John Zorn can be defined as one of the most prolific avant-garde composers, arrangers, producers and multi-instrumentalists in America. He can be credited for hundreds of albums, each one incorporating a style different from the other. He has skillfully stroked over several genres such as classical, jazz, pop/rock and film music among others. Zorn is the typical example of an eccentric 21st century musician. Born on September 2, 1953 in New York City, each of Zorn’s family members indulged in a different genre of music, thereby surrounding his childhood with a diverse set of musical experiences. Not only was he avidly exposed to jazz, country music, doo-wop but also to television music of the 50s, which greatly inspired him. He became interested in avant-garde music during his teens and later went on to study orchestration and composition at Webster College. These influences can be clearly seen in some of his earlier works such as the ‘The First Recording 1973’. He began his compositions and recordings in the form of game pieces, often inspired by sports as well. They include ‘Track and Field’, ‘Baseball’, ‘Golf’, ‘Hockey’ and the most influential of all, ‘Cobra’. Zorn also indulged in improvised performances, which often incorporated duck calls; Such performances include ‘The Classic Guide to Strategy’ and ‘Locus Solus’. These smaller works led Zorn to his major breakthrough when he was signed on by the Warner Bros and released the hit, ‘The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays The Music Of Ennio Morricone’. This piece became famous because of its radically arranged themes juxtaposed with diversely traditional musical genres. Soon he released two more such pieces, ‘Spillane’ and ‘Spy vs. Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman’, both of which proved to be equally successful. Zorn is a talented saxophonist and several of his compositions emphasized his unique style and talent, such as ‘Voodoo’. His passion for jazz also led him to form his own punk jazz band, named ‘Naked City’; The band released several albums such as ‘Grand Guignol’, ‘ Heretic’ and ‘Absinthe’ all of which also highlighted Zorn’s interest in hardcore improvisations. He formed another band named ‘Painkiller’ in 1991, both of Zorn’s bands received international acclaim for its works. Painkiller’s most famous releases include ‘Guts of a Virgin’, ‘Rituals: Live in Japan’ and ‘Talisman: Live in Nagoya’. Not only is Zorn praised as a jazz musician, but also as a music composer for documentaries, cartoons and films. He was approached by several independent film makers such as Rob Schwebber and Raul Ruiz to compose soundtracks for their films, ‘White and Lazy’ and ‘The Golden Boat’, respectively. Zorn worked mainly on composing film scores in the 90s since he found it personally more appealing and fulfilling, he usually composed for underground films conveying strong messages. He compiled a large volume of his film scores under the series named ‘Film Works 1986-1990’. Later on, he turned to classical music and began composing chamber music an example of which is ‘Elegy’, a suite that he wrote in 1992. He also revisited his Jewish heritage through albums such as ‘Kristallnacht’ and the later ‘Radical Jewish Culture’ series. In 1995, Zorn took charge of his career and formed his own label, ‘Tzadik Records’. He released several of his works through his label such as ‘Bar Kohkaba’ , ‘Cartoon S&M’ and ‘Madness, Love and Mysticism’. Well into the 21st century he continued to produce several awe-inspiring pieces that are undoubtedly the hallmarks of his legacy, such as, ‘The Gift’ and its sequel ‘The Dreamers’. His unparalleled work has been honored through awards such as a McArthur Foundation ‘Genius Grant’ and ‘Jewish Cultural Award in Performing Arts’. [Article taken from John Zorn - Composer Biography, Facts and Music Compositions ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There doesn’t seem to be a thread dedicated to Zorn, so I figured I would start one. Are there many Zorn fans here? Any favorite albums? How did you first get into Zorn’s music?
I’ve followed him, but not closely, since the 70’s. He is mentioned often at SH Forums, most frequently in the ‘listening to jazz and conversation’ thread. At The Mountains of Madness is a forum favorite. I’m sure that a quick search will turn up quite a bit. Thanks for the bio, which is excellent. I would add that Zorn is responsible for the existence of the downtown Manhattan concert venue ‘The Stone’, named after Irving and Stephanie Stone who I used to see at concerts throughout the 70’s when I lived outside Manhattan. They had been supporters of live music since the 40’s, saw Monk at the Five Spot for example. The Stone moved from its original location to one at The New School within the past year or so. Has excellent artist residencies for luminaries such as Ken Vandermark, Joe Morris, and others. Zorn has been one of the major sources of energy in creative music, both improvised and composed as well as blended, in his roles as composer, performer, producer, label owner, what have you. And he’s still got that edge.
I love love love Zorn. I haven’t heard everything by him, because that would be a full time job, but he’s been a driving force in avant- grade for decades. His is the new vital jazz, none of this backwards looking tribute type stuff.
I guess I encountered Zorn's music around the mid-to-late-90s. Naked City was the first; not entirely sure I woulda latched onto it if I wasn't already a lifelong Zappa fan. The catalog is so wide-ranging – and difficult to anticipate – that it demands some attention from a prospective listener. But there are huge payoffs. This is once-in-a-lifetime music. Another vote here for At The Mountains Of Madness. The Book Of Angels series is also pinnacle material. The entire multi-pronged Masada project is mind-boggling. I've only got a lousy 80 titles or so – I'll not face a future with no fresh music as long as there are more Zorn titles to acquire. And that well seems infinite; the man is prolific. I've been fortunate to see him several times, always as conductor or emcee. Among the most memorable was a Cobra event, performed by 20 or so familiar Bay Area wizards – Frith, Patton, Jeanrenaud, Spruance etc. Crazy back and forth composing and improvisation. Looking forward to more of this thread!
Been following him since around 1981. I've got almost everything. First got into him because of the people I already liked who showed up on his and Eugene Chadbourne's early LPs (Frith, Blegvad, Marclay.) Some of the recent stuff I'm still missing and it's always gonna keep me up at night that I still don't have the duo LP with Masayuki Takayanagi. That one hurts. Never seen him live. That also hurts.
Zorn is one of those guys whose discography I follow more than the music itself. I love seeing what he's come up with lately; there's something new every month (actually, has he slowed down of late?), and they all have interesting titles and covers. But it's too much for me to follow. Though it doesn't help him financially, I tend to consume Zorn on Youtube. And as much as I like avant-garde, I find that his more mellow stuff appeals more than the skronk. Guess that makes me not a true fan. But I find some of his music insanely beautiful.
I have all ten (10) CD's of the original Masada quartet's studio recordings (including the short vol 4), but I have to confess that's all I've ever purchased. But that alone is a stunning body of work, to put it mildly. I got all of those, one-by-one, back in the day -- every one of them in ACTUAL record stores too -- most of them used copies (iirc). Took 2-3 years to track them all down, but I don't remember having ordered any of them online. Like a stunning hybrid of Ornette-ish writing, filtered through a Klezmer-esque compositional filter. With stunning playing as well.
There's a fairly active Masada thread that's been our Zorn thread, but obviously there's more to Zorn than Masada. I'm a pretty big Zorn fan and I think it would be great if we could cover some of the ground in a thread here at SHF because he doesn't connect well with a non-specialist audience, who wrongly think of him as a solely avant garde artist.
Unbelievably creative and prolific. I played with him in the early 80’s. Didn’t know him well but I can tell you he was very sure of himself.
One of the things I respect about him is that he doesn't let anything - especially self-doubt - come between him and getting the work done. He'll come up with an idea like “Cycles du Nord” (for three wind machines) and just record it and put it out. I think most composers could come up with the concept but it would never see the light of day. Confidence is really his secret weapon.
Read through this thread thus far and have enjoyed all of the posts, so thanks to all who have contributed. Good to see many here enjoy his much as much as I do. We all have a story with Zorn and I did ask how we got into his music, so I guess I’ll tell my own story. I’ve probably been listening to Zorn for 25 years (about as long as I’ve been playing the guitar actually). How I found out about him was purely by accident (if I’m remembering correctly). I was looking into some film music of Ennio Morricone (who is still a favorite after all of these years) and somehow I ran across The Big Gundown in a used CD/LP store --- remember those? I looked at the cover and thought “Who in the world is this?” I ended up buying it and I put it in the CD player as soon as I got home. My mind was blown! It was at that moment when I went back to that store to see if I could find anything else by Zorn, but no luck, so I had to wait awhile before I could find more Zorn albums. Thankfully, around 1998 or 1999, Amazon came into my life thanks to the internet and I scoured the website to see what else I could find from Zorn. I ended up buying Spillane, Naked City, and Elegy. I really enjoyed each of these albums, but I wasn’t quite onboard with Naked City, but I thought the concept was fascinating. From this point, I started collecting what I could find and there were periods where I didn’t buy anything at all. For the past four or five years, I’ve been actively collecting more of his music of albums that I’m interested in. I absolutely adore his more lyrical albums like those from The Dreamers for example or many of his filmworks albums. There’s no telling how much Zorn I own in my collection now, but I know it’s rather large. Collecting Zorn has become a sickness.
I'm a fan but probably don't have enough of his enormous catalog to call myself anything more than a casual fan. I'm not exactly sure how I encountered him first but I think it was the Golden Palominos debut album, which I probably bought in 1984 or so. I attended parts of his day long concert event (of various ensembles) at the Art Institute of Chicago last year, playing Book Two repertoire. Oddly I was in very close physical proximity to him (as he coordinated the various ensembles) several times that day but it was too crowded for me to actually see Zorn himself play. As for fave albums, for now it would be Naked City, Electric Masada (50th Birthday and Mountains of Madness) and Bar Kokhba Sextet (50th Birthday). (I was also a huge fan of Mr Bungle's first album (produced by Zorn) which is like the spirit of Naked City injected into an 80s/90s alt rock band. It's probably pretty dated now in the cold light of the present day but it blew my mind back in the day.)
Do any of you have your Zorn collection alphabetized? This is something I’m thinking about doing that way it’ll be easier to locate what I’d like to hear or if I’m looking for something in particular.
Nah, mine's chronological. How would alphabetical even work? So many of his albums are parts of a series. Does Masada Beit go under "B" or "M"? What about the live albums - does 'Masada Live In Taipei' go under "M" or "L"? Or 2002 Volume Two: Three Documentaries: Filmworks XII. Does that go under "2", "T" (for two), "F" or "T" (for Three)? And don't get me started on the Book Of Angels series. It's just easier to put them in the order in which they were released. For the record, I consider the Masada albums (studio and live) Zorn albums and file 'em under "Z", but only because he takes sole songwriting credit, so they're more like projects. PainKiller and Naked City seem more like actual bands, what with him letting others contribute. I'm not 100% sure about Hemophiliac - I file 'em under Patton's name ('cause that comes first on the front cover) just on the theory that if they wanted that to be an actual band name, it would be called the Hemophiliacs instead.
I have most of the Masada's, Naked City's, and various other projects. Live, I've only seen him once (with Masada). I'm a bit envious of anyone who lives in NYC and would have had the opportunity to see many shows. Brilliant artist. The albums also almost always sound pretty great! One of my favorites... although Zorn is only on one track....
I bought nine Zorn albums tonight...I definitely need to take break for awhile and give my bank account a rest.
Most any attempt at organizing this catalog is a fool's errand. Imperfect, but mine is sorta kinda by "type"...
Okay, this morning I ended up buying five more Zorn albums... Here’s what I have coming: Femina Filmworks XXI: Belle de Nature/The New Rijksmuseum Filmworks XII: Documentaries Taboo and Exile Music for Children: 10th Anniversary Edition Forro in the Dark: Plays John Zorn Nove Cantici per Francesco D’Assisi Ipos: The Book Of Angels, Vol. 14 At the Mountain of Madness A Dreamers Christmas Inferno Insurrection Salem 1692 The Hierophant
Hopefully he'll be remembered as one of the giants of jazz. IMO, his contributions from the '80s - present are enormous. I have a few dozen of his recordings, but that's just a drop in the bucket compared to what he's done.
I can’t recall if I got into Zorn through The Boredoms (via Eye’s involvement with Naked City), or if I got into The Boredoms through Zorn (again via Naked City). I was a fiend for new and interesting music back in high school and a lot of it blurs together for me now.
I am a huge fan, Electric Masada's Birthday Celebration Vol 4 is up there with my favorites. Before I had kids I would have gone out of my way to see him in NYC, live is an even better experience. He is an incredibly humble guy as well.
I've met him on a few occasions (he often plays at venues so small that it's easy to engage him in a little conversation before/after the shows). Seems like a pretty cool guy. And yes - live is a better experience (as it always should be in jazz, IMO).
Zorn recordings I recommend are the early Yankees trio with George Lewis and Derek Bailey, the later News for Lulu trios with Frisell subbing for Bailey, the 50th CD of duets with Milford Graves, the Masada live in Jerusalem double CD the aforementioned At The Mountains Of Madness Sonic Rivers, another trio with George Lewis and Leo Smith, and the Filmworks recordings.
Yeah I could always count on having a good time at those shows, his bands usually have that unexplainable crack of energy in the air.
