JOHN ZORN

Pappawas1975 - 13-10-2005 at 09:29

Seeing as vivien started a Patton thread, I feel it is my duty to start a Zorn thread! Any you guys into his work? I rank him as total musical genius along with Zappa, Miles Davis and Merzbow....Not a stone unturned. If this gets a reply Ill bore you with my recommendations, cos Im a nerd like that....

wazoodust - 15-10-2005 at 16:28

I like John Zorn, I've got naked city...he also made an album full of coleman covers which sounds intresting.
He also produced mr.bungle:biggrin:

Pappawas1975 - 15-10-2005 at 21:08

The Coleman tribute ( "Spy vs Spy" ) is great. He "Zornised" the tunes, so they are super fast and manic, as was his whim at that time. All Naked City albums I recommend too, amazing players. Shit, Ive set myself up now, cos I recommend all his eras! Check my radio show out for regular Zorn doses TONIGH 10pm, and every Saturday at www.icrfm.co.uk Sorry about the shameless self promotion.....

Puptent - 3-11-2005 at 00:42

I saw Zorn in concert a couple of times, once with Painkiller, a Naked City reunion with Mike Patton and both Acoustic and Electric Masada. Great shows.

On record, I guess I like Masada and stuff from the Filmworks series the best, although there's still tons of JZ records I haven't heard yet. 'The Circle Maker' and 'Bar Kokhba' albums are also favorites

[Edited on 2-11-2005 by Puptent]

Pappawas1975 - 3-11-2005 at 12:18

You are very lucky to have seen a Naked city show with Patton! My only live Zorn experiences have been Masada Quartet ( twice ), Bar Kokhba Sextet, Masada String Trio and Painkiller with Frith, Laswell and Lombardo.....You are right too, there is too much of his music out there to keep up with it all!!!

mutronboy - 17-11-2005 at 15:02

I haven't really listened to Zorn, but I did see him rehearsing a piece on an improvisation doco series...I think the piece was called 'Cobra' from memory

I thought Adrian Belew might've been one of the musicians in that...it was a piece where Zorn held up cards and members improvised when pointed at

I didn't think it was that great...a bit too random..but I'm sure Zorn's got some awesome stuff

Any recommendations?

Pappawas1975 - 17-11-2005 at 17:47

too many!! yeah, Cobra is one of his game pieces, and can be a little hard to listen to.....As for his more structured stuff, any of his chamber works are good, and also anything from his Filmworks series too......

mutronboy - 17-11-2005 at 17:52

Thanks Gojira...I'll check out his chamber works..

Pappawas1975 - 17-11-2005 at 18:08

Id recommend Rituals, Angelus Novus, Magick....His classical stuff isnt too far from Zappas classical music .....

BBP - 23-5-2006 at 18:49

I'm about to become a Zorn fan... Naked City is great!

Pappawas1975 - 24-5-2006 at 09:09

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP
I'm about to become a Zorn fan... Naked City is great!

Glad you liked it BB! I thought you would.....All the NC albums are great, although, apart from the one you got, the rest are all only available on Japanese import, or at least they were, and have now all been deleted and are only available on this -

Naked City : The Complete Studio Recordings

Probably Zorn's most popular and most controversial musical project, the music of Naked City has been debated, analyzed, adored and reviled by fans, critics and academics alike, but nothing can replace the experience of hearing it in all its frightening glory. Most people know this music from the single domestic release on Nonesuch, but the major portion of their studio recordings were issued from 1989 - 1993 on the hard to find Japanese labels Avant and Toy's Factory. This long awaited set pulls together all of their recorded output - seven studio albums ( including five released only in Japan ) - on 5 CDs in beautiful new packaging, with a special 100 page scrapbook of Naked City ephemera, including photos, posters, designs, scores, musical sketches, written tributes by members of the Naked City family and pages from Zorn's original notebooks showing the development of the music that drove so many people out of their minds. Zorn's music at its most brutal and uncompromising best.

Definitely worth getting though, but it is expensive, and if order online because the damn things so heavy alot of places sting you with postage and handling charges on top....

aquagoat - 24-5-2006 at 12:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Gojira1975

Quote:

Originally posted by BBP
I'm about to become a Zorn fan... Naked City is great!

I wanted to buy that box a while ago but you're right, it's expensive.

Pappawas1975 - 25-5-2006 at 10:02

It is man. I was fortunate enough to get the NC albums when they were only available on Japanese import also, even then they were pricey, obviously due to the import prices...and hard to find also....

BBP - 25-5-2006 at 13:44

Anyone notice some person miscredited the James Bond Theme on that album I got? The theme was written by Monty Norman and is credited to John Barry.

Pappawas1975 - 25-5-2006 at 15:45

I always thought it was John Barry?

BBP - 25-5-2006 at 16:11

Nope, Barry orchestrated it into its best-known version, but it was actually written by Monty Norman.
Originally, the theme had lyrics and was supposed to be sung. Last year, Norman announced plans to release the theme with vocals. What would that sound like?

aquagoat - 25-5-2006 at 19:03

Yeah you're right Bonny, it's wrongly credited to John Barry though Norman wrote the theme.

BBP - 25-5-2006 at 19:59

Understandable though... Barry has claimed on a number of occasions he wrote it... most recently in 2001... Norman has sued him over it a number of times.

punknaynowned - 3-9-2006 at 12:10

Zorn is always highly recommended and I've never heard anything but some of the game series, Lacrosse, Chess etc. couldn't get my ears wrapped around it. I thought I could like anything being a zappa and beefheart head. but I was wrong.
show me the way

BBP - 3-9-2006 at 21:55

Understandable... First thing I heard of Zorn was in jazz class... I can look up what it was exactly. It was best described as noise. And since my teacher had the annoying habit of playing the music very loud, plus I was usually sitting in front, I didn't know whether it was my ears or my brains hurting.

yoko - 4-10-2006 at 07:28

love zorn.
he's come several times to mexico
and produced a couple of friends albums
in these days where everybody wants to play
be bop and hard bop he's really refresing for the jazz
scene here, like saying hey jazz is about real experimenting
i was bored when i met wynton marsalis in a clinic he did here like 5
years ago...and kill me if you want but he was snob and saying "how it should be", then zorn came with a very diferent atittude, encouraging the most radical ideas saying "there's not a way it should be" 'cause that's the way parker coltrane or miles open frontiers and producing not just talking

aquagoat - 4-10-2006 at 07:33

yeah, Marsalis is really boring, alxays telling jazz is this and you must play it like this and if you don't then you don't play jazz, blah blah blah....he totally forget this music is about experimenting and finding new things, sounds etc,etc....Zorn tries new things, he triesto make this music evolve instead of staying stuck in the 50/60s.

scallopino - 29-11-2006 at 01:47

have you guys ever read Miles' autobiography? he HATED wynton. hated him. i think wynton comes across as non-explorational because he really loves the whole history of jazz. a lot of new sounds and styles come about because the pioneers are reacting to what they don't like, but wynton likes it all and doesn't feel the urge to go against it.