Jazz Archives

This, second album from John Zorn's Electric Masada project, was recorded during two concerts in Ljubljana and Moscow somewhere in the end of their European tour. All musicians are the same as on project's debut, and all they are great musicians!
Double set is quite long release, but you wouldn't be bored. Zorn's use there his best techniques - combines all possible and impossible music components in hot eclectic mix. What means if you don't like spacey electronic loops of Ikue Mori on the front of the sound, in very few moments they will be changed by hardcore Marc Ribot electric rocking guitars, and you will forget about them.
All concert long this scheme is used, and it works perfectly. Unpredictable changes of sound, genres and rhythms will keep your attention till the very end.
In all, this music is quite characteristic for Zorn mix of punk-jazz hardcore, klezmer world fusion, electronic avant and very melodic and easy accessible avant-pop, strongly flavoured by free jazz techniques.
Many times listened to Zorn's Masada series albums, I was attracted, but missed some electric sound and energy in acoustic hot klezmer/free jazz mix. And I got it there, in Electric Masada, where classic Masada's music is strongly mixed with Naked City's hard core energy and electric guitar sound, excellent electric keyboards passages, electronic noise of Hemophiliac and plenty of jazzy sounds from Bar Kokhba. And all the mix is prepared in very inspired, energetic live version, with enough space for long improvs.
As old fan of Zorn's music, I am often asked by newbies, how to find the right key to Zorn's music. The answer isn't easy, but possibly really good answer is - start from this album! Not because this work is Zorn's best ( I think it possibly isn't), but because there Zorn demonstrates in the best possible form almost everything he played for few decades. OK, there are not presented some his interesting series (as movies/soundtracks music, or neo-classical music), but you will find there his hardcore, free jazz, klezmer and free-jazz moments in their best.
If you are new to Zorn, and you want to have his only album, possibly this one is the best choice!

:::Review by snobb:::

Electric Masada - At The Mountains of Madness (2005)

CD 1

1. Lilin (16:14)
2. Metal Tov (5:35)
3. Karaim (16:15)
4. Hath-Arob (5:17)
5. Abidan (8:09)
6. Idalah-Abal (6:33)
7. Kedem (15:41)
8. Yatzar (6:05)

CD 2 

1. Tekufah (17:59)
2. Hath-Arob (6:55)
3. Abidan (9:59)
4. Metal Tov (5:52)
5. Karaim (15:15)
6. Idalah-Abal (6:08)
7. Kedem (14:47)

Credits
- Marc Ribot / guitars
- Joey Baron / drums
- Cyro Baptista / percussion
- Trevor Dunn / bass
- Ikue Mori / electronics
- Kenny Wollesen / drums
- Jamie Saft / keyboards
- John Zorn / alto saxophone

Named after an extinct Hawaiian bird, O'o is the charming follow up to the self-titled debut of composer John Zorn's most accessible project, The Dreamers. Culled from Zorn's inner circle of longstanding collaborators, this all-star sextet of Downtown veterans explores his most tuneful compositions, threading aspects of easy listening, exotica, film soundtracks, surf, and world music into an evocative panorama.
Zorn's recent forays into conventional song forms and traditional structures reveal a softening approach to composition. Though no stranger to melody or harmony, Zorn's musical statements have become more cohesive and predictable over the past few years—the polar opposite of his seminal game pieces, like Cobra, and his most revered band, Naked City. Although the mercurial improvisations of his early game pieces still drive the furious Electric Masada, and Moonchild continues on its nineties-inspired path of metallic destruction, his neo-classical chamber music writing, acoustic Masada projects and ensembles like the recent piano trio featured on Alhambra Love Songs (Tzadik, 2009) offer a more introspective view. Since the dissolution of Naked City in the early nineties, each of Zorn's various ensembles has adopted a distinct identity; Masada has become the standard bearer, while The Dreamers are the yin to Moonchild's yang.
With a mix of wistful nostalgia and cinematic ambience, The Dreamers brings Zorn's fondness for Post-War exotica to life, invoking the buoyant surf of The Astronauts ("Laughing Owl"), the celluloid drama of Ennio Morricone ("Archaeopteryx") and Nino Rota ("Miller's Crake"), and the enchanted island sounds of Martin Denny ("Po'o'uli") and Les Baxter ("Solitaire"). Marc Ribot's singular guitar dominates, particularly on the scorching "Little Bittern," while Kenny Wollesen's effervescent vibes and Jamie Saft's percolating keyboard filigrees provide an array of kaleidoscopic euphony. Trevor Dunn's robust bass lines, Joey Baron's infectious drumming and Cyro Baptista's ingenious percussion accents provide the group with a solid rhythmic foundation that never wavers, lending the quicksilver tunes that dominate the album's final third a vivacious air.
Exploring a range of moods, the sextet invests these colorful miniatures with vibrant lyricism, elevating them beyond mere incidental music, making O'o a delightful, if unsurprising listen.

:::Review by Troy Collins:::

John Zorn - O'o (2009)

1. Miller's Crake (4:18)
2. Akialoa (4:47)
3. Po'o'uli (5:41)
4. Little Bittern (6:30)
5. Mysterious Starling (4:32)
6. Laughing Owl (4:45)
7. Archaeopteryx (5:06)
8. Solitaire (2:11)
9. Piopio (5:11)
10. Zapata Rail (2:53)
11. Kakawahie (4:14)
12. Magdalena (5:07)

Credits
- Cyro Baptista / percussion
- Joey Baron / drums
- Trevor Dunn / bass
- Marc Ribot / guitar
- Jamie Saft / piano, organ
- Kenny Wollesen / vibraphone

I waited for this album from its very first days of release, and now I am listening to it. Yes, it is what I expected: electric band of Zorn's most regular collaborator's play Masada variations, mixing them with some 60-s movies soundtrack melodies.
Most of all this album attracts me by rare possibility to hear Masada -based real electric guitar based fusion. Guitarist Marc Ribot is this album's hero for sure. Just imagine airy, vintage sound recordings full of electric guitar soloing, old keyboards, vibraphone - and all these machinery are used to play Middle East and Eastern European (or klezmer, what is possibly more correct) tunes based melancholic, even nostalgic music.
A bit minimalistic, this music will catch you not by its technique, but by unbelievable atmosphere you didn't ear by years.
In whole - Zorn's best team is playing simple and genial music, possibly their best work for years. It's only a bit pity - Zorn's trumpet could add that small ingredient this music needs to be named masterpiece.

:::Review by snobb:::

Masada - Ipos Book of Angels, Vol. 14 (The Dreamers) (2010)

1. Tirtael
2. Hashul
3. Galizur
4. Oriel
5. Zavebe
6. Qalbam
7. Hagai
8. Zortek
9. Ezriel
10. Kutiel

Credits
Cyro Baptista: Percussion
Joey Baron: Drums
Trevor Dunn: Bass
Marc Ribot: Guitar
Jamie Saft: Keyboards
Kenny Wollesen: Vibraphone

For whatever reason, what Miles Davis accomplished with Bitches Brew - arguably the album that put fusion on the map - has never been matched and has rarely been emulated. Fusion and various forms of jazz-rock abound thanks to Miles and other pioneering artists, but the sounds and textures of Bitches Brew remain nearly unique - fusion artists took different directions and, for whatever reason, ended up sounding more directly derived from groups like Mahavishnu Orchestra than the free-form, spacious Bitches Brew-era Miles.
John Zorn's Electric Masada, here recorded at a gig in New York, is one of the few fusion groups that actually sounds a lot like Miles circa Bitches Brew. The group takes seven Masada compositions and turns them into raging, energetic beasts. "Idalah-abal", from Alef, here becomes a ferocious number with Marc Ribot's guitar jamming on an anchoring riff while Zorn flails away at his saxophone. "Hadasha" is the most Bitches Brew-like number, what with Ribot's wah-wah guitar, Zorn's more controlled blowing, and an open, spacious texture. The performances are inspired and inspiring; fitting for the occasion, part of Zorn's massive 50th birthday bash in New York.
Throughout it all, the percussion holds the group together and provides a consistently interesting and controlled backdrop to the sometimes chaotic improvisation (particularly by Zorn and electronics whiz Ikue Mori). With two drummers and a percussionist, the rhythms here are fascinating yet always groovy; for instance lending the last track, "Kisofim", a Latin shuffle kind of feel. With such a reliably interesting rhythm section, Zorn and his cohorts are free to jam into outer space. And jam they do.
If you enjoy fusion a la Bitches Brew - wide-open improvs anchored by a great groove and the occasionally rocking riff (and spiced up, once in a while, by an intensity that compares best to Naked City) - Electric Masada is one of the best things that's come along in the past decade. No exaggeration.

:::Review by Brandon Wu:::

Electric Masada - 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4 (2004)

1. Tekufah (14:33)
2. Idalah-Abal (6:18)
3. Hadasha (13:48)
4. Hath-Arob (4:07)
5. Yatzar (9:20)
6. Lilin (15:41)
7. Kisofim (8:41)

Credits
- Cyro Baptista / percussion
- Joey Baron / drums
- Trevor Dunn / bass
- Ikue Mori / laptop electronics
- Marc Ribot / guitar
- Jamie Saft / keyboards
- Kenny Wollesen / drums
- John Zorn / alto saxophone

After almost decade of John Zorn's free-jazz and klezmer musical exploration in a form of Masada band, this great musician decided to try mixing lyrical qualities of the Masada songbook with raw power of Naked City and the improvisational madness of Cobra. A true downtown supergroup, this is Zorn at his very best. The group includes , beside Zorn himself, Baron from original Masada line up (on drums), Ribot and Wollesen from Bar Kokhba, Cyro Baptista from Bar Kokhba Sextet, and few regular Zorn?s collaborators: Trevor Dunn (bass), Jamie Saft (keyb.) and Ikue Mori (laptop/electronics).
Drawing on Zorn's wide ranging stylistic influences, the band takes the Masada songbook into a whole new direction, reminiscent of jazz fusion and noise rock. Zorn uses hand signals to conduct the band, allowing for him to make up different arrangements on the spot. During Zorn's 50th Birthday Celebration at Tonic in September 2003, Electric Masada was recorded live. Released in May 2004, 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4 became the group's first official recording. This was followed by At the Mountains of Madness recorded in 2004 in Moscow and Ljubljana.

Here's a video capture for French Jazz & Classical television channel Mezzo of Electric Masada at Nancy Jazz Pulsation in 2003... Make sure not to miss this excellent concert!

:::Review by Slava (Snobb):::

John Zorn’s Electric Masada In Nancy Jazz Pulsation (October, 14 2003)
TV Broadcast

1. Intro
2. Hath-Arob
3. Karaim
4. Idalah-Abal
5. Kochot
6. Yatzar
7. Tekufah

Credits
John Zorn (alto sax)
Marc Ribot (electric guitar)
Jamie Saft (keyboards)
Trevor Dunn (electric bass)
Kenny Wollesen (drums)
Cyro Baptista (percussion)