05/26/14
Evan HagaNow 60, composer and saxophonist John Zorn is the creator and curator of a specific yet far-reaching strain of the musical avant-garde—his own genre, his own nation. He transcended comparisons to other improvising musicians long ago: Far better to draw lines from the quintessential Downtowner to, say, filmmakers Robert Altman and John Cassavetes, in his repeated use of a trusted, versatile troupe of his design. Or to Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann, for his laughably prolific output. Or to any number of artists who've expanded the parameters and function of ethnic tradition.
Those facets and more were laid out on March 19 at New York's Town Hall, where Zorn premiered the first 20 compositions from his third Masada songbook, titled
The Book Beriah. The nearly three-hour-long program, part of Town Hall's Newish Jewish Music Festival, acted as an entrée into the Zorn universe as it exists in 2014—a primer on its current characters and the composer's recent predilections.
Masada, a repertory Zorn has been creating for more than two decades now, will be completed with this third installment. As he explained, the first book contained 205 compositions, the second 316 and the third will have 92, for a total of 613 tunes: the number of
mitzvoth, or commandments, in the Torah. That's a pointed plan, seemingly more deliberate than the Masada music itself, which relies on the general notions and modalities of Jewish folksong and can filter through any number of styles. It's often consonant and full of momentum—action-packed, reasonably concise, easily enjoyed. Most important, Masada songs allow the ensemble performing them to maintain or create an identity. When you have Zorn's resources in terms of personnel, you want the material to bend toward the musicians. . . .
The JazzTimes article continues with a review of the March 19 Town Hall concert.
