Jazz for aficionados
Came upon a new release from John Zorn, entitled "Homenaje a Remedios Varo" (Como se dice en ingles = "Tribute to Remedios Varo"). Here's a track: https://youtu.be/mmdYRnKlxgE?si=hmTrtOLdoFzQUm1v The guitarist is Julian Lage. The whole album is on Spotify. I had never encountered John Zorn before; he seems to be a renaissance man.
|
John Zorn is a genius for sure... his series of 32 albums "the books of angels" is completely astounding Klezmer- fusion jazz in a creative way... Forget it if you dont enjoy non classical jazz... Anyway it is costly to buy 32 albums... myself i dont like them all for sure but they are many treasures... Description of the 32 albums here : https://johnzornresource.com/book-of-angels
I will put Zorn spiritual jazz with Sun Ra cosmic jazz and some other completely original creators as the spiritual jazz series albums especially with Japanese musicians..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNv2RxjsbWA&t=441s Jazz/ Klezmer/ fusion at his peak... an example : Bar Kokhba Sextet - Lucifer (Book of Angels Vol 10)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNFh2FsJp8o now this other album as you can see is completely different : John Zorn - Marc Ribot – Asmodeus (Book Of Angels Volume 7)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAZv11A-DpI
This first album though is one of my best one :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53YGLrK1JzA&list=PLec18SnEW_3wv53gH3Af3vo26CxFaIN2s
By the way i dont like klezmer nor fusion in general or in particular but as i already said we must make many exceptions in life and about our tastes criteria when we encounter musical geniuses... I dont listen music styles or genres now so much but more the musicians as interpreters or creators ... Then no style or genre is out of my collection anymore... What is music ? It is what musicians do first and last .... Nothing else...Nevermind the language they use , it is about what they do with it... Music is a gesture of all the body with or without instruments ...The basis is time, timing and rythm...
|
This John Zorn CD I bought years ago and had mixed feelings about it and a few other Zorn CDs I purchased. It goes without saying that if you are having mixed feelings (or second thoughts) about an artist, you will stop spending your hard earned money on him/her. Voodoo • Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet (spotify.com) Fast forward to when I happily started using Spotify and could listen to an album before buying it and I can now explore Zorn freely and pick and choose songs I like. I just put together this John Zorn Book Of Angels playlist I titled John Zorn 1 BOA (book of angels). It comprises the first 8 BOA sessions in chapter "1". When time permits I plan to make 3 more chapters covering all of the BOA sessions to give a listen. John Zorn 1 BOA - playlist by Paul Irishman | Spotify I listened to BOA Vol. 1 in its entirety and it is by no means "chaotic noise" Some of the songs were quite enjoyable. However if you like to use genres for music/artists I would not call Book of Angels Volume 1 "Astaroth" jazz. I do not know what genre I would call it. Maybe abstract music? world music?
|
@mahgister Great post, thank you! I hadn't heard of Klezmer music before this very moment. More to learn. Also, your last 4 sentences hit home.
|
Now here is some really good music that you can definitely describe as jazz. The band is called "Steps Ahead". From Wiki The group arose out of spontaneous sessions at Seventh Avenue South, a jazz club in New York City owned by saxophonist Michael Brecker and trumpeter brother Randy Brecker.[2] The first three albums were released under the name Steps, later changed to Steps Ahead, on Nippon Columbia in Japan, starting with the debut live album Smokin' in the Pit (1980), followed by Step By Step (1981) and Paradox (1982). I listened to the live album "Smokin' in the Pit" in its entirety last night and it is what I would call "a keeper". Check out the personnel! Michael Brecker (arguably the best tenor player alive 1975 - 2007), and Steve Gadd, often placed on the list of "best drummers" on drums, Michael Mainiary on vibes, Eddie Gomez on bass, and Don Grolnick on piano. The last 3 musicians are all excellent as well. All of them are superlative as soloists and there is great cohesiveness and "feel" among the band when playing as a whole. I will be listening to them a lot more! |
