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F
I G H T I N G W I T
H G
O D S
John Zorn: Masada
Guitars
Once there was a young man, named John Zorn. He held himself
a musician, and mostly he overwhelmed the NYC artist scene
with his radical stuff on a saxofon. Then postmodern came
in, and he became its pioneer. He put on countless masks,
made a conventional jazz album to the tribute of Sonny
Clark, pure improvisations with Derek Baily, engrossed in
Japanese culture, recorded music for hardcore porn and took
a dip in the world of metal music. Whichever direction he
turned to, did the best things and surpassed them with ease.
Meanwhile he became a cultfigure.
In the beginnings of the 90s he thought about writing a
songbook similar to that of Gershwin or Thelenious Monk. In
the first year he wrote a hundred, in the year after he
wrote fifty - during four years he put down two hundred
hummable tunes on paper. He founded a band for them, which
was called Masada, and they began to record the songs. Zorn
played an alt-saxofon, Dave Douglas the trompet, Greg Cohen
the bass and Joey Baron the drumbs. This formation published
ten studio albums, and these days the concert recordings are
coming out. Two double CDs are named Masada Chamber
Ensemble, on which the chamber orchestra "mutations" of this
thematic material are recorded.
Then Zorn's interest wandered again. Nowadays he is mainly
in the contemporary music and declares himslef a composer.
He got tired of travelling all around, so he is stuck in New
York City composing piano concertos, string quartets and
soundtracks for movies you will never see. Sometimes the
Masada gets together, though, to play in local clubs for
their own sake. Nevertheless, Zorn's artificially created
tradition, the Jewish Jazz still thrives. Its most notable
version is played by an Izraeli saxofon player called Danny
Zamir with his band Satlah. However, the Masada song book is
still around. For its 10th anniversary dozens of albums
appear, which use and variate its repertoiare.
On the Masada Guitars you can listen to arrangements of
Zorn's compositions for solo - and mainly accoustic - guitar
in the interpretations of Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Tim
Sparks. The slightly classifying sounding gives a new
dimensions to the music. Solely the attitude is unchanged:
the cathartic simultanousness of pain and loftiness.
Inspiration and execution, contemplation and extasy,
complexity and openness - all this at the highest level. And
all this is John Zorn, who is undoubtedly the most important
musician and composer of our times.
Dudes, kneel in front of the king!
Czabán György Brozokni
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