John Zorn's TZADIK Label

[.:.impossible]

First impressions of Faux-Jumeaux.

This is a really cool disc. Some of the classical ears may not dig it as much as a novice like myself, knowing more about the influences of this music than I do. Then again, I've never been too involved with the genre-identification thing anyway.

I am a huge fan of the tones brought out of the vibraphone and the relationship between the vibraphone and other instruments. This is a wonderful exploration of these relationships, along with an exploration in a sort of Burroughs/Gysin THE THIRD MIND musical approach. During playback, the composer has experimented with sampling the actual recording, blending sequences in with the original recording. Sometimes what would be best described as a "dub" effect, though this music has nothing to do with its reggae counterpart, the sampling and sequencing adds even more depth to solid, mobile compositions. It is amazing that the composer was, and still is actually, in his early twenties!

He has included some "field recordings" as well. Footsteps, insects, etc. My wife walked during one composition and exclaimed "HAUNTED HOUSE MUSIC!" Why is it that so much of the creative music in my collection can fit in this category?

Other than one of the compositions, the rest of the disc is hardly "haunted house music." It is quite beautiful in fact. Definitely recommended. If not Pierre-Yves Mace's debut, I do recommend that you keep an ear out for future releases.

In the same delivery, I recieved Walt Dickerson/Sun Ra VISIONS. I am in vibes heaven.

[wordsandsounds]

Has anyone heard Marc Ribot's Scelsi Morning or Paul Shapiro's Midnight Minyan?

[Aggie87]

up for air...

I just recently received The Stone "Issue One", which is a benefit CD for the club (?) of the same name, that was started up by John Zorn. I'm really enjoying this disc alot - here's the lineup:

John Zorn - sax

Dave Douglas - trumpet

Mike Patton - voice

Rob Burger - organ/elec. piano

Bill Laswell - bass

Ben Perowsky - drums

Zorn has too many releases for me to keep up with, but this one may well be one of my favorites. Mike Patton isn't all over it all the time, if that concerns anyone. The CD is on Tzadik and available through them or downtownmusicgallery.com. DMG has a limited edition that is numbered and signed by Zorn, if anyone's interested. Mine is #746 out of 1000 though, so if you want it, better order quick.

The club has a very interesting calendar, and Henry Grimes/Roswell Rudd played there last night. It's a non-profit club, and all the proceeds from the performances go back to the musicians. A different musician is the "curator" each month, and is responsible for booking the performances. William Parker is curator this month, with Basya Schechter up next month.

[Hank]

I have to agree with impossible that Tim Sparks' Tzadik albums are great, and I'd recommend THE CIRCLE MAKER by the Bar Kokhba Sextet too.

I'd also like to suggest the Bar Kokhba's live 3 disc set in the 50th Birthday series.

Others from Tzadik I like:

Masada Rock--guitar trio album with a fair amount of serious twang

Jenny Schienman's albums

Steven Bernstein -- Diaspora Hollywood

[AllenLowe]

I tend to like Zorn best when he is dealing with non-original material-

[Man with the Golden Arm]

This just in: I now see that the Zorn / Tzadik catalogue has been placed on iTunes.

Who'd ever thunk it ...

Saw the newest release in the Film Music series - 'Marie Menken' - and if I had a couple bucks sitting about I'd grab "gogogo" and "Arabesque" - Zorn pops up on alto on these two and sounds fresh as back in the days of "The Bribe" ... (load up "Skit Rhesus" there).

Aplenty to peruse and sample and while the iTunes might be fine for the budget in some respects you don't get the packaging which Zorn at least cares deeply about - regardless of hidden kiddie porn and free tickets to the Guignol.

I might just grab MMW's take on Gainsbourg's "Intoxicated Man" for cheers. (his "little brother" does a cruise worthy version of "Ford Mustaaang" that's worth .99 too.)

[trane123]

Really like the new Electric Masada two disc set. I also really like the Satlah trio. They have a nice blend of jazz and the Rad Jewish Culture. And the band's kid sax player (Danny Zamir) has some major chops.

Edited January 24, 2006 by trane123

[gnhrtg]

...I also really like the Satlah trio. They have a nice blend of jazz and the Rad Jewish Culture. And the band's kid sax player (Danny Zamir) has some major chops.

I also enjoy Danny's playing and hope he puts out an album soon, preferably showcasing his own playing (which wasn't the case when I saw him a few months ago at DMG with a drummer).

Edited January 24, 2006 by gnhrtg

[Guy Berger]

Rabbinical School Dropouts: Cosmic Tree. Fascinating arrangements. Try toy piano, oboe, and tabla on one track.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=A2266mpmj9f2o

The reed player on this CD (Mike Friedman) was a friend of mine back in college. Good guy.

Guy

[PHILLYQ]

Really like the new Electric Masada two disc set.

There is also a single disc of Electric Masada- that or the double are both well worth getting. I also enjoyed the duet disc with Zorn & Milford Graves

[ep1str0phy]

I also enjoyed the duet disc with Zorn & Milford Graves

I don't think I ever really appreciated Milford Graves until I heard this:

Bad. Ass.

Few drummers can sustain a performance of majesty and magnitude quite like MG.

On the matter of drummers: I've also enjoyed the Susie Ibarra I've heard (and it's nice to have a fellow Filipino so prominent in the music).

And Tzadik has had a lot to offer in the Radical Jewish Culture Series, including this (seemingly improbable, but actually quite appropriate) nugget by Glenn Spearman:

Strangely, much of the album is in a late-60's free jazz mode, although the programmatic content is ostensibly Jewish.

Edited January 25, 2006 by ep1str0phy

[.:.impossible]

Stories is good. Grand Unification is GREAT.

[BFrank]

REALLY irritating. One cut each from "Stories" and "Grand Unification" are unavailable on eMusic because of Tzadik's stupid policy of not making available any tune over 15 minutes.

sheeeeeeesh.

[BFrank]

I also really like the Satlah trio. They have a nice blend of jazz and the Rad Jewish Culture. And the band's kid sax player (Danny Zamir) has some major chops.

The "Children of Israel" album is pretty smokin'.

[ornette]

Zorn:Best of Filmworks is a great overview.

Derek Bailey's Ballads cd.

[.:.impossible]

REALLY irritating. One cut each from "Stories" and "Grand Unification" are unavailable on eMusic because of Tzadik's stupid policy of not making available any tune over 15 minutes.

sheeeeeeesh.

Go find a copy of GRAND UNIFICATION. Milford's notes are fascinating.

[ornette]

Not in the UK store!

Belated recomendation for Sanhedrin - Masada outakes, with wonderful packaging.

This just in: I now see that the Zorn / Tzadik catalogue has been placed on iTunes.

Who'd ever thunk it ...

Saw the newest release in the Film Music series - 'Marie Menken' - and if I had a couple bucks sitting about I'd grab "gogogo" and "Arabesque" - Zorn pops up on alto on these two and sounds fresh as back in the days of "The Bribe" ... (load up "Skit Rhesus" there).

Aplenty to peruse and sample and while the iTunes might be fine for the budget in some respects you don't get the packaging which Zorn at least cares deeply about - regardless of hidden kiddie porn and free tickets to the Guignol.

I might just grab MMW's take on Gainsbourg's "Intoxicated Man" for cheers. (his "little brother" does a cruise worthy version of "Ford Mustaaang" that's worth .99 too.)

[Guest akanalog]

can i recommend to zorn that he stops with the jewish culture BS? as a jew it pisses me off to see him capitalizing and appropriating my culture to make a buck. yes i know it is his culture too, but i feel he is pimping it out to make a buck. it is a bunch of BS packaged in a way to seem more culturally signifigant to consumers.

[BFrank]

can i recommend to zorn that he stops with the jewish culture BS? as a jew it pisses me off to see him capitalizing and appropriating my culture to make a buck. yes i know it is his culture too, but i feel he is pimping it out to make a buck. it is a bunch of BS packaged in a way to seem more culturally signifigant to consumers.

That's an interesting take on it. How did you arrive at that?

It's not like that catalog is ripping up the pop charts or anything. I doubt that he's making a boatload of money on this project.

Being Jewish myself, I never came up with that angle.

[7/4]

Masada seems to be quite sucessful.

[Guest akanalog]

not ripping up the pop charts but would you agree that zorn can basically put out whatever he wants? he could do an album of complete silence and he would be able to have it put out beautifully packaged and whatever. it might even be put out as a ten disc set. it wouldn't just be available online directly from him with bad art and stuff, it would be a high class affair. so even if he isn't number one on the charts he is in a position where he can do whatever he wants or put out whatever he wants and it's going to be there in stores and it will look nice. i don't think many musicians can say that.

i have my jewish thoughts because it seems to me zorn's jewish angle came out of nowhere. i think he dipped his toe in and felt the water was nice and jumped in all the way. i think he realized that mining this jewish thing would be a good angle and i don't know who is funding all of his music and projects but i suspect people behind the scenes like it too. i think zorn's benefactors or whatever have been duped into thinking this whole mess is more culturally relevant than it is because he covers it all in his jewish schtick. and i can say as a jew, many zorn albums have at least piqued my curiosity because of the purported jewish subject matter and their titles (often provocative titles like kristalnacht) and i imagine many other people have also given them a glance based on this...

if masada was called something like the zorn acoustic quartet and if it wasn't all jewish this and jewish that (if albums weren't things like aleph but were things like "album 1" "album 2" etc) would anyone even notice? no they might be like-zorn seems to be incorporating some ethnic scales into his ornette-colemanish quartet material. no one would be like "whoah! this music is REALLY jewish!"

[BFrank]

I just think he's taking music based in the Jewish culture and taking it in different directions. I don't see anything wrong with that. And it's not like he's following a popular movement in contemporary music (regardless of what Madonna thinks she's doing ). He's putting stuff out there from many different perspectives and hoping that a few people pay attention.

[Guest akanalog]

i feel that the whole jewish culture thing is less substantial than you, i guess. i think it is just a pretense to get support for these projects. i'm not buying it.

it's not a popular trend in music but we're not talking about pop music. we're talkign about intellectual high minded music and in that regards i think these cultural and religious tropes zorn attaches to everything would garner a lot more attention than music without them.

[Aggie87]

It seems to me like Zorn is pretty committed to Masada. The first Masada release came out 12 years ago, and they've been coming out ever since. And Masada is a group effort - Dave Douglas, Joey Baron, Greg Cohen etc. They seem committed to it too. It's not just dipping their toes into something to try it on, from my vantage point.

Jazz incorporates all sorts of music from around the world - why can't it incorporate the Jewish heritage as well? I don't see any superficiality or blatant "taking advantage of" going on here. Based on the logic, does this mean Jason Moran (or whomever) shouldn't be taking bits and pieces of his African-American heritage and creating new music and moving forward with it?

[Guest akanalog]

it's totally different.

i don't know jason moran's background but i would imagine his whole life he has been dealing with issues related to his race and his culture. well not just dealing with issues but also being inspired and influenced by his culture and whatnot.

zorn on the other hand-you can be jewish and not really religious if you know what i mean. zorn's passion for his religion hasn't always been there as far as i can tell which makes me look at it as another marketing tool.

i am not questioning the musicians commitment to masada. i am just questioning if calling it masada is really necessary.