{"id":4259,"date":"2014-09-01T19:15:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T19:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=4259"},"modified":"2014-09-01T19:15:51","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T19:15:51","slug":"john-zorn-to-play-manhattans-village-vanguard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/01\/john-zorn-to-play-manhattans-village-vanguard\/","title":{"rendered":"John Zorn to Play Manhattan's Village Vanguard"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last year, composer and musician John Zorn<\/strong> marked his 60th<\/sup> birthday with an international celebration that began in Glasgow, Scotland and ended with a sprawling four-night festival at Australia\u2019s Adelaide Festiva<\/a>l.
\nIn New York City alone, more than a dozen events spanned four months and much of Manhattan. If these were grand statements, they also made for intimate experiences. There was Zorn in July 2103, during the Lincoln Center Festival, after an a capella vocal-quintet performance of his \u201cThe Holy Visions,\u201d sitting down at Alice Tully Hall\u2019s magnificent pipe organ to play \u201cThe Hermetic Organ, Office No. 8\u201d, stirring up a glorious din with childlike glee. Two months later, he wept softly on curator Limor Tomer\u2019s shoulder as he and audience members walked from the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s Temple of Dendur\u2014where a trio of guitar, vibraphone and harp had played his \u201cGnostic Preludes\u201d\u2014to the gallery of Assyrian art, where cellist Erik Friedlander was to perform music drawn from Zorn\u2019s immense body of Masada compositions, all part of a full-day Zorn marathon<\/a>.
\n\u201cZorn @ 60<\/a>,” as that outpouring was dubbed,\u00a0celebrated the depth, range and ambition of Zorn\u2019s work, and it underscored the point that although his music early on helped establish an attitude and perhaps even a brand known as \u201cdowntown,\u201d it has never fit such a limiting aesthetic and has long been at home everywhere along Manhattan\u2019s cultural landscape, from Lower East Side clubs to uptown citadels of culture.
\nAnd yet I hadn\u2019t realized that Zorn, whose own customary instrument is an alto saxophone, has never played one Manhattan musical shrine\u2014the Village Vanguard<\/a><\/strong> jazz club\u2014despite the fact that much of Zorn’s music extends quite clearly from jazz tradition and that his Masada Quartet, with trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Greg Cohen and drummer Joey Baron, ranks as one of modern jazz\u2019s most stirring small ensembles.
\nZorn\u2019s Masada Quartet will play two sets at the Vanguard on Saturday, September 6, as part a six-night engagement showcasing the second and third books of his voluminous Masada repertoire, as performed by a dozen different bands. \u201c<\/strong>John Zorn\u2019s Masada\u2014Angels at the Vanguard<\/a>.\u201d <\/strong>(According to the club, Zorn will sit in on 10:30 sets Wednesday through Sunday nights; a full schedule can be found here<\/a>, or below.)
\nThe booking shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise. Henry Threadgill\u2019s Zooid played the Vanguard this summer. Marc Ribot\u2019s recent CD, \u201cLive at the Vanguard<\/a>\u201d (Pi), with a trio including bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Chad Taylor, was recorded at the club during a six-night 2012 gig<\/a>. Each group was a great fit for the acoustically charmed Vanguard space, while extending well beyond sound of mainstream jazz.
\n\u201cLorraine had wanted John here for quite some time,\u201d said Deborah Gordon, referring to her mother, who owns and runs the storied jazz club. \u201cAnd I get the sense that John felt that now was the right moment.\u201d
\nThe booking came about serendipitously, she said.\u00a0Violinist Eyvind Kang was performing at the club in a band led by guitarist Bill Frisell. On his way out one evening, Kang told Deborah Gordon that he was rushing off to play in a Masada Marathon Zorn was putting on at Manhattan\u2019s Town Hall.
\n\u201cTell John that little Debbie Gordon says hello,\u201d she told Kang. (She and Zorn knew each other from their days as high schoolers at Manhattan\u2019s United Nations International School.)
\n\u201cThe next day, I got an email from him,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cHe came down to the club and we talked. It was all in the timing.\u201d
\nZorn\u2019s massive Masada project began 20 years ago as simply \u201can attempt to write new tunes that I could play,\u201d he told me during an interview. In that sense, it is akin to any jazz bandleader\u2019s book\u2014rich with concise musical statements that establish a signature while inviting open-ended improvisation. Yet Masada is also Zorn\u2019s \u201cpersonal answer to what new Jewish music is,\u201d he said. As such, it extends a theme that has informed much of Zorn\u2019s work, including his orchestral pieces and the CDs on his independent label, Tzadik.
\nTaken as a whole, Zorn\u2019s Masada project has made profound suggestions about both Jewish identity and musical possibility.\u00a0Book One gave rise to a new and potent chapter in Zorn\u2019s career, and to the formation of several groups including the quartet, and the wonderful Masada String Trio (violinist Mark Feldman, cellist Erik Friedlander, and bassist Greg Cohen; Friday, Sept. 5 at 8:30 at the Vanguard).\u00a0Book Two spawned 20 recordings by 20 musicians and bands, including last year\u2019s wonderful (and, to me, surprising)\u00a0\u201cTap: John Zorn\u2019s Book of Angels, Vol. 20,\u201d <\/a>(Nonesuch\/Tzadik). Book Three: The Book Beriah,” the final installment, brought Zorn\u2019s total number of Masada compositions to 613 (the number of mitzvot, or commandments, contained in the Jewish Torah). Zorn presented that third book in a marathon \u201cshuffle\u201d concert at Town Hall, featuring 20 different bands and more than 50 musicians from wildly divergent backgrounds. (Zorn recently hinted to me that there will likely be one more Masada piece, on a grand scale (some believe in a 614th commandment<\/a>).
\nThe Vanguard engagement will focus on music from Masada books Two and Three, presented in formats ranging from solo (Erik Friedlander; Thursday, Sept. 4 at 8:30) and duet (Mark Feldman and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier; Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 8:30) to an octet led by percussionist Roberto Rodriguez (Sunday, Sept. 7 at 8:30), and ranging widely in stylistic inclination: the group Zion 80 (Thursday, Sept. 4 at 10:30) bills itself as \u201cRabbi Shlomo Carlebach meets Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti.\u201d
\nWhether overdue or just in time, Zorn\u2019s engagement at the Village Vanguard, a jazz club rich with history, holds all sorts of promise: How will his Angels commune with all those ghosts?
\nJOHN ZORN\u2019S MASADA\u2014ANGELS AT THE VANGUARD: A special week long festival of 12 bands from John Zorn’s Book of Angels series performing music from Masada Books Two and Three.
\n—–Tues September 02, 2014
\n8:30 \u2013 Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier-MALPHAS
\nMark Feldman (violin) Sylvie Courvoisier (piano)
\n10:30 – Eyvind Kang Ensemble
\nEyvind Kang (viola) Mark Feldman (violin) Doug Weiselman (clarinets) Erik Friedlander (cello) Hidayat Honari (tar, guitar) Shahzad Ismaily (bass) Ches Smith (percussion)
\n—–Wed September 03, 2014
\n8:30 – Jamie Saft Trio
\nJamie Saft (piano) Greg Cohen (bass) Kenny Wollesen (drums)
\n10:30 – Uri Caine Trio
\nUri Caine (piano) Greg Cohen (bass) Joey Baron (drums)
\n—–Thu September 04, 2014
\n8:30 – Erik Friedlander Solo (cello)
\n10:30 – ZION 80 plays Masada
\nAram Bajakian (guitar) Matt Darriau (alto sax) Yoshie Fruchter (guitar) Jon Madof (guitar) Frank London (trumpet) Greg Wall (tenor sax) Yonadav Halevy (drums) Zach Mayer (baritone sax) Marlon Sobol (congas, percussion) Brian Marsella (keyboards) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass)
\n—–Fri September 05, 2014
\n8 30 – Masada String Trio
\nMark Feldman (violin) Erik Friedlander (cello) Greg Cohen (bass)
\n10:30 – Cyro Baptista\u2019s Banquet of the Spirits
\nCyro Baptista (percussion) Tim Keiper (drums) Shanir Blumenkranz (bass, oud) Brian Marsella (keyboards)
\n—–Sat September 06, 2014
\n8:30 – MASADA QUARTET
\nJohn Zorn (sax) Dave Douglas (trumpet) Greg Cohen (bass) Joey Baron (drums)
\n10:30 – MASADA QUARTET
\nJohn Zorn (sax) Dave Douglas (trumpet) Greg Cohen (bass) Joey Baron (drums)
\n—Sun September 07, 2014
\n8:30 – Roberto Rodriguez and Octeto Masada
\nCarmen Staff (piano) Uri Sharli (accodion) Eddy Khaimovich (bass) Ivan Barenboim (clarinet) Meg Okura (violin) Igor Arias (congas) Rafi Makiel (trombone) Itai Kriss (flute) Roberto Rodriguez (percussion)
\n10:30 – Uri Gurvich Quartet
\nUri Gurvich (sax) Peter Slavov (bass) Francisco Mela (drums) Leo Genovese (piano)
\nHere is his official portrait by Scott Irvine. Logo from Digipack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, composer and musician John Zorn marked his 60th birthday with an international celebration that began in Glasgow, Scotland and ended with a sprawling four-night festival at Australia\u2019s Adelaide Festival. In New York City alone, more than a dozen events spanned four months and much of Manhattan. If these were grand statements, they also … <\/p>\n

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