John Zorn Music

I actually got this one through the library, thinking that I should borrow a copy before buying Zorn music. I needn't have worried. This cd, Filmworks 14, is very easy to listen to and exceptional. It's the soundtrack to the film 'Hiding and Seeking, faith and tolerance after the holocaust'. Soundtracks normally are boring to me, but this is an easy listen, at times jazzy and always soothing. Definitely a good cd to listen to while at work.

What really impressed me most of all was reading Zorn's liner notes. He wrote the music for this cd in a matter of a couple of hours and recorded the whole shooting match in one day. It takes a great deal of musical vision and talent to do something like that, and to pull it off so well. Keep in mind that Zorn does not perform on this cd, for that he's pulled together a very talented group of musicians.

After listening to this, I'd say my musical journey with John Zorn has just begun. 5 stars.

This is a very unagressive piece by Zorn, featuring Marc Ribot on acoustic guitar, Trevor Dunn on upright bass, and Cyro Baptista on percussion. Additional performances are made by Kenny Wolleson (vibes) and Ganda Suthivarakom (voice). The vocal is used to double the guitar lines on several tracks, and all tracks with vocal are included without as well (Orthodox Jews evidentally are not allowed to hear a woman sing in public, so for the movie, the vocals were not used).

The music is largely in the Masada songbook vein, with Dunn setting up circular grooves over which Ribot plays melodies and infrequently solos, much of it is theme variation. Beneath the strings, Baptista works his usual magic array of sounds.

This one has a nice feel of coherency and comes together really well-- rhythmically its quite hypnotic, and its a quiet, laid back recording, Ribot really shines, his playing is fantastic throughout. But while I really enjoy this one, I can't give it a five star rating because I tend to reserve that for Zorn's work which blows me away-- this is a really great, groove-oriented and somewhat breezy record, and you'll come back to it over and over, but its not engaging on the level of some of Zorn's other work.

For the dedicated Zorn fan, this soundtrack is boring but beautiful. For everyone else, it's something you should buy right away. Zorn has blended a dozen new klezmer melodies with a tinge of lounge music. (He calls it "Martin Denny from the Catskills.") The arrangements are spare but effective --- every song is played by guitar, vibes, bass, and percussion. Four of the songs have been re-recorded with Ganda Suthivarakom singing the melodies.

The songs are interrconnected by their tempo and Jewish folk themes, making the whole album sound like a single piece of music. The booklet contains a brief essay by Zorn and another by the makers of the documentary for which this soundtrack was recorded. The whole package is stylish and classy. I highly recommend this CD to anyone, even someone who isn't normally interested in John Zorn's music.

I just finished listening to this disc and i must say, i'm rather pleased with it. The melodies are really simple, and quite beautiful. Being a big fan of groups like Combustible Edison, and 'exotica' pioneers like Martin Denny, naturally i love the arrangement of vibes, bass, percussion and wordless female vocals. But, as stated by the other reviewer, the real draw here is the fantastic classical-style guitar work from Mr. Ribot - quite stunning. This is certainly not to say that the other musicians don't shine throughout the disc as well.
My only complaint (although this is something one must come to expect with 'exotica' music) is that just about all of the songs tend to have the same tempo and groove. That really isn't a big deal though.
All in all, a pretty solid recording - if 'Masada meets Martin Denny' sounds like an interesting combination to you, definately consider adding this to your list of next purchases.

Marc Ribot saves the day on this release. The music is (again) very Jewish and the songs sound the same as many of those done on previous Filmworks CD's, so don't get your hopes up for a spellbinding experience. It's a good disc to have but I was hoping for more. Try "Invitation to a Suicide" first, if you don't have it. More interesting and the musicians get to strech out a little more...

This soundtrack reminds of Zorn's THE GIFT, which by the way is also highly recomended. There are some nice bass and percussion grooves over which Zorn improvises melodically on electric piano. There are some hints of the Jewish melodies he uses for his Masada projects. The melodies are very enjoyable, as are the improvisations. The songs are relatively short, around 4-5 minutes each, and there is minimal interaction between the players. Zorn's piano playing is the center of attention, but dig the excellent bass-percussion grooves. I don't think this disc fully merits some of the rave reviews I've read, but I'm not sorry I bought it.

It could be that my expectations were for something else, but I largely did not find this soundtrack to be fulfilling. It could be that it didn't cover much new ground, and John Zorn is one who always covers new ground, or it could be the keyboard style, I'm not sure.

The album features Zorn playing keyboards only, largely with an electric organ sound-- almost all of his playing is single note lines. The difference between his keys playing and his sax playing is, in my mind in terms of expressiveness. I find that he does an excellent job setting mood, but I don't *feel* the music from his playing. In that regard, I will take the time to compliment the extraordinarily sensitive playing of bassist Shamir Blumenkrantz, who has gotten his head way into this music and really does dig in. Also along on this one is percussionist Cyro Baptista.

Largely, the music is variations on a Masada-esque theme-- again, Zorn sticks mostly to single note lines on the keyboard, so the record feels like the Masada material. In terms of tempo and mood, its similar to some of the more hypnotic pieces on "Filmworks XIV", but that piece covered more ground and had a somewhat more intriguing instrumentation.

Admittedly, it could be me-- when comparisons to Ives or Mingus at the piano were made, I had expectations of this that really involved a much more piano-like sound and feel, but Zorn uses the key as he would a saxaphone.

Having stated that, the music on here is enjoyable, and it certainly is evocative, and I don't know that had Zorn played his saxaphone he would have been able to get this sort of hypnotic, groove oriented feel to his playing. Overall though, I didn't find enough variety on this one to hold my attention throughout, it blended into the background somewhat.

This is truly a wonderful, sensitive piece of music that is performed with nuance and care. It's a small group of musicians this time, but the sense of space and rambling adds much to the personal nature of this work. The improvisations and musical journeys are not indulgent, rather respectful and enjoyable.

Zorn features on the electic piano, creating somewhat of a dreamy groove that is then augmented by the percussion work of Cyro Baptista (perhaps the best known Brazilian percussionist) and the bass/oud work of Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz. In many places, it is the percussive rhythm that carries the otherwise wandering groove. Together it is hypnotic and ambient, with a haunting, sometimes gloomy, Middle Eastern feel.

It is rapidly becoming one of my favorite Zorn pieces.

One thing about John Zorn, his ability to produce consistently high quality music in literally dozens of different forms never ceases to amaze. This recording, the soundtrack to a documentary titled "Workingman's Death" is no exception. Featuring Cyro Baptista (percussion) and Ikue Mori (electronics) with occasional contributions from the composer (gamelan, organ), Jamie Saft (keys, guitar), and Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (bass), this is a recording of different moods and feels-- Zorn stated that as the documentary followed workers in different countries, environments, and situations, he wanted the music to sort of follow them as well.

Over 60 minutes long, had the soundtrack been conceptually anything else, it likely would have dragged a bit, but moving through trancey organ pieces ("Gadani Slipway", "Ghost Ship"), circular percussion pieces ("Juju"), aggressive, rhythmic banging ("Sulpher Mining"), scraping, grating noise ("Steel Foundry"), and downright funky electronica ("Horn Carrier", "Slaughterhouse"), this one holds interest well. Zorn evidentally decided for this release to overdub a couple keyboard lines on a few tracks to better pace this for release indepednent of the film-- I'm not certain whether I would have preferred he left it alone. Certainly he coaxes great performances out of Baptista and Mori that I suspect I'd rather hear them shine without him, although at a minimum "The Miners" benefits immensely from the organ line, helping the simple sounds intertwine in an engaging manner.

While its not the best introduction to Zorn's soundtrack work (I'd give that to "Invitation to a Suicide"), all in all, its a good recording, recommended for fans of Zorn's filmworks series.

"Film Works XVII" collects two very different soundtracks for documentaries-- the guitar driven score for "Notes on Maria Menkin" and the all-percussion performances for "Ray Bandar: A Life with Skulls". Unlike previous film works records serving as anthologies of multiple scores, this time composer John Zorn has chosen to intersperse the scores together, creating a bit of a montage of sorts.

The music for "Notes on Maria Menkin" is far reaching and varied-- featuring a trio of guitarist Jon Madof, bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (both of the band Rashanim) and drummer Kenny Wolleson, with Zorn joining in on several tracks on various instruments, Zorn seems to be exploring by and large the exotica flavors of "The Gift", with shades of surf ("Tango Exotique"), Morricone ("Moonplay"), frantic jazz ("Gogogo"), Derek Bailey ("Zenscapes") and that sort of breezy L.A. in the '50s sound ("Mood Mondrian") blending seemlessly. The net result is a highly satisfying score that stands nicely from the movie with standout performances throughout, particularly from Madof, who is a revelation of sensitive guitar playing. In some ways, it seems to me he's done himself a disservice in the environment of Rashanim, his playing here is full of mood and delicate energy and is a real highlight of the score.

Offsetting this nicely is the score for the Bandar documentary-- Zorn performs on thumb pianos and is accompanied by percussionist Cyro Baptista (and Wolleson on one track) for a really fascinating score of circular sounds-- melody and rhythm blend, it's at times difficult to discern the thumb piano from the percussion; the melodic elements from the rhythmic elements, and by and large the music works out to be downright hypnotic. I suspect that the reason for the intercutting is that quite frankly, all five tracks laid one against another would probably not work as well as mixing them through-- they serve nicely as intriguing interludes throughout.

It seems to me that Zorn has really been on quite a roll with the film scores as of late-- in the past five years he's composed two downright masterpieces ("In the Mirror of Maya Deren" and "Invitation to a Suicide") and has maintained a consistently high level of quality with the film scores of the past several years. The material on "Film works XVII" rates very highly, even in comparison to such great efforts. Highly recommended.

The ongoing debate: should the music serve the story or should it be evaluated independently? I've seen THE TREATMENT twice now & I thought the score was perfect. Chris Eigeman's character, "Jake Singer," is a sad-sack with romantic longings & hidden reserves of great sweetness. Zorn's magical vibraphone helps you believe he will eventually conquer his fears & turn his "badly-nourished lover" lose. Now that I have the CD, I'm sure I will play it whenever I need a touch of magic in my own life. Zorn's violin also gives Jake's world a touch of klezmer. Jake has the soul of a mensch, & Jewish blood definitely flows in his veins.

Volume XVIII in John Zorn's Filmworks series is the score to a romantic comedy called "The Treatment". Truthfully, I was a bit stunned to consider the notion of Zorn scoring a romantic comedy, and evidentally so was he (in the liner notes, Zorn states that he considered the idea of scoring a romantic comedy "ridiculous"), but evidentally director Oren Rudavsky's persistence resulted in Zorn taking the job, the resulting score, Zorn states, is overtly influenced by tango, although truthfully I hear little of this in the music-- it is a piece that is firmly lodged in the Zorn film scoring vocabularly-- his scores seem to have a unified approach to me, but it is a bit darker and a bit more mellow then usual.

Zorn chose an instrumentation similar to the tango, with violinist Mark Feldman serving as the primary lead voice supported by accordian (Rob Burger), vibraphone (Kenny Wollesen) and bass (Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz), with guitarist Marc Ribot lending his formible talents on two tracks. The result is a highly rhythmic blend, with all instruments but violin often playing rhythmic and implied rhythmic figures and Feldman floating over the top, the net result is surprisingly diverse, whether moody and irritable ("Why Me?", "Anxieties"), lush and delicate ("Romance"-- check out Feldman's counterpoint, it's among the prettiest things Zorn's ever written) or tense and apprehensive ("Rush Hour", a chance for Wollesen to shine). The two tracks with Ribot add an extra layer to mix, filled with intertwining lines that manage to feel both loose and rigid at the same time.

Still, as nice as this one is, there's something about it that didn't quite work for me overall-- it's a pleasant enough piece filled with different themes and ideas, and Zorn gets the most out of his instrumentation, but It just didn't grab me the way Zorn's best soundtracks ("Invitation to a Suicide", "In the Mirror of Maya Deren") have.

'Rain Horse', is the latest installment in Tzadik's very own 'Filmworks' series. It is also one of the best, as I'm stating very clearly in the title.

As the story goes, Zorn was approached by the director of this russian animated movie and asked to license several Masada pieces for the soundtrack.
He somehow fell in love with the movie and decided to produce several original compositions to better suit the story.
What the director (and us) got is a brilliant compilation of tunes well steeped in the russian folk/gypsy tradition, as another reviewer noted. Fans of Masada should be careful then, the 'jazz' element here is almost absent.
Also worth of mention: Erik Friedlander, whom I consider one of the best musicians to come out of the Downtown NY music scene, is in a state of grace here, which is probably part of the reason why I like the album so much.

Highly recommended!

As a long time listener of Zorn, I am in awe of The Rain Horses. This is the best thing he's done since "The Gift." "Forests in the Mists" has some of the most evocative and powerful piano work I've heard from Zorn, or anyone else for that matter, in a long time. "The Stallion" is another powerful song that almost sounds like a marching tune. It's gripping stuff, and it may be his most accessible album yet. I haven't listened to it too often yet, but I'm constantly amazed by Zorn's compositions. The man must eat, breathe and dream compositions. There have been times, throughout his prodigious output, where I thought Zorn was retreating into old themes. I have no problem with him reworking a composition or a theme he loves, but I've tried to stay away from them. I like my music groundbreaking, bizarre. I prefer evocative pieces that place me in a given time or place. I don't know what he was thinking about during "Wedding of Wild Horses," but I was there. "Dance Exotique" may be the one piece I would stray from them in this set for all of you who purchase single mp3's. That piece doesn't feel right among these heavy weights. Birds in the Mist is a simple reworking of Forests in the Mist. The rest of the album is good, but those first five tracks leave me pretty speachless. I've never tried to write compositions, but it's hard for me to imagine that there is anyone else out there doing what Zorn is doing. The man has a beautiful gift that he has pushed to it's limits. I own a ton of his downloads, and I don't think I own a forth of them. As I said, some of them are similar, but no most of them are so varied and diverse that you find it hard to believe that one man could create such a catalogue.

The first release of a film score by John Zorn in nearly two years (2006's Film Works, Vol. 18: The Treatment being the most recent volume prior to this), "Filmworks XIX: The Rain Horse" was highly anticipated-- the beginnings of this decade had fans of Zorn's film soundtrack work spoiled with seemingly endless jewels and extraordinary prolificness (having released eight volumes of film scores between 2001 and 2006).

Assembling of trio of Erik Friedlander (cello), Rob Burger (performing on piano) and Greg Cohen (bass), the film in question was a Russian animation piece by Dmitri Geller. Zorn was originally approached for licensing of several Masada pieces but negotiated recording an original score instead. Intriguingly, given the original request and the proliferation of Masada or Masada-like pieces on Zorn's scores, Zorn's chosen a different direction. While it hints at the Masada sound, this one is more deeply imbedded in gypsy jazz and Russian folk sounds to my ear. The performers work with unnerving sensitivity to the feel of the music, invoking motion and power ("The Stallion"), foreboding and mystery ("Parable of Job", "Forests in the Mist" and it's solo cello reprise, "Bird in the Mist") and an unusually uplifting mournfulness ("Tree of Life"), this one makes a quiet and powerful statement.

One thing it does do unusually is blend in the background-- when this came in the mail I ripped it open and threw it on while I was cooking dinner. In this environment, I was not terribly impressed with it because it's strength is so quiet, but having listened to it several times since that first play, particularly with headphones on where its subtleties come through, I've been staggered at just the range of emotion the three musicians on this record convey. This is one that demands direct attention for full appreciation, and it offers a lot to appreciate. Highly recommended.

Whatever shortcomings the soundtrack to "Sholem Aleichem" has are overcome by the simple lovlieness of the music. I adore Zorn's score to "Trembling Before G-D" and this CD reminds me of the simple pleasure of klezmer done right.

The format is a little different considering Carol Emanuel on the harp, but is still translates to some great moments. It's true that this is not a powerhouse collection, but it is definitely one of Zorn's sturdiest. Some may think it's "predictable," but I prefer to use the word "solid." When it comes to this crazy guy, I think just listening to him is of better service to you that trying to pry any conceived notion of sound out of a written review.

It may not be his best, but I just don't care. Long live the Film Works series.

The latest entry in John Zorn's Film Works series, "Sholem Aleichem" is the score to a documentary of the author. Noted for his mixture of mood, Zorn attempts to reflect this through a klezmer-tinged score reflecting the moods of his work. Performed by the Masada String Trio (bassist Greg Cohen, cellist Erik Friedlander and violinst Mark Feldman) augmented by Rob Burger on accordian and Carol Emanuel on the harp, the score is by and large a satisfying and diverse piece, with a dark undercurrent running throughout that occasionally bubbles to the surface. While this adds a somewhat different feel than Zorn's other klezmerish scores that avoid the Masada sound (i.e. Film Works, Vol. 14: Hiding and Seeking), it at times creates a bit of a dragging feel in the music.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting piece-- the Masada String Trio's performances are, as always, superb, with each putting on display their talents (Feldman's solo on closer "Talking Through Oblivion" stopped me in my tracks when I heard it. The addition of Burger and Emanuel provides quite a different texture-- Burger for his part lends that klezmer sound without every being terribly overt (the painfully lovely "Mekubolin"), Emanuel proves to be without a doubt one of the most agile performers on her instrument that I've ever heard (pretty much throughout).

"Sholem Aleichem" is a satisfying listen and a decent score, but Zorn's done significantly better (Filmworks XIII: Invitation to a Suicide and the more recent Film Works, Vol. 19: The Rain Horse spring immediately to mind). Fans of his film scores should definitely check this out, more casual fans could probably live without this one.

Zorn's score to "Belle de Nature" is so very delicate that there is something about listening to it that makes me nervous. Not nervous in the sense that the music creates tension, but I get the feeling that the whole arrangement is barely hanging together; a guitar, a harp, and a bass. Lushness overshadows percussiveness, and I feel a musician's anxiety when they are barely holding on to the tempo. At one point I think Marc Ribot and Carol Emanuel do actually fall out of synch! But it's only for a microsecond. Still, it bugs me!

I like Emanuel's performance and Marc Ribot is always a deal-maker for me. If he's involved in a project, I will listen to it. Hands down. This soundtrack to a film involving some woman writhing around naked in the woods makes for some captivating listening, should you choose to listen closely. I particularly like "L 'Air et les Songes."

The "Rijksmuseum" is something else entirely. Some moments it's minimalist percussion ("Storage"). Others it's minimalist baroque ("Meeting"). In most other movements the style falls anywhere in between, all around the spectrum. Almost makes me want to see the film itself!

And good old Uri Caine handles the duties. I like him, but lately I feel that he should be getting crazy the way Ribot does. Is there a crazy Uri Caine project out there? Leave a comment if you know of one.

Volume 21 is another quality installment that will get plenty of mileage out of me within the coming years.

It's been a long time since John Zorn's put out an album that I've had to hide the cover of at work, but "Filmworks Volume XXI: Belle de nature/The New Rijsmuseum" fills that void. Containing two quite different scores for two quite different films, while the songwriting on this record is fairly standard Zorn, the two scores, particularly the first one, illustrate the real strength of the composer: the ability to get unbelievable performances out of his musicians.

Certainly at the fore of those musicians who Zorn gets great performances out of is guitarist Marc Ribot, part of a trio of guitar, harp (Carol Emanuel) and bass (Shanir Blumenkranz) for French erotica "Belle de Nature" (which also lends the aformentioned non-work-safe cover). The score is full of gentle, lilting melodies, stated either by Ribot or Emanuel or some combination thereof. Each of the melodies is remarkably delicate but filled with an unerring sense of haunting and foreboding. But it's Ribot who consistently steals the show, performing with unnatural sensitivity ("Masque en Sole"), expressiveness ("Fouet d'Epines") and melancholic urgency (standout cut, "Orties Cuisantes", Ribot's overdriven solo ranks among his finest works).

The second score couldn't be a more dramatically different film, "The New Rijksmuseum", about the renovation of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum. Fittingly, it gets a dramatically different score featuring performances by the composer (harpsichord, glass percussion), Cyro Baptista (percussion), Kenny Wollesen (vibes, percussion) and Uri Caine (harpsichord, piano). The score is full of pulsing rhythms and an odd metallic feel, but also the harpsichord, an instrument that by its nature always sounds like antiquity for me (a point no doubt not lost on Zorn). There's remarkable agility in the performances, whether they be on the harpischord ("Conversation") or one of the percussive pieces (the unnervingly elegant "Restoration").

As a whole, "Filmworks XXI" is a satisfying package, ranking among the best of Zorn's film scores. It's not quite the masterpiece some of his other sountracks have been (Filmworks XIII: Invitation to a Suicide and Film Works, Vol. 19: The Rain Horse spring immediately to mind), but it is nonetheless a fine record. Highly recommended.

The Tzadik website refers to "The Last Supper" as "[o]ne of the strangest films Zorn has ever scored", and in the liner notes, Zorn discusses originally seeing this as a hardcore ensemble score, but instead decided on "the first instruments", assembling (most of) the female vocal ensemble from "Frammenti del Sappho" (off the excellent Mysterium) of Martha Cluver, Lisa Bielawa, Abby Fischer and Kristen Sollek, augmenting them with male vocalist Caleb Burhans and augmenting this group with the composer and Cyro Baptista on percussion, "Filmworks XXII: The Last Supper" is something quite different.

Opener "Somnambulisme" sets the stage for what the album will essentially consist of-- Zorn constructs a circular vocal motif, remarkably agile (a quality lacking, though not necessarily to its detriment, on "Frammenti del Sappho"), with Burnhams providing an unusual counter to the four female voices. Throughout the ensemble is evocative ("Virgin Sacrifice", which would not have been out of place on IAO: Music In Sacred Light) and driven ("Vespers"), there's an unusual energy both to Zorn's wordless compositions and the performances that I find hard to pin down. Punctuating this are percussion tracks, occasionally with the ensemble ("The Colors of Blood") and without (the utterly superb "Futur Primitif"). As expected, Cyro Baptista's seemingly limitless talents are pushed to the fore (the propolsive "Spiral") and provide a nice offset to the vocals.

In an instance where one is left to appreciate a physical media, Zorn has packaged this CD with a booklet of stills from the movie. I've got to be honest. I'm not completely certain what to make of the imagery the movie presents, it's certainly a nice booklet though, I'll give it that. Whether or not it's worth the price bump it caused here is subjective.

It's a bit difficult to recommend this album to fans of Zorn's film scores, it's quite different from anything else in the Filmworks catalog. I found it a highly enjoyable record, but I also rather enjoy Zorn's chamber works, and would recommend this to those similarly inclined.