zorn
since i started writing for the paper again back in december, i haven't been writing (as opposed to posting links) much on this blog, possibly because writing has started seeming more like work to me (which is not a bad thing; _effort_ is not a bad thing).
i've been investigating some of john zorn's music. zorn's another artist (like sonic youth) that herb levy would probably be surprised i'm not more familiar with. darrin kobetich mentioned naked city when i told him i was doing PFFFFT!, but aside from the segment in the bbc documentary about improvisation that showed zorn conducting one of "game piece" cobra, i hadn't heard much of his stuff.
watching zorn in action put me in mind of the way zappa used to "conduct" the mothers of invention, but in a more premeditated or rule-governed way. listening to naked city, i'm hearing, if not echoes of fz, a parallel universe in the way both z-men like to cut up and recombine disparate musical elements: just substitute zorn's obsessions with film soundtracks, grindcore, and ornette coleman for zappa's for varese, doo-wop, and guitar slim. similarly, reading about how zorn was affected by witnessing performances by members of the black artists group while he was attending college in st. louis in the early '70s reminded me of iggy's response to interacting with chicago bluesmen as a wannabe drummer in the mid-'60s: basically, "i dig this and want to replicate it, but i can't be part of it."
even though i hadn't listened to a lot of zorn's music, i was already a fan of a couple of his co-conspirators: trumpeter dave douglas, who first came to prominence in zorn's ornette-and-klezmer-fusing masada quartet, and guitarist bill frisell, who played in the punk-jazz "compositional workshop" naked city. and zorn's great jewish music: burt bacharach, which hits the same way as hal willner's tributes to monk and mingus, was a fave at mi casa. (willner's amarcord nino rota predated zorn's breakthrough morricone tribute the big gundown by four years.)
zorn's a composer who delights in confounding audience expectations. he pulled the plug on naked city when fans started shouting for their favorites. with masada, he composed a repertoire of 200 tunes, which he subsequently re-recorded with chamber ensembles under the rubric bar kochba -- to these ears, a more satisfying way to hear the tunes and a probable influence on both douglas' charms of the night sky (another fave rec of mine) and frisell's elvis costello-bacharach homage the sweetest punch. jazzcrit francis davis wrote in like young that he once considered suing zorn over the volume level of the muso's ornette tribute project spy vs. spy, but as yells at eels reminds us, "free jazz is thrash, asshole." zorn's massive discography is a deep well i'm going to enjoy dipping into more (if not fully immersing myself).
i've been investigating some of john zorn's music. zorn's another artist (like sonic youth) that herb levy would probably be surprised i'm not more familiar with. darrin kobetich mentioned naked city when i told him i was doing PFFFFT!, but aside from the segment in the bbc documentary about improvisation that showed zorn conducting one of "game piece" cobra, i hadn't heard much of his stuff.
watching zorn in action put me in mind of the way zappa used to "conduct" the mothers of invention, but in a more premeditated or rule-governed way. listening to naked city, i'm hearing, if not echoes of fz, a parallel universe in the way both z-men like to cut up and recombine disparate musical elements: just substitute zorn's obsessions with film soundtracks, grindcore, and ornette coleman for zappa's for varese, doo-wop, and guitar slim. similarly, reading about how zorn was affected by witnessing performances by members of the black artists group while he was attending college in st. louis in the early '70s reminded me of iggy's response to interacting with chicago bluesmen as a wannabe drummer in the mid-'60s: basically, "i dig this and want to replicate it, but i can't be part of it."
even though i hadn't listened to a lot of zorn's music, i was already a fan of a couple of his co-conspirators: trumpeter dave douglas, who first came to prominence in zorn's ornette-and-klezmer-fusing masada quartet, and guitarist bill frisell, who played in the punk-jazz "compositional workshop" naked city. and zorn's great jewish music: burt bacharach, which hits the same way as hal willner's tributes to monk and mingus, was a fave at mi casa. (willner's amarcord nino rota predated zorn's breakthrough morricone tribute the big gundown by four years.)
zorn's a composer who delights in confounding audience expectations. he pulled the plug on naked city when fans started shouting for their favorites. with masada, he composed a repertoire of 200 tunes, which he subsequently re-recorded with chamber ensembles under the rubric bar kochba -- to these ears, a more satisfying way to hear the tunes and a probable influence on both douglas' charms of the night sky (another fave rec of mine) and frisell's elvis costello-bacharach homage the sweetest punch. jazzcrit francis davis wrote in like young that he once considered suing zorn over the volume level of the muso's ornette tribute project spy vs. spy, but as yells at eels reminds us, "free jazz is thrash, asshole." zorn's massive discography is a deep well i'm going to enjoy dipping into more (if not fully immersing myself).
posted by stashdauber at 11:52 AM
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