John Zorn New Masada Quartet

John Zorn, alto saxophone; Julian Lage, el. guitar, Jorge Roeder, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums

Masada songbooks are undeniably the most important chapter in the iconic musician’s creative career. John Zorn started spewing them out in the early 1990s, after redefining everything redefinable with Naked City and turning overnight into the greatest hero of improjazz scene among the metal, punk and rock artists. The Masada catalogue found inspiration in blending the new (radical) Jewish culture and the sound of Ornette Coleman’s acoustic quartet (Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins), a late 1950s band that remains crucial to understanding both the past and future of jazz music practices.

Zorn’s collaborators (Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen and Joey Baron) explored the catalogue in great depth, putting out ten studio albums on the Japanese record label DIW (the albums were titled after the letters of the Hebrew alphabet). There followed several live albums on Zorn’s Tzadik label and, following the example of Coleman’s 1980s Prime Time, a switch to Electric Masada. Here, mention must be made of the double live album The Mountains of Madness, as one part of the album was recorded in Cankarjev dom’s Gallus Hall. Electric Masada can be seen as a turning point in Zorn’s links with Ljubljana. Prior to that, Zorn’s visits to Slovenia included Naked City and Masada, followed by The Dreamers, Zorn’s organ recital (also released on Tzadik), and The Bagatelles Marathon. But this is just a minuscule part of his massive output, which includes over 150 albums, as well as innumerable compositions for various contemporary music ensembles that perform his works.

All this, however, does not preclude many connoisseurs from declaring the New Masada Quartet “John Zorn’s most exciting ensemble”. Although the group plays ‘the best of Masada songbooks’ (the second album is due to come out shortly), the music clearly indicates that Masada’s period of hiatus in the ashes of Downtown was merely a time of mustering up energy to return to the future.

Led by Zorn’s stop and start conducting, this telepathic group is at once virtuosic, dynamic, dramatic, and melancholy. Despite his 70th year on the planet, Zorn is still by far the world’s most ardent alto saxophonist. An absolute masterpiece!
 

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Please be advised that due to health issues the John Zorn New Masada Quartet concert has been postponed to 29 April 2024, at 20.00. 

The tickets remain valid for the new date (no exchanges necessary).

More information: vstopnice@cd-cc.si