John Zorn Music

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.

It seems that every so often, there comes along a record thats en vogue to bash-- "Downtown Lullaby" is one of them. Improvised wholly in the studio by four of the most well known musicians on the downtown New York scene, the record has a quality often not found in the majority of the work of these four-- it's loose.

Each song is named after the address of a loft space from the '70s (where no doubt these guys first played together, and the pieces are fun and open, infuences and sounds come in and out. One thing that's somewhat unexpected (and I think this may be the reason the record is criticized) is that it has a tendency to fall into structures and order that belies its all improv nature. When you hear the notion of John Zorn improvised in the studio, you think of htat sort of wake the neighbors fierceness that he can be known for, but that's not what this is.

What it is though is still a good record, and it sounds like a lot of fun, with funky beats ("484 Broome"), middle eastern minimalist vibe ("228 West Broadway") and yeah, even an occasional moment where someone (and that someone seems to usually be zorn) comes totally unglued with fantastic results ("500 West 52nd").

It's not a masterpiece, no, and it's not likely to make the top of anyone's rotation, but its a good album. Check it out sometime, you might be surprised.

Who else thinks "A Ride on Cottonfair" belongs on a Vince Guaraldi album of Peanuts tunes? Listen to the sample, and Dig Charlie and Linus bobbing along...Lame, huh?

I hate to say it, but lately it seems that John Zorn's been going off the rails a little bit. It no doubt started when 1996's Bar Kokhba (chamber reworkings of the Masada songbook) became Tzadik's best seller. It was indeed a fantastic album, but what followed was album after album with a similar flavour - the last dozen or so Filmworks, The Circle Maker, the Masada anniversary series, etc. And of course 2001's The Gift - similar in lineup to the Masada chamber ensembles but a different vibe, more surf, latin, lounge and exotica.

The Dreamers follows in a similar vein, though without that hint of 'darkness' that The Gift had. To be honest I'm a bit torn about this album. On one hand it sounds great, as all Zorn's albums do. And it's hard to fault any of the performances. But the compositions are just so repetitive and one-dimensional, there's really nothing to 'explore' like in most of Zorn's output.

It kind of feels like everything's on autopilot, and it lacks the meticulous arrangements of the past. "Anulikwutsayl" could have been a highly atmospheric ambient piece but it gets disrupted by basically everyone in the band banging on things at inappropriate moments. There is a beautiful mood created on "Forbidden Tears", but Jamie Saft really fumbles through his Rhodes solo (and one also wonders if he maybe should have taken his keyboard in for a checkup before the session, there are some really out notes there!).

Zorn features on one track, the playful "Toys". It's a fun tune, but the solos are ridiculously noisy and random, and ultimately this piece probably doesn't fit on what is otherwise a very laid back album (though I am aware that despite this being a quite 'easy listening' album, Zorn is still Zorn and never likes to settle into a pattern for too long).

So all in all it's not an absolutely terrible album, but Zorn can do so much better. 2 and a half stars...

If nothing else, John Zorn is a man of stunningly diverse interests. While generally thought of as the enfant terrible of modern music, Zorn's influences include not just avant-garde masters of various forms from Kagel to Ayler to early Napalm Death, but this is the same guy who stated on NPR that, "Dick Dale... is welcome to ANYBODY'S Bar Mitzvah". "The Dreamers", in the tradition of The Gift, is an exploration not of Zorn's avant-garde passions, but of his commercial ones. Performed by the musicians from Electric Masada-- Marc Ribot (guitar), Jamie Saft (keys), Kenny Wollesen (vibes), Trevor Dunn (bass), Joey Baron (drums) and Cyro Baptista (percussion) with the composer sitting in on his alto sax on one track-- Zorn weaves together a mix of surf, Hawaiian, exotica, film scores, jazz and probably half a dozen more subtle influences. The resulting stew, expertly executed by the band, proves to be a superb listen.

Right from the start, it's clearly going to be Ribot who's the star of this one, particularly on the first half of the record, and really this is no surprise-- Ribot eats this kind of stuff up, providing delicate lyricism (Hawaiian tinged "Mow Mow"), bleak, wailing guitar over an extended performance with stunning use of space ("Anulikwutsayl") and fierce energy that boils over when prodded by the composition ("Of Wonder and Certainty"). Along the way, Zorn also serves up a great sing-song piece ("Toys", the only piece on which Zorn actually performs-- stating the theme and serving up the only real slice of skronk while he wails over free association from Saft and Wollesen), a great funk/blues workout ("Exodus", another great workout for Ribot) and even a chance for Saft to show off how lyrical he can be on the Rhodes ("Nekashim"). When closer "Raksasa" finishes up its rolling atmospherics, you'll probably find yourself either restarting the disc or reaching for The Gift to hear more like it.

While this isn't going to appeal to Zorn's entire audience-- certainly there's those who really want to hear the skronk all the time, "The Dreamers" really is a superb effort and a nice change of pace from Zorn. Highly recommended.

I liked this one a lot. It takes the time to explore the group's sound and isn't as scattershot as were The Gift, Taboo & Exile, or Music For Children. The band gets an absolutely wicked groove going on "Exodus." Certainly fans of Zorn's more outrageous material might find this a bit tame, but it's also a sort of all-killer, no filler Zorn - a good point of entry. Marc Ribot and Joey Baron are outstanding on this album.

John Zorn's "The Dreamers" is a delightfully lyrical and poetic journey through instrumental fairy tales from the Electric Masada all-stars. Album opener "Mow Mow" sets the tone for a marvellous dream-like tour into a mesmeric world of exotica music. Listen for Jamie Saft's piano via "A Ride On Cottonfair", John Zorn's alto-sax on "Toys", both Marc Ribot's guitar and Kenny Wollesen's vibes on "Of Wonder And Certainty". "The Dreamers" is a varied and vibrant release perfect for fans who fell in love with John Zorn's "The Gift". Tzadik's incredible artwork for this album also features a sheet of sixteen collectable character stickers in a stunning CD package.

this recording can best be described as chamber music, a tribute to a couple of french artists, marguerite duras, author, and marcel duchamp, conceptual artist, in his case, his last work, etant donnes.

the piece, duras, is as much a tribute to french composer, olivier messiaen, as duras, so expect to hear bird sounds and stretches evocative of messiaen's quartet for the end of time. during the first book (premiere livre) anthony coleman on piano introduces a melody that is a variation of billy strayhorn's lush life. other personnel: mark feldman and cenovia cummins on violins, john medeski on organ, and christine bard and jim pugliese on percussion instruments.

etant donnes, 69 paroxysms for marcel duchamp, is given almost completely to the percussionists, listen for the birds, the shattering glass, shoveling, hammering, water trickling. duchamp, a conceptualist, who abandoned the canvas pretty much became a workman, a craftsman, and the noises, identifiable to a worksite or small factory, contextual to duchamp's projects, are captured by zorn. personnel on etant donnes are feldman on violin, erik friedlander on cello and the percussion chores handled by jim pugliese.

both pieces are composed and conducted by john zorn.

modern music, highly enjoyable.

"Duras: Duchamp" is John Zorn's composed tribute to writer/filmmaker Marguirite Duras and artist Marcel Duchamp. "Duras" is a suite presented in four movements, "Etant Donnes" is described as "69 paroxysms for Marcel Duchamp". Both fall in the field of Zorn's longform composed works.

"Duras" is performed by a sextet of violinists Mark Feldman and Cenovia Cummins, keyboardists Anthony Coleman (on piano) and John Medeski (on organ), and percussionists Christine Bard and Jim Pugliese. The first movement opens with pairings and trios performing brief snatches of melody, first piano supported by organ, then organ and triangle, then vibes, then very quiet violins, and so on. This sort of passing around of melody and sound continues for the length of the first movement (about 15 minutes). By and large, its remarkably coherent and satisfying-- one gets the impression it's by and large the same themes you're hearing, just contorted drastically, because even though they don't sound the same, there's an enormous sense of unity.

This becomes more apparent in the remainder of the piece-- the second movement, performed by violins and percussion, feels a bit more fractured but coherent (and more in line with Zorn's classical work), but the third movement really finds the piece settling down. Organ and solo violin maintain drones under which an occasional swirl of percussion emerges-- it's really quite a pretty and moving thing, similar in feeling to the work of Brian Eno, and its sense of melancholy and foreboding keeps hearing essentially the same thing over and over again engaging. The piece's brief final movement finds a hazy backdrop over which aggressive violin solos-- more direct and melodic then virtually anything on here, recalling Harold Budd's work. In the end, you're left with a rather fractured portrait of Duras-- someone I'm afraid I know little about, but who is painted by Zorn as evocative and moody.

"Etant Donnes" is a reflection of its subject-- performed by a trio of Feldman, Erik Friedlander (cello), and Pugliese, it is by and large a reflection of its subject-- percussion, scratches, fractured string breaks, and so on-- indeed as Zorn stated, it seems to be 69 brief moments composing the 13+ minute track. Given Marcel Duchamp's place in art history (from Cubism to Dada-- he was the one who drew the moustache on a copy of the Mona Lisa to composition of artwork with found objects), this sort of fractured and associative composition works. While it's not the thing of lovely beauty and rewarding interplay that many of Zorn's composed pieces are, it is nonetheless entertaining and rewarding in its own right.

Bottom line-- "Duras: Duchamp" is a fine record. Recommended.

Although this album has five tracks, it has only two songs. The first song, dedicated to M. Duras, is played in four movements (and indexed that way on the CD). The movements come in pairs: a long one followed by a brief coda, then another long one with a coda. The music flows so well that you don't notice these little details. The piece is played with piano, light percussion, and strings. The musicians play subtle, gentle sounds. You'll hear a little melody, then some drumming, and then the sound of birds chirping in the background. Then a violin quietly comes in . . . and drifts away. One sound fades as another begins. This is one of John Zorn's most enigmatic ambient compositions. If you hear it twice, you'll be hooked.

The final track is a 13-minute tribute to M. Duchamp. For this "song," Zorn "plays" all kinds of objects. He smacks blocks of wood together, pounds a nail, drops coins into a dish, etc. He even gurgles into a mug and then coughs. This might sound kind of stupid, but it actually works in a weird way. It's not music, but it does feel *composed*.

I recommend this album to anyone who enjoys avant-garde classical music, and anyone who wants to explore John Zorn's non-jazz, non-noise music. If you're in an adventurous mood and have a good sense of humor, you'll like it.

From all those who like surrealism, it is a must! Never heard anything like that before!!This time Zorn went so far that it really changed the way I compose my pieces.

John Zorn has made a career out of stylistic diversity. His musical intellect is mecurial and cannot be kept within a few projects or styles, but instead jumps around from style to style and records the results obsessively. This can make pinning him down dearly impossible, but makes each new release you hear an adventure.

Duras/Duchamp falls into the broad genre of studio compositions. Zorn's studio compositions are often an interesting mix of chamber music sensibility, electronic effects, collage techniques, and improvisations which often sound as if they were the soundtrack to some imaginary film. In this way they can be similar to Zorn's actual film work. But they are more formally composed than Zorn's film music, with less reliance on cartoon music montage and more sustained moods. As such I find the studio pieces to be among Zorn's most polished and satisfying work.

The long work on this disc is Duras. Named for the engimatic novelist (was she a heroine of the French resistance or a Nazi collaborator? The world may never know for sure.) who's most famous book The Lover, is one of the most disturbing erotic novels in history, Duras is a multimovement work. It generates most of it's effect through rather traditional means. But for a few "found sounds" on tape, the work could be a concert hall piece. It stays at a low level throughout, giving it some relation to ambient music, but it's details are much more interesting. It is not a loop piece, but genuinely through composed and compelling.

Duchamp is a bit more dadaist in conception. Much of the work could be described as Satie run through a distorting mirror as heard by a guy on a bad acid trip. If this sounds weird, it is. And that's what makes it compelling listening. Zorn rarely goes for a listeners comfort level and this piece pleases and disturbs in equal measure.

I've listened to this disc now several times and the work on it grow more compelling with each hearing. This is definately one of Zorn's high water marks.

Locus Solus was John Zorn's attempt at rock music-- Zorn states in his liner notes that he thought at the time (rather foolishly by his own admission) that this record would be successful, but the music here is totally bizarre (admittedly, compared to his previous records as a leader, the game pieces and an album of solo sax/game calls performances, these are positively commercial). These recordings consist of five bands, all featuring Zorn, which I'll discuss indepedently. When I first heard this, I hated it-- something must have changed, because as I listened to this today for this review, I find myself enjoying it much more. Conceptually, this is improvised rock music, but it ignores the grammar of rock-- the sort of repitious nature, foundation on basslines, etc. The result is essentially short, loud, aggressive songs.

The first band on these recording consists of Peter Blegvad on spoken word vocals, Christian Marclay on "phonograph and recycled records" and Zorn on reeds and gamecalls. The music is pretty chaotic, seemingly random shifting backgrounds appear and disappear over which Zorn squeals and wails, growls and grunts, showing off much of the technique so greatly exposed in "The Classic Guide to Strategy", and Blegvad intones his lyrics. The disjoint nature of the music leads to it being largely unfulfilling although somehow it works out ok, and certainly I've never heard, before or since, anything quite like this.

The second and third band, featuring Arto Lindsay on guitar and vocals (then most recently of DNA), Anton Fier or Mark Miller on drums, and Zorn, works a lot better. Lindsay embraces Zorn's cartoon music concept, whether intentionally or not, and he drags the music into a no wave vein that suits it pretty well. And having a drummer present provides a more concrete rhythmic structure, even if pieces like "Getting Curly" do better because of the lack of cohesive rhythms. Zorn's playing is aggressive and largely amelodic, again with his technique being at the forefront and great support from Lindsay and Fier, who embrace his methods well and seem to "get" many of the elements informing Zorn's playing better than Marclay did. Admittedly, sometimes it gets annoying ("Smooth Cheeks of a Big Ego"), but for the most part, this music is fantastic ("Add Water", "You Rang?", "Dot Dot, Dot").

In the next group, Zorn is joined by Wayne Horvitz (keys) and Ikue Mori (drums). With Mori, the drum parts open up a bit more, her emphasis is on toms and Horvitz assumes a much more atmospheric air for Zorn to solo over-- the result is that this sounds like an electronica experiment more than anything else, and while it is quite compelling, it often feels like Zorn is on a different page than Horvitz and Mori. Still, when they are in sync ("Jedi Mind Trick"), the results are nothing short of brilliant.

The last formation presented here features Zorn, Whiz Kid on turntables, and Miller on drums and vocals, and if such a thing is feasible after having heard the rest, this is bar none the least commercial formation-- Miller's drums propel the pieces and are largely much more beat-oriented than the other Locus Solus pieces, but his vocal and Zorn's sax rail away wrecklessly. Whiz Kid's contributions appear to be largely turntable scratches, and he adds an even further percussive element, giving these pieces a sort of deranged hip hop feel, if nothing else noteworthy for its particularly aggressive nature-- songs like "The Violent Death of Dutch Schultz" live up to that title.

This is some really out and difficult music, and I don't suspect it'll make sense right away, but there is some great stuff here that will work in your head over time. Don't look here early on in listening to Zorn, but as you start to understand his work better, check this one out.

A set of trios, free-floating through time. I mean that, if you used this as a blindfold test record, no one would know the time period of the music. This is a good thing! It's timeless, but not in the way commonly meant. The music seems free of both any past and tradition and also any future that could come out of it, sort of a unique archeological document.

The CD consists of short, totally free improvisations by a handful of different Zorn led trios. Each has a unique quality and sound, and each has a different style, ranging from complete mutual support to quite a bit of productive conflict. The sound of the CD . . . if you know what free improvisation is like, then you'll get it, and appreciate that absolute wackiness and humor in some of the cuts. If your curious about the music, and already appreciate Zorn or the extremes of rock and jazz, give it a try. It will amaze your friends!

The years of the recording, the style of the music, and the contributors on these pieces can only lead up to one possible conclusion: Zorn made a No Wave album.

In New York in the late 70's and into the early 80's there was a rapid growth out of the punk movement that became much more selective in it's audience due to the extreme discord and cacophony of their creations. This lovable art form, headed by bands such as Suicide and Ikue Mori and Arto Lindsay's (both contributes on this album) band DNA.

Zorn picked up on this style during his early phase, which, I basically think is when he was trying to find his path as an artist, and with all of the other bands that were performing this completely erratic style of music, felt that not only would this be a great genre to experiment within, but also, as he mentions in the liner notes "music that would one day be in the Top 40."

Sadly, for Zorn and all No Wave bands, the style never caught on and to this day remains a relatively underground form of music. (It is now known mostly as NO(W) Wave, and has moved it's scene from New York to Chicago where many independent labels, such as Skin Graft Records, continue to specialize in the style) and Zorn moved on to much greater heights to eventually find his completely unique voice.

This is not one of the best Zorn albums out there, but it is one of the greatest displays of No Wave that has ever been pressed. So Zorn fans might decide to dabble in it, mainly because Zorn fans, even when he is doing something they may not like, can appreciate him doing it. But if you are a No Wave fan, I cannot recommend this album enough.

In his liner notes for this disc, at one point, when he was making this sort of music -- relatively EARLY in his recording career -- Zorn confesses that he thought this type of music would be on top 40 radio at some point in the future. He admits to having no idea what he could have been thinking, acknowledging now that this is STRANGE stuff indeed. The title of the project is perfect -- a solitary place, a locus solus. Not many people have occupied musical territory as odd as this, or are likely to want to. All that said, I really have to disagree about the "noise-core" comments of other reviewers. This is definitely weird stuff, but noise it isn't; there are clearly compositional choices being made throughout each piece, and while they often bend, spindle, and mutilate our expectations in a perversely gleeful way, the disc never departs into anything *I* would consider noise (but then, I think GROUND ZERO PLAYS STANDARDS is a pretty accessable pop album, BASICALLY). I forget exactly who Zorn's collaborators are for this one -- Arto Lindsay, I believe, and Peter Blegvad both pop up. I think it's as user-friendly an example of "early, difficult Zorn" as one is likely to find -- much more listenable and fun than the PARACHUTE YEARS stuff, f'rinstance. Oh, and Mr. Bungle fans might note that one piece on this disc is "Disco Volante" -- assumedly where Bungle drew their inspiration from.

This is possibly the most difficult Zorn album to listen to. It's really John Zorn's noise core album which, in actuality, is a prime example of the genre but not for everyone. You really have to have a love for experimental music in order to appreciate this album, otherwise you'll never get it. For most people it sounds like random noise, but I highly suggest this album for the hardcore experimental music fan. I warn you though, this is a tuff one.

elegy is an appropriate title for this recording where flutes and a viola combine for somber erotic tense tones. the cd is separated in four parts, each part named after a color, blue, yellow, pink, black. the music is brash, subtle and erotic, with a brief segment during the pink selection of sounds, screams followed by moans of release and exhaustion, associated with some sadomasochistic homosexual act. since the experience is aural and not visual, if you want, you can imagine the act as heterosexual, many acts labeled homosexual are activities heterosexual couples and groups engage in as well. however, this what zorn describes as `a fragile world of shadows, an underground where erotic perversion, flowers and crime exist ... a tribute to one of my seminal heroes ... .' zorn is referring to jean genet, of course, criminal and, yes, i guess, pervert, certainly a man with strong homoerotic inclinations. zorn also mentions `the colors of pornography', but here he's referring not to genet but pierre boulez, particularly his le marteau sans maitre, in relationship to the elegy to genet.

for listeners of zorn who may claim that he composes beautiful music only to insert ugly moments inside, elegy as a whole, choice of hero, linear artwork, excerpt from genet's writings, zorn's provocative statement, is a telling metaphor. more careful listening reveals familiar soundtracks for movies of the mind, elegy, a good erotic thriller, inspired by genet's film, chant d'amour, seen when zorn was about ten years of age, from the opening clanging evocative of manacles hammered in a stone wall and the sound of slow descent to a dungeon to the concluding a resonating gong, dogs barking in the distance and languid howl of wind instruments created by sound effects and percussion. john zorn is mesmerized by images experienced throughout his life, particularly during his preadolescent years, and his way of remembering those images, and conveying what he remembers, is by translating images into sound, post modern and eerie.

John Zorn's "Elegy" is a dark record in tribute to the works of Jean Genet. It is a "file card" composition-- I don't fully grasp how these work, but evidentally its some way for Zorn to create disparaging compositional elements and signal the musicians in real time which element to perform. The result, in this case, is what sounds like the soundtrack to a silent horror film-- it lurches, its haunted and dark.

One interesting thing is that for this one, Zorn worked outside his usual pool of musicians and instead used a bunch of west coast avant garde performers-- in this case "Barbara Chaffe (flutes), David Abel (viola), Trey Spruance (credited as Scummy, guitars), David Shea (turntables), David Slusser (sound effects), William Winant (percussion) and Mike Patton (voice). Since there's two guys from Mr. Bungle here, I'll state this now, don't expect this to sound like Bungle-- all the instruments, including Patton, are largely highlights-- the majority of the lead voicing is given over to the flute and viola. Patton in fact mostly moans, breathes, and occasionally screeches, but his presence is largely subdued.

Ultimately, the record is pretty difficult-- its a fairly oblique album, and it moves through a number of musical veins, from ambient/electronica to neoclassical to middle eastern and back again. Its somewhat more digestable in that the transitions in mood are largely logical, but the music itself is excessively difficult to get into as it largely seems to lack any foundation in standard compositional structures. Still, I find I enjoy this one more each time I listen to it.

I've got about 30 Zorn albums--I'd put this one around middle. It's got a definite unifying theme, and is very listenable though not particularly melodic.

But it's not one of the albums I gravitate to regularly--not as many opportunities for this kind of listening for me. Got to be active listening for this one--it's not background music.

The string sections are very nice and worth the whole thing, if the whole album were only consisting of such nice written work I would give it a 5 star, however the samplings and tapes on this album seems to be misplaced tossed in over a coffee break and placed there to fill out some gap, especially the ethnic ones, and they are most often insignificant to the whole structure, some sound effects and percussion are of interest but doesn't reach the heights that Zorn can produce. It's still an OK release but not the best of Zorn, yet not the worst either.

This is John Zorn's tribute to the art of Jean Genet. It's a "file card composition." Zorn studied the work of Genet and then wrote down every musical idea he could think of on file cards. He threw out the worst ideas and then laid out the remaining cards in an order that lets each idea balance the others. Then he gathered together musicians and vocalists to perform the composition. In the studio, he directs everyone, coming up with new ideas as they work, refining the ideas on the cards, and recording it so it sounds like one long song.

The result is breathtaking but subtle. On other file-card compositions (such as "Godard" and "Spillane"), the shifts from one idea to the next are abrupt. On this CD, the shifts are carefully blended. On the CD you hear: Arabian chants, flutes, turntable scratches, chains hitting the floor, echoing percussion, a few chords on a guitar, a slamming door, kettle drums, violin, cello, and gongs. Elegy is a mix of sound effects and music, and a mix of quiet and loud.

This CD is a good introduction to John Zorn's most experimental work. It's the sort of CD that should sound contrived or messy. But because of the way he organizes the sounds --- and the skill of the people who play each part --- it makes sense. Few albums are more rewarding after repeated listening. Although this CD will challenge you, I recommend you give it a try. If it's your first Zorn album, this will lead to many more.

A half-fulfilled album nestled in between Zorn's abrasive atonal trash jazz and his melodic Masada work, Euclid's Nightmare would not be worth seeking had it not been for the hand full of tracks that actually do feel deeper then rough experimental sketches. In telling fashion, compositions this duo jam past the one or two minute mark seem to hold most interest, letting Previte's deep sense of rhythmic drumming compliment the sax lines in much more convincing ways.

"Euclid's Nightmare" is an album of duets between drummer Bobby Previte and alto saxophonist John Zorn. The pair, who had played together extensively before this recording (in 1997), recorded 27 tracks worth of improvisations and (I suspect) compositions, with the majority working in the framework of being roughly a minute long. Interspersed between these minute improvisations are occasional themes.

Given the context of the record, it proves to be remarkably strong in its notion-- each piece is a little microcosm of sax and drum duet, covering a range of moods from nearly ambient (track 5) to boppish (tracks 6 and 22) to more frantic and freewheeling stuff (tracks 1, 17, 25 and many others). The interaction between the two is staggering-- on the more aggressively voiced material, Zorn tends to pave the trail and Previte lays the support and follows whereas on the more laid back material, Previte sets up a framework over which Zorn keens and moans.

All told, it's a fun album-- it doesn't quite reach the depth that many other records featuring these two does, but for fans of either musician, this is a worthwhile investment.

"Film Works XII: Three Documentaries" brings together three brief scores by John Zorn composed in 2002.

Six cues for "Homecoming: Celebrating Twenty Years of Dance at PS 122" open the disc. Recorded primarily by the composer at keyboards and glass harmonica with Mark Feldman (violin), Jennifer Charles (vocals) and Jamie Saft (wurlitzer) all contributing, the pieces are startlingly diverse. Zorn links three pieces to early minimalism although I hear more Brian Eno's early loop work in several pieces-- the cascading layered vocals of "Vocal Phase", with layered vocals (all from Charles) coming in and out of prominence and the circular organ riffs of "Midnight Flight" for example. Admittedly, tense "The Well Tuned Harmonica", where a sustained chord that sounds as if its designed to grate, does hint at the sort of late '60s minimalism, althoguh the remainder of the record is far too driven and, well, danceable to ever be though of in that way. This isn't a criticism-- the brief score is highly enjoyable, but an observation. Saft digs deep for the funky lines of "The Lips at Sway" and it's just a brilliant performance regardless of form.

The second score on here (and also with the most cues) is for the documentary "Shaolin Ulysses". A piece about Shaolin Monks settling in other parts of the world, Zorn chose to attempt to illustrate the placement of the monks in a foreign environment by attacking various forms of Western music, but with an Eastern lead voice. To this end, Zorn pits the pipa (often thought of as a Chinese lute) performed by virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen against a quartet featuring guitar virtuoso Marc Ribot supported by bassist Trevor Dunn and percussionists Roberto Rodriguez and Cyro Baptista. The results are nothing short of stunning, and prove to be among the best of Zorn's soundtrack work. Largely with Ribot providing a framework through a number of genres for Min to solo on top of, the pieces prove surprisingly diverse, tackling Spanish guitar traditions ("Shaolin Spirit"), bossa nova ("Shaolin Bossa"), Morriconesque pop ("Shaolin Family") and Eastern Asian traditions ("Temple Song"). Along the way, Zorn gives a percussion workout ("Kung Fu Percussion"), a couple delicate string duets ("the reprise of "Shaolin Spirit", "Nostalgia") and a piece bizarrely reminiscent of "La Bamba". In the end, it's really something to hear, simply fantastic work throughout.

The third score on here is four cues for "Family Found", a documentary about a man who built dolls to be his family evidentally. For this, Zorn wrote one theme and brought in cellist Erik Friedlander and vocalist Jennifer Charles to perform it in a number of variations. The theme is mournful and oddly hopeful, and goes a long way to reminding you that Zorn is capable of staggering beauty, in particular in the company of cellist Erik Friedlander.

Together, these three scores make for a fine record and this proves to be one of the most satisfactory entries in Zorn's catalog. Highly recommended.

This represents one of Zorn's stronger "Film Works" entries. All the compositions stand up outside the context of the film, and the bulk of the work from the ensemble including Marc Ribot and Cyro Baptista is wonderful. Ribot's acoustic blending with Chinese pipa is an inspired collaboration. Those who liked "The Circle Maker" should be happy with this collection.

this album touched me more deeply than almost any zorn album i own, aside from "duras:duchamp" and "aporias." surprisingly the only pieces i wasn't particularly fond of were the minimalist pieces (i am a great fan of minimalism, aside from the vocal phase, performed by jennifer charles. dance piece, with mark feldman on violin, is also enjoyable, even though it is one of the noisiest tracks on the album (aside from "kung fu percussion). the "shaolin ulysses" soundtrack is actually quite lovely; a collection of eastern-tinged bossa and jazz tunes. the highlights of these (in my opinion) are: shaolin mambo, shaolin spirit, and shaolin bossa (in all its permutations). the last film score on the album, "family found," is mesmerizing and beautiful. although there is essentially only one song here, the rhythm and melody are lovely, and complement each other...well, in my opinion, aside from the opening moments of duras, this is the most beautiful and mellifluous piece of music zorn has ever written. it bears similarities in mood to zorn's "untitled"(a tribute to joseph cornell), however the tonality of the piece here is much more straightforward. lovely, and jennifer charles' giggling voice is absolutely haunting.