John Zorn

John Zorn
John Zorn (right) with Masada
Background information
Born	September 2 1953 (1953-09-02)
Origin	New York City, U.S.
Genre(s)	jazz free jazz improvised thrash hardcore noise electronic music surf contemporary classical music world
Occupation(s)	composer/producer
Instrument(s)	alto saxophone
Years active	1973 - present
Label(s)	Tzadik, Avant, DIW, Elektra Nonesuch, Earache, Hat Hut, Shimmy-Disc, Eva, Toy's Factory, Nato, Lumina, Black Saint, Subharmonic, Parachute
Associated acts	Naked City, Masada, Painkiller, Hemophiliac, Weird Little Boy
Website	www.tzadik.com
Notable instrument(s)
saxophone, clarinet, duck calls, voice, piano, Theremin, wind machine

John Zorn (born September 2 1953 in Queens, New York) is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist.

Though not well-known to the general public, Zorn's recorded output is prolific, with hundreds of album credits as a performer, composer or producer. His work has touched on a wide range of musical genres, but he is best-known for his jazz and contemporary music. Zorn also led the notable experimental band Naked City and klezmer influenced quartet Masada.

After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with the Elektra Nonesuch label and attracted wide acclaim in 1985 when he released The Big Gundown with his interpretations of music composed by Ennio Morricone, followed by the album Spillane in 1987, and the first album by Naked City in 1990. Zorn then recorded on the Japanese DIW and Avant labels before forming Tzadik Records in 1995, where he has been prolific, issuing several new recordings each year and releasing works by many other musicians.

Zorn has worked with a wide range of musicians including Eugene Chadbourne, Gary Lucas, Derek Bailey, Cyro Baptista, Trevor Dunn, Mark Feldman, Mike Patton, Fred Frith, Erik Friedlander, Keiji Haino, Arto Lindsay, John Medeski, Trey Spruance, Robert Quine, Jamie Saft, Kenny Wolleson, Sergei Kuryokhin, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and the Violent Femmes. In the 1990's Zorn worked extensively in Japan where he performed and recorded under the name Dekoboko Hajime, collaborating with, and producing numerous artists including Merzbow, Otomo Yoshihide, Melt Banana and frequent collaborator Yamatsuka Eye. Many of these artists have now released albums on Tzadik and some regularly travel to New York where Zorn is based.

Biography

Early life

John Zorn was born in New York City and, as a child, played piano, guitar and flute and absorbed the musical influences from his parents and siblings which included classical music, world music, jazz, chansons, doo-wop, and rock and roll. He picked up the saxophone after discovering Anthony Braxton's album For Alto while attending Webster College (now Webster University) in St. Louis, Missouri, where he studied under Oliver Lake. While still at Webster, Zorn incorporated elements of free jazz, avant-garde and experimental music, film scores, performance art and the cartoon scores of Carl Stalling into his first recordings. Dropping out of college and moving to Manhattan, Zorn gave concerts in his apartment and other small NY venues playing saxophone and a variety of reeds, duck calls, tapes, and other instruments. He founded the Theatre of Musical Optics, a performance art collaborative, in 1975 and became a major participant in the fertile, experimental downtown music scene as a composer, performer and producer of music that challenges the confines of any single musical genre. Zorn later used the term 'Theatre of Musical Optics' as the publishing company for his compositions.

Early composition

Zorn's early major compositions included several "game pieces", in which performers are allowed to improvise while following certain structural rules. These works were, in the main, named after sports, and include Hockey, Pool, Archery (recorded at Martin Bisi's legendary studio), and Lacrosse. His most enduring "game piece" is Cobra which Zorn first released in 1987, recorded in subsequent versions in 1994 and 1995, and has revisited in performance many times. These compositions use cues, rules, and strategies to combine and contrast improvisations in various, sometimes extreme, ways, enlisting the talents of many downtown musicians in large ensembles for performances of these pieces. Zorn discusses his history and the musical philosophy behind his early works in the book Talking Music (ISBN 0-306-80893-5) by William Duckworth.

Breakthrough recordings

The Big Gundown - Zorn's first album released on a major label

Zorn's breakthrough recording was 1985's The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone, where Zorn offered radical arrangements of the Roman composer's themes from movies including The Big Gundown, A Fistful of Dynamite, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Once Upon a Time in America. The Big Gundown was endorsed by Morricone who is quoted as saying "This is a record that has fresh, good and intelligent ideas. It is realization on a high level, a work done by a maestro with great science-fantasy and creativity... Many people have done versions of my pieces, but no one has done them like this". Zorn's versions of Morricone's compositions incorporated elements of traditional Japanese music, soul jazz, and other diverse musical genres. Zorn's 15th Anniversary re-release of the album featured additional explorations of Morricone's work.

He first released the composition 'Godard', a tribute to French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard, on the Nato label tribute album The Godard Fans: Godard Ca Vous Chante? in 1986. Zorn followed this with his second major-label release Spillane in 1987 composed of three different tribute compositions. The title track featured text by Arto Lindsay set to an array of sonic film noir references, 'Two-Lane Highway' a blues-based form to highlight the guitar of Albert Collins and 'Forbidden Fruit', Zorn's tribute to a Japanese film star, performed by the Kronos Quartet. Further exploration of film noir themes were recorded for radio plays and released by Zorn as The Bribe: variations and extensions on Spillane. 'Godard' and 'Spillane' were re-released as a single CD on Tzadik in 1999.

All of these albums contain examples of Zorn's "file card compositions", in which Zorn would write down a description of what he wanted on file cards and arrange them to form the piece. This method of organizing sound blocks into an overall structure was still largely dependent on the musicians he chose, and the way they interpreted what was written on the file cards.

Jazz interpreter

Beginning in 1986 Zorn participated in several projects focused on modern jazz composers which highlighted his saxophone style. These included Voodoo (1986) by The Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet, with Wayne Horvitz, Ray Drummond and Bobby Previte, Spy Vs Spy (1989) featured hardcore punk-informed interpretations of Ornette Coleman's music featuring Zorn and Tim Berne on saxophones, Mark Dresser on bass and Joey Baron and Michael Vatcher on drums, and News for Lulu (1988) and More News for Lulu (1992) where Zorn, Bill Frisell and George Lewis performed compositions by Kenny Dorham, Sonny Clark, Freddie Redd, and Hank Mobley. He performed on two recordings by organist Big John Patton - Blue Planet Man (1993) and Minor Swing (1995) and contributed to the Sax Legends series (later re-released as The Colossal Saxophone Sessions) in 1993 with a version of Wayne Shorter's composition 'Devil's Island' alongside Lee Konitz, who Zorn has described as "one of my all-time heroes".

Film music

Zorn's first Filmworks album collecting scores from 1986 to 1990

From 1986 Zorn's music has featured in many underground films, cartoons, and documentaries. Zorn has documented his music for television and film in his Filmworks albums on the Tzadik label. Some of these film scores are jazz-influenced, others classical, and most feature ensembles comprised of rotating combinations of downtown musicians.

Zorn has stated that "After my record The Big Gundown came out I was convinced that a lot of soundtrack work was going to be coming my way". While Hollywood acclaim was not forthcoming he attracted the attention of several alternative filmakers. The first director to commission him was Rob Schwebber for the 1986 short White And Lazy. His work for Sheila McLaughlin's film, She Must Be Seeing Things (1986), featured the future members of Naked City. In 1990 he composed the soundtrack for the Raul Ruiz film The Golden Boat. All these soundtracks appeared on Filmworks 1986-1990 along with a sixty-four second interpretation of the theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which was first relased on Nonesuch Records and subsequently on Tzadik.

Zorn's second Filmworks release documented his Music for an Untitled Film by Walter Hill (1996) which was composed for the film Trespass but replaced by a score by Ry Cooder. Filmworks III: 1990-1995 (1997) featured the first recordings by the Masada lineup for Joe Chappelle's Thieves Quartet along with early drafts for the Cynical Hysterie Hour project, duets with Marc Ribot which featured in Mei-Juin Chen's Hollywood Hotel, and a series of commercial soundtracks for the advertising firm Weiden and Kennedy, including one directed by Jean-Luc Godard - a long-term Zorn inspiration. Filmworks IV: S&M + More featured music to films directed by Hiroki Ryuichi, Maria Beatty, Kim Su Tieler, and Jalal Toufic. Filmworks V: Tears of Ecstasy consists of 48 sound cues lasting around one minute which were recorded in a single day. Filmworks VI: 1996 contains three soundtracks produced in 1996 for Dina Waxman's Anton, Mailman, Henry Hills' Mechanics Of The Brain, and Maria Beatty's The Black Glove. Filmworks VII: Cynical Hysterie Hour re-released the themes that Zorn produced for a Japanese cartoon which had only been previously available in limited release in Japan. Zorn regained the rights to these recordings by trading a booking at Tonic to Sony executives. Filmworks VIII: 1997 features music for Joan Grossman and Paul Rosdy's documentary Port Of Last Resort (1998), which detailed the experiences of Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai during the years preceding World War II, performed by the Masada String Trio with the addition of Min Xiao-Fen (pipa), Marc Ribot (guitar) and Anthony Coleman (piano) as well as the soundtrack to Ela Troyano's Latin Boys Go To Hell performed by Cyro Baptista and Kenny Wollesen on drums and percussion.

Zorn's next soundtrack work did not appear until 2001 with Filmworks IX: Trembling Before G-d featuring music for an award winning documentary about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski. Filmworks X: In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2001) features music for Martina Kudlacek’s documentary on the life and work of underground film legend Maya Deren. Filmworks XI: Secret Lives (2002) featured the Masada String Trio with Jamie Saft (piano) and Vanessa Saft (vocals) performing music for Aviva Slesin’s documentary film on Jewish children hidden from the Nazis.

Hardcore

Naked City's first album

Zorn established Naked City in 1988 after working with the group in an improvisational workshop. Featuring Zorn on saxophone, Bill Frisell (guitars), Fred Frith (bass), Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Joey Baron (drums), and occasional vocals from Yamatsuka Eye and later Mike Patton, Naked City incorporated Zorn's appreciation of hardcore bands like Agnostic Front and Napalm Death with other styles. Named after a 1945 book of graphic black and white photographs by Weegee the band performed an aggressive mix of jazz, rock, blues, country music, and thrash metal later combined with classical compositions and ambient music styles. The band's early releases featured 'hardcore miniatures' - intense brief compositions often lasting less than a minute.

Zorn also formed Painkiller (who performed a mix of grindcore, free jazz and ambient styles) with Bill Laswell on bass and Mick Harris on drums.

Releases from both bands were criticized for their graphic or offensive album covers. The cover of the eponymous album by Naked City used the Weegee photograph 'Corpse with Revolver C.A. 1940' which shows a gangland killing. The Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence protested against Zorn because they believed that the images used in the graphic design of Naked City's Torture Garden and Leng Tch'e portrayed degrading images of Asian people. To avoid problems, Zorn removed the original albums from retail sale and later replaced the artwork with new packaging titled Black Box. Painkiller's Execution Ground was also released with the cover photograph of a lynching removed. Zorn left Electra Nonesuch after the company's response to the artwork for the Naked City release Grand Guignol releasing the remaining Naked City albums on a Japanese-based label, Avant.

Tzadik Record Label

In 1992 John Zorn collaborated with the Japanese Disc Union label to curate the Avant imprint, a subsidiary of the DIW jazz label which released the first Masada albums. Several Naked City recordings were released through the Avant label as well as many others on which Zorn featured downtown musicians including Derek Bailey, Buckethead, Eugene Chadbourne, Dave Douglas, Erik Friedlander, Wayne Horvitz, Ikue Mori, Bobby Previte, Zeena Parkins and Marc Ribot.

In 1995, in co-operation with jazz producer Kazunori Sugiyama, Zorn established the Tzadik label to ensure availability of his catalogue and promote experimental musicians. He is inspired by other artists and different musical styles, particularly those working in improvised music. Zorn has a special attraction to underground artists and musical styles that are extremely loud, wild, or creative. Tzadik has established a diverse catalogue reflecting Zorn's range of musical influences and influence. The Tzadik website describes the label as "...dedicated to releasing the best in avant garde and experimental music, presenting a worldwide community of musician-composers who find it difficult or impossible to release their music through conventional channels."

The label's releases are divided into several series. The Archival Series features Zorn's recordings exclusively, including re-releases of several albums that appeared on other labels, Zorn's film work, and recordings from 1973 onwards. He has released several live albums recorded in September 2003 as his 50th Birthday Celebration Series. Zorn's music for 'classical' ensembles appears on the Composer Series along with work by many other contemporary composers. The Radical Jewish Culture Series features contemporary Jewish musicians and the New Japan Series features Japanese underground music. Soundtracks by other musicians appears on the Film Music Series. Zorn also established the Oracle Series featuring women in experimental music, the Key Series for notable avant-garde musicians and projects, and the Lunatic Fringe Series for music and musicians operating outside of the broad categories offered by other series. Tzadik also releases special edition CDs, DVDs, books and T-shirts.

The Masada Books

Masada: Alef - Zorn's first album of Masada compositions

John Zorn recorded Kristallnacht in November 1992, his premiere work of radical Jewish culture, featuring a suite of seven compositions reflecting the infamous Night of Broken Glass in late 1938 where Jews were targets of violence and destruction in Germany and Austria. The experience prompted Zorn to further explore his Jewish heritage and led to an interest in Jewish musical styles. Zorn then set himself the task of writing 100 compositions within a year incorporating klezmer styles with his already broad musical palette. Within three years the number of compositions had grown to 200 and became known as the first Masada book.

The initial releases featuring this compositional approach were ten albums by Masada appearing on the Japanese DIW label from 1994. Masada (later referred to as 'acoustic' Masada) was an Ornette Coleman-inspired quartet with Zorn on saxophone, Joey Baron (drums), Dave Douglas (trumpet), and Greg Cohen (bass). The band played jazz-styled compositions based on Sephardic scales and rhythms. The original Masada albums were titled after the first ten letters of the Hebrew Alphabet and the song titles were Hebrew words. Further releases by Masada consisted of live performances of the band recorded around the world. The Masada quartet performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in March 2007 for what were billed as their final concerts.

The Masada Book has been performed in different arrangements by many combinations of musicians. The Masada String Trio comprised of Greg Cohen (bass), Mark Feldman (violin), and Erik Friedlander (cello) regularly performs and records the material. This group, with the addition of Marc Ribot (guitar), Cyro Baptista (percussion), and Joey Baron (drums) performs as the Bar Kohkba Sextet. Electric Masada, the most recent regular Masada ensemble usually features Zorn, Baptista, Baron, and Ribot, along with Trevor Dunn (bass), Ikue Mori (electronics), Jamie Saft (keyboards) and Kenny Wollesen (drums).

A Tenth Anniversary Series of Masada recordings was released by Zorn beginning in 2003. The series featured five albums of Masada themes including Masada Guitars by Marc Ribot/Bill Frisell/Tim Sparks, Masada Recital by Mark Feldman & Sylvie Courvoisier, Masada Rock by Rashanim and two albums featuring varoius artists - Voices in the Wilderness and The Unknown Masada.

In 2004 Zorn began composing the second Masada Book - 'The Book of Angels' which resulted in an additional 300 compositions. He has released several albums of Masada Book Two compositions performed by various combinations of musicians. The titles of many Masada Book Two compositions are derived from demonology and Judeo-Christian mythology.

Concert music

John Zorn has established a diverse repertoire of music written for chamber musicians and orchestras. Zorn's earliest released 'classical' composition (for five flutes), 'Christabel' was written in 1972 and first appeared on Angelus Novus in 1998. Zorn released the album-length suites of compositions Elegy (dedicated to Jean Genet) in 1992 and Kristallnacht in 1993 which used chamber music arrangements of strings, percussion and electronic instruments.

The establishment of Tzadik allowed Zorn to release many compositions which he had written (over the previous two decades) for classical ensembles. Redbird (containing new compositions for bass drums and a harp/viola/cello/percussion quartet) and The Book of Heads (35 etudes for solo guitar written in 1978 for Eugene Chadbourne and realised by Marc Ribot) were released in 1995 as part of Tzadiks Composer Series. Zorn credits the composition of his 1988 piece for string quartet 'Cat O' Nine Tails' with awakening him to the possibilities of writing for classical musicians. This composition was featured on String Quartets (1999) and Cartoon/S&M (2000) along with variations on 'Kol Nidre', inspired by the Jewish prayer of atonement, which was written at the same time as (but not part of) the first Masada book.

Songs for the Hermetic Theatre (2001) featured four experiemental compositions. 'American Magus', was Zorn's first piece of electronic music dedicated to Harry Smith, 'BeuysBlock', a meditation on the work of Joseph Beuys, 'In the Very Eye of Night', a tribute to Maya Deren, and 'The Nerve Net', Zorn's first piece of computer music. Madness, Love and Mysticism (2001) featured 'Le Mômo', inspired by Antonin Artaud, performed by Stephen Drury (piano) and Jennifer Choi (violin); 'Untitled', dedicated to Joseph Cornell, a cello solo for Erik Friedlander; and 'Amour Fou' featuring the trio. Magick (2004) featured the Crowley Quartet on 'Necronomicon: for string quartet' and 'Sortelage' for two bass clarinets. Mysterium released in 2005 featured 'Orphée' performed by a sextet of flute, viola, harp, harpsichord and electronics; 'Frammenti Del Sappho' for female chorus; and 'Wulpurgisnacht' for string trio. Rituals (2005) featured Zorn’s five movement opera for mezzo soprano and ten instruments composed for the Bayreuth Opera Festival in 1998.

Zorn's concert works have been performed all over the world and he has received commissions from the New York Philharmonic and Brooklyn Philharmonic, with a regional premiere of "Cat o' Nine Tails" at the at the Chamber Music Society of Southwest Florida by the Afiara Quartet in February 2008.

50th birthday celebration

In September 2003 Zorn celebrated his 50th birthday with a month-long series of performances at Tonic in New York, repeating an event he had begun a decade earlier at the Knitting Factory. He conceptualized the month into several different aspects of his musical output. Zorns bands performed on the weekends, classical ensembles were featured on Sundays, Zorn performed improvisations with other musicians on Mondays, featured his extended compositions on Tuesdays and a retrospective of game pieces on Wednesdays. Many of these performances were released on his 50th Birthday Celebration Series.

Recent projects

Zorn was the principal force in establishing The Stone in 2005, an avant-garde performance space in New York's Alphabet City which supports itself solely on donations, giving all door revenues directly to the performers. Zorn holds the title of artistic director.

In 2006 Zorn released two albums of compositions performed by a voice/bass/drums trio of Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, and Joey Baron: Moonchild: Songs Without Words and Astronome. A third album with the trio, but also featuring Zorn, Ikue Mori, Jamie Saft and chorus, Six Litanies for Heliogabalus, was released in 2007.

On Friday April 13, 2007, Zorn played the final night at Tonic, the Lower East Side venue where he played regularly for the previous decade, which closed due to financial pressures .

On January 10, 2008, Zorn performed with Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson at a special benefit night at The Stone.

On March 27th, 2008, Miller Theater at Columbia University in New York City will premier a new composition by John Zorn, "27 Acts of Unspeakable Depravity in the Abominable Life and Times of Gilles de Rais." The music will be performed by John Zorn Amplified Ensemble, with Brad Lubman, conductor.

Writing

In 2000 Zorn edited the book Arcana: Musicians on Music (ISBN 1-887123-27-X) featuring interviews, essays, and commentaries by musicians including Anthony Coleman, Peter Garland, David Mahler, Bill Frisell, Gerry Hemingway, George Lewis, Fred Frith, Eyvind Kang, Mike Patton and Elliott Sharp, on the compositional process. Zorn released the second volume of Arcana: Musicians on Music (ISBN 0978833767) in the Summer of 2007. According to the preface by Zorn, "This second installment of what will be a continuing series of books presenting radical, cutting-edge ideas about music is made, like the initial volume, out of necessity.” This volume contains essays by more than 30 musicians including Annie Gosfield, Trey Spruance, Zeena Parkins, Steve Coleman, Marina Rosenfeld, Carla Kihlstedt, David Douglas, Bill Laswell, Trevor Dunn, and Jewlia Eisenberg.

Legacy & Awards

In 2001 John Zorn received the Jewish Cultural Award in Performing Arts from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. In 2006 Zorn was named a MacArthur Fellow. In 2007, he was the recipient of Columbia University's School of the Arts William Schuman Award, an honor given "to recognize the lifetime achievement of an American composer whose works have been widely performed and generally acknowledged to be of lasting significance."

The character of Stephen Colbert from the TV show The Colbert Report mocked the MacArthur Foundation's award of the Genius Grant to Zorn. Colbert used a 10-second dissonant excerpt from the 50th Birthday Celebration Series and compared it to his naïve blowing into a saxophone, pleading, "Genius Grant please!"

Discography

Main article: John Zorn discography

Filmography

• Step Across the Border (1990)
• A Bookshelf On Top Of The Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn (2004)
• Masada Live at Tonic 1999 (2004)
• Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise (2005)
• Sabbath in Paradise (2007)

External links

• Tzadik.com
• The Stone website
• Tzadik myspace
• Tonic Jazz Venue website
• extensive John Zorn Discography (May 2005, 500 kB)
• John Zorn Primer The Wire Issue 156 Feb 1997
• Mailing List
• Zorn Mailing List Archives
• Art of the States: John Zorn
• John Zorn's biography and discography by Scott Maykrantz
• Unofficial John Zorn Homepage maintained by Jamie Graves
• Deconstruction in Music by Marcel Cobussen. Interactive dissertation on deconstruction in the music of John Zorn and others
• John Zorn interview (Hungarian)
• Discussion group for the Book Of Angels series
• Zorn Message Board

References

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John Zorn