Jazz Articles about John Zorn

About John Zorn

Radio & Podcasts

Pat got a four-LP set from John Zorn's Tzadik label and thought an episode catching up with recent events in the Zorniverse might be a good idea. Mike thought the title of this episode was a good idea. Brace yourselves. All four albums feature Zorn the composer, while only one features Zorn the alto saxophonist and only one features a demonically possessed Muppet on vocals. Pop matters reveals that Mike still doesn't like Joanna Newsom and still has mixed feelings ...

Radio & Podcasts

John Zorn and The Downtown Scene (1983 - 1995)

by Russell Perry
June 16, 2020

Never far from the pulse of jazz innovation, New York in the 1980s incubated what has become known as the “downtown scene." Radically multi-stylistic, the resulting music was unabashedly eclectic, celebrating influences from bebop to punk rock to cartoon music and eventually klezmer and Balkan music “From the shrill, colorful legacy of noise music and new wave, integrating and further developing these sounds, at the end of the eighties a dynamic experimental music scene arose on Manhattan's Lower East Side--the ...

Album Review

John Zorn: Nove Cantici per Francesco d'Assisi

Read "Nove Cantici per Francesco d'Assisi" reviewed by Don Phipps

by Don Phipps
January 14, 2020

Those who admire Spanish guitar music will greatly appreciate the beautiful airy set of compositions on Nove cantici per Francesco D'Assisi by John Zorn. Zorn, best known for his challenging, cerebral and complex avant-garde offerings, conjures up a set of pastoral tunes composed as part of a residency at New York's Frick Museum. The tunes feature the delicate interplay of a trio of guitarists, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, and Gyan Riley. Some may be surprised that Zorn could ...

Album Review

John Zorn: Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus

Read "Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus" reviewed by Don Phipps

by Don Phipps
November 5, 2019

John Zorn begins his 38-minute musical treatise, Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus with a bitten reed while racing up and down the keys of his saxophone. What remains is some of the most interesting music in modern jazz—a wonderful treatise on the absurdity of life. Zorn wrote and plays all the instruments on this fascinating album--and the soundscapes he creates run the gamut from harsh confusion to mellow contemplation. Zorn's collage of sound creates a bold and awakening listening experience. At ...

Album Review

John Zorn: Nove Cantici per Francesco d'Assisi

Read "Nove Cantici per Francesco d'Assisi" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
September 23, 2019

John Zorn ci ha abituati da tempo a una produzione tanto quantitativamente copiosa quanto qualitativamente molto alta. Ultimamente ha diradato molto la frequenza delle pubblicazioni per la sua etichetta Tzadik, mantenendo però sempre un alto livello di qualità, e questo recente album ispirato alla figura di San Francesco d'Assisi rappresenta sicuramente uno dei suoi lavori migliori in assoluto. Non siamo però in presenza di un altro Masada Guitars, anch'esso caratterizzato dalla presenza di tre chitarristi, con uno in comune (Frisell), ...

Radio & Podcasts

Jazz on the Moon

by Ludovico Granvassu
August 1, 2019

On 20 July 1969, while Herbie Mann was over the figurative moon, because his Memphis Underground was the best selling jazz album in the country, the man was landing on the actual moon (apologies for the gender insensitivity here but otherwise the pun won't work...). What a day! 50 years later we celebrate the latter milestone with two hours of jazz inspired by the moon and the desire to break big divides. Happy listening!

Live Review

Ojai Music Festival 2019

by Josef Woodard
June 19, 2019

Ojai Music FestivalLibbey Bowl, and other venues Ojai, California June 6-9, 2019 In the storied and still-evolving story of the Ojai Music Festival, one of America's most important contemporary music-minded festivals, the roots system run deep into mid-century Modernism and late 20th century post-Modernist impulses and up to the current, pluralistic musical minute. The idyllic hideaway town of Ojai—an hour and a world away from Los Angeles—drew Krishnamurti here as a pilgrimage site-maker and ...