By Elliott Simon

Premiering with Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity and with releases from Pharoah Sanders, The Fugs, Milford Graves and others, ESP records defined the ‘60s musical avant-garde. Tzadik, begun in 1995 by John Zorn, takes ESP's mantra of "The artists alone decide what you will hear", and drags it past the last 30 years. What you hear on Tzadik is the artist's vision undiluted. Tzadik has established itself as an outlet for experimental musicians and composers worldwide and as a voice for the burgeoning radical Jewish cultural music scene.

But Tzadik is more than that. I had the opportunity to chat with John Zorn about the label and his perspective on music and cultural identity. Along with Radical Jewish Culture (RJC), a term he coined and refers to as "part of my identity", over 265 releases mirror Zorn's eclectic obsessions: film music, new Japan, lunatic fringe, composers and his own archives. "I am always open to creativity in any genre. I look for quality." The RJC series was begun with David Krakauer's first solo release, Klezmer Madness. Krakauer is a musician who through tone and vibrato is redefining the clarinet as powerfully as Ayler was able to redefine the sax.

"In the ‘60s, pop culture was art. During the ‘70s and ‘80s there was a breakdown…I realize that people have enough of a challenge in their day to day lives without coming home and putting [new] music SPOTLIGHT on the box….[But] there is a lot to learn from other music. A different definition. I would rather buy something that I have never heard before…Today I listened to Les Spann (a ‘50s jazz guitarist sideman who also plays flute) and K. Siva Prasad. He is a whistler from India." If anyone is a "world musician", it is John Zorn. When asked about that he replied, "I don't know what it means. That my music speaks to people around the world? That I listen to music from around the world? That I play music from around the world? That I travel around the world? I just try to make the best music I can."

Tzadik also provides a forum for musicians to complete passionate personal projects outside the constraints of their usual genres. Through the opportunity to record unique creative efforts, Tzadik can recruit established artists. El Danzon de Moises features Los Cubanos Postizos percussionist Roberto Luis Rodriguez, who with Krakauer, percussionist Susie Ibarra and bassist Brad Jones explores the little known world of Cuban Jewish music. Accordionist Rob Burger (of Tin Hat Trio) is also set to release a special RJC project. The Lost Photograph is a wonderful whirlwind journey to "Below Delancey" and beyond with creative re-interpretations of Jewish melodies along with Eastern European influenced originals. The hauntingly beautiful piano pieces, "Linguist from Latvia" and "The Cantor and his Grandson" make this recording a powerful personal statement worth hearing. With this climate, Tzadik has helped to create a new downtown NYC music scene that holds sway at Tonic and Downtown Music Gallery.

One new Tzadik series is Oracles. "This year we started Oracles. It is a new series devoted to the creativity of women and to women in experimental music," says Zorn. Burger bandmate, violinist Karla Kihlstedt, will be part of this with Two Foot Yard, set to feature instrumentals and vocal miniatures.

New Tzadik releases must meet Zorn's quality criteria; "I'm looking for music that has honesty, creativity and authenticity. I get stuff in the mail all the time but that is not the only way. I am listening to new music and got my eyes out. I don't often make mistakes." One of Tzadik's latest releases, Rabbinical School Dropouts' Cosmic Tree, bears this out. Originally a mail-in tape, it features a hot big band sound reminiscent of Zappa's most musically adept Mother's combined with East-West ensemble rhythms in freygish modes.

Creating an identity and lasting chronology for this music is also important. "One of the things modern culture has gotten very good at is making products that you throw away so they can be sold to you again. We provide a hard document...[Tzadik is] an alternative to the packaged garbage, spoon-fed to millions that can't resist advertising scams. The only thing greater than my fascination with pop culture is my contempt of it." All titles on Tzadik will remain in print to build a lasting chronology. With Zorn's consciousness of his own Jewish identity and the label's ethos it is no surprise that Tzadik features the RJC line. "Jewish culture was taken away from us by the Holocaust. There was a break in the development of the music." Adolescents in the ‘60s didn't want to hear Jewish music. "You wanted to hear Hendrix" at your Bar Mitzvah. "Some people go back and try and play it (Jewish Music)….it doesn't need to be word for word. Look at the history of jazz from Jelly Roll and Louis in the ‘20s to Dolphy, Mingus and Coltrane there was a growth there. In country, likewise; from Jimmie Rodgers to Willie Nelson. Why can't that happen in Jewish music? You can take the roots, scales and instruments and go into the 21st century." Recent releases evidence that this is happening.

If guitarist Charlie Byrd had played klezmer it might sound like Tim Sparks' At the Rebbe's Table. Joined by Marc Ribot on nylon stringed acoustic guitar and other Tzadik mainstays, cellist Erik Friedlander and bassist Greg Cohen, traditional melodies are given a Sephardic-Latin twist. The wild-card percussive antics of Cyro Baptista make this a perfect holiday gift. Another new release, Children of Israel, is from sax wunderkind wizard Danny Zamir and his Satlah trio. It features unique treatments of Israeli folk songs with a saxophone sextet that includes Zorn while Zamir lays down some incredible chops. Jamie Saft's Breadcrumb Sins has the feel of a soundtrack in search of a movie alternating house and techno beats deep enough to wake the dead with ethereal voicings that hypnotically float the listener through space. These releases may be filed under jazz, Latin, or techno, but hipper stores will have a Tzadik bin as there is a spiritual unity that makes them Tzadik. It's been a long time coming.

Website: http://www.tzadik.com