All day John Zorn event in Chicago!!

[neuroticdog]

I just got back from a mammoth 6 hour Zorn event at the Art Institute. I'll try and write about it in the coming days but all I can say right now is WOW!!!!!!!

I gotta believe this was a once in a life time experience and I would even go as far as to say a life changer. Just getting all these world class players together under one roof was mind blowing.

I know there were similar events for his 65th birthday in NY and San Francisco. Anyone see these? Care to share any thoughts. Right now my mind is all discombobulated....hey...I think I'll go listen to some Parmegiani.

best
Michael

[MissKittysMom]

Looking forward to your write-up. Sorry I missed this, although I couldn't have been there in any case.

I've been very impressed with the wide variety of styles and performers throughout the Book of Angels and Book Ber'iah series, as well as the scope of the network of artists on Zorn's Tzadik label. I've been exploring a lot of new music, starting at these points and branching outward, although I've had to hit pause on this for a while. It's not the same as catching a 6 hour blast of live Zorn, but in its own way, just as "discombobulating." Nice word.

For now, though, it's back to a focus on classical piano. Satie. Albeniz. Bartok.

[Bake 1]

Did Catch the Sept 1. show at the Chapel in SF., the place holds i'd guess at max 1000 people so there weren't any real nosebleed or bad seats. Trigger, a guitar, drums, bass instrumental unit played fast and loud...was surprised to find that i liked what they did the least. If you dig Zevious, Ahleuchatistas, Hella, Ruins, Don Caballero, A Noise Fragment, (who are $#@!! depraved geniuses) Upsilon Acrux or Simulacra (who i regrettably failed to see the next night) it's probably a good bet that you'd have felt let down by their less than stellar listening skills and an apparent lack of compositional depth. They kind of seemed to be more about the idea of being loud and fast than about the sounds being produced, (sorry).
Erik Friedlander in a cello duet w/ Michael Nicolas was rhythmically more complex and nuanced. Had not heard of Nicolas before and figured he might mostly provide support for Friedlander, instead he seemed to deliver a few more Paganini like runs than Friedlander. Fantastic set!!...i don't think they've put anything out on Tzadik together.
The Bagatelles Quintet was kind of like a turbo version of the Masada band without Joey Baron... instead there were two drummers, Kenny Wollesen and Kenny Grohowski. Grohowski, as usual was razor sharp and exceeded high expectations. Some drum exchanges were like a flashback of Max Roach and Buddy Rich "battles" that animated Zorn into yelling out peanut gallery encouragement. Zorn live sometimes does a staccato chattering thing in a way that might be uniquely his. Don't think I've heard it at it's best on any recordings, so it was nice to see him getting this kind of an alto workout.
The Masada String Trio, (Greg Cohen, Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander) opened the 10 pm show w/ Masada songbook selections. During the set Feldman was up front a lot and sounded clearer and more impressive than I remembered from seeing him with Tunnels a few years before. Can't recall seeing many musicians who weren't in young rock bands playing with that much energy. He seemed able to go against or away from lines that might be anticipated at will, without getting lost or stepping on anyone...kind of raising the stakes almost constantly. He's got to be one of finest improvisational violinists around these days.
Next was Sofia Rei (voice) and J.C. Mailllard (saz bass). Really thought i would hate this. But the mostly Argentinian voice had a really beautiful sound and the subtle use of delay and other effects provided atmosphere that recalled some Egberto Gismonti and old Italian prog albums that maybe deserve to be dug up.
The last band was Masada (Zorn, Douglas, Cohen and Wollesen again instead of Baron). This was great, but maybe not an exceptional performance from this band imo. Wollesen was playing the kit w/ mallets much of the time and after getting the really exhilarating stuff from pretty much the same band w/ an additional, (and mindblowing) drummer about three hours ago, i couldn't help feeling that the bar was too ridiculously high.
Wish like hell I'd made the drive on 9/2 to catch Secret Chiefs 3 and Simulacrum... hope maybe there will be a good recording of 9/2 and the other shows.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^^
GREAT writeup - thank you!

Now if we could only communicate to, say, maybe 10% of the membership in places like PE why these names are actually top-of-the-game even though they never played in projects related to either Genesis, Yes, ELP or King Crimson - then we'll have somewhat moved the entire Earth.

Amazing to think how Zorn has come to be an, erh, "elderly" man. The guy is truly the endpoint of metamorphosis in modern sound.

[Dana5140]

Zorn is, after, all, 65 now...

[MissKittysMom]

Now if we could only communicate to, say, maybe 10% of the membership in places like PE why these names are actually top-of-the-game even though they never played in projects related to either Genesis, Yes, ELP or King Crimson - then we'll have somewhat moved the entire Earth.

This.

Zorn's Masada universe has brought more new music, and new musicians, into my awareness than anything I've seen in PE for years. The Book of Angels series and the Book Ber'iah set have pretty much set fire to my credit card.

If you're not growing, you're dying. My musical interests aren't dead yet.

[neuroticdog]

evenin all...

Here are some thoughts about last Sunday's event in Chicago. Unfortunately, this may only be part 1 since time is definitely not on my side at the moment.

So, as I alluded to earlier, I think the Art Institute of Chicago pulled off a major coup getting this thing to happen. My friend who I was with postulated that since Zorn seems to be getting booked at all these high profile venues in NY (Guggenheim, etc) and San Francisco that maybe Chicago didn't want to be left out in the cold. So a major museum like the AIC might have done it as a "look, we an be part of that scene too" thing. Regardless, huge ass kudos for them getting it done. Would love to see more but I can't help but think this was a once in a lifetime event.

Anyway, It consisted of 12 different groupings in 12 different galleries. For the most part, the music was not nearly as "out" as someone maybe only marginally familiar with Zorn may think. I would even say most of it was quite friendly to the un-initiated. I mean there was no Mike Patton lead ensembles or hard core metal groupings there. Probably the most outre was the duo improv set Zorn did with Kenny Wollesen. That was a typical Zorn squonk fest. (in response to Jackson Pollock in that gallery). Unfortunately, since the galleries in general are not that huge, this part of the program was packed and people had to overflow into adjacent galleries with no sightlines. We were one of the unfortunates who didn't arrive early enough for this performance so were forced to hear it without seeing it. I was pissed but what are you gonna do, right??? By the way, yes dear...it did smoke...thank you very much!

But to start at the beginning, the day began on the grand staircase of the AIC with the American Brass Quintet doing a piece called "Pulcinella". It was quite the stately affair and served as a perfect fanfare to usher in the wonders that were yet to happen. It was a short piece, only about 8-10 minutes but really really nice. It had that Middle Ages/early music/middle eastern quality to it and I had visions of walking though some old Spanish Moorish ruins. In fact, this theme kind of ran though the whole day with others developing and embellishing on it, namely...

The next performance was the Gnostic Trio which is Bill Frisell on electric guitar, Carol Emanuel on concert harp and Kenny Wollesen on vibes (in response to Claude Monet). I can't even begin to tell you how fucking gorgeous this was. Again, same sort of Medeval/middle eastern feel and just watching these masters perform was...I mean, I can't even... This gallery had La Grande Jatte (a Seurat piece actually) and I kept finding myself drawn to it against the beautiful sounds the musicians were conjuring. Anyone unfamiliar with Zorn that wants a good introduction to his compositional skills...well look no further. Grab some Gnostic Trio on Tzadik. I think there are at least 4 of them.

So I haven't even scratched the surface yet and I'm gonna have to continue later with this as I have to pick up the better half.

More very soon

best
Michael

[MissKittysMom]

@neuroticdog, thank you! Looking forward to the rest of your writeup. The Gnostic Trio is indeed fantastic; I just discovered them recently myself. Great music for chilling out.

"Pulcinella" is actually a Stravinsky piece, sort of. He was given some baroque pieces to orchestrate for the Ballet Russe; the pieces were attributed to Pergolesi, although some have since been attributed to others. Stravinsky fell in love with them, and went nicely overboard in orchestrating, arranging, and a bit of rewriting. This is the piece that kicked him into his neoclassical period. I would have loved to have heard this one live.

[aith01]

It still kinda blows my mind that Zorn is 65 already.

Hats off to that guy. What a talent.

[ytserush]

^^
GREAT writeup - thank you!

Now if we could only communicate to, say, maybe 10% of the membership in places like PE why these names are actually top-of-the-game even though they never played in projects related to either Genesis, Yes, ELP or King Crimson - then we'll have somewhat moved the entire Earth.

Amazing to think how Zorn has come to be an, erh, "elderly" man. The guy is truly the endpoint of metamorphosis in modern sound.

Can't believe he's 65. I only needed to hear one album about 30 years ago to convince me it was a worthy journey that may never be finished. My world certainly changed.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ But of course.

Personally I only had to hear 14 Seconds of a 70s Genesis tune some 30 years ago, and all of a sudden I'd apparently heard absolutely all there ever was to come out of "neo-prog" and ultimo 463 fabulous artists. Music and art should never ever be about creating anew or thinking differently or, er, "controversially". It should be about calling the public consumer up on the phone to ask him/her exactly what he/she wants, and then fart out some specified product accordingly - either over the fucking phone or by sending it to them in the mail.

[SunshipVoyager1976]

Sounds like a remarkable event, wish I could have attended. Zorn is always moving and always a blast to see in person, conducting or playing.