.

If you like his really, really difficult music, then you might go for this one. It's improv, and there's little structured musical content here. Not hardcore--just not pleasurable.

Excellent collective improvisation by Derek Bailey,guitars,George Lewis,trombone,John Zorn,altro and soprano saxophones,clarinets, and game calls.Imagine a baseball team playing with no manager, but all of the players knowing what to do by a wonderful intuition and knowledge of the game, translate that into music (if you can) and you'll have this splendid music.tThe 3 musicians are masters and magicians in their field. Highly recomended for open minded and adventurous listeners. J.L.