Zorn’s musical genius
HOW is it that hundreds of Hebrew jazz tunes, the shrieking experimental jazz and heavy metal drums of the band Naked City, a women’s a cappella work based on the musings of 12th-century nun Hildegard von Bingen, and an album of popular Christmas carols could all be dreamt up by one person? Well, who else could it be but John Zorn?
Such wide-ranging musical adventures have kept the American composer and saxophonist so busy over the years that it won’t be until the tail end of his 60th birthday celebrations that he makes his long-awaited Australian debut.
As a headlining act at the Adelaide Festival in March, with dozens of handpicked collaborators in tow, he will be presenting Zorn in Oz, a four-day marathon series of concerts.
A leading figure of the downtown New York avant-garde, Zorn is so well-known for the Jewish influences that propel his work that he was once caricatured on the cover of Jazz Times wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Star of David.
He declared his Masada compositions of the 1990s “a sort of radical Jewish music, a new Jewish music which is not the traditional one in a different arrangement, but music for the Jews of today. The idea is to put Ornette Coleman and the Jewish scales together.”
As rebellious a virtuoso as he is a composer – whether ripping into a saxophone solo or dispensing with his instrument to cue his bandmates with wild hand gestures – Zorn wears his genre-defying music as loose as his ubiquitous army cargo pants.
His is a youthful 60, still every bit the enfant terrible at the forefront of jazz today. But recognition as a serious composer has come relatively late in life.
In addition to the raucous, turbo-charged klezmer of Electric Masada on the Adelaide Festival program, Australians will hear his Holy Visions, a musical meditation of unexpected serenity and radiance.
Among the five singers to perform the work in Adelaide is New York-based Australian soprano Jane Sheldon, who premiered Holy Visions and has toured Zorn’s 60th-birthday program around the world.
“In Jerusalem,” Sheldon recalls, “we sang at midnight to people seated on cushions in an ancient cave dug under the Old City, which had served as a quarry for King Solomon.”
Sheldon insists the composer is “the most voracious, energetic person I’ve ever met and it really shows, not only at the level of the program, but also inside each individual piece”.
She adds: “Zorn approaches not just his music, but also his musicians, with a deep generosity of spirit. He’s demanding, of course, and in his music he asks a lot of his performers, and he can because he knows we’re game.
“Occasionally when I’m working on difficult music I feel like the quest for perfection can shut everyone down a bit, but John, who’s in no way short on perfectionism, sets a tone that is very openhearted.”
Zorn remains fiercely engaged in his cultural heritage, not just as a composer-performer but as a conserver, curator and champion of the music.
In 1995 he launched his own label, Tzadik Records, and with it the CD series Radical Jewish Music. That year, he released the album Kristallnacht, in which he samples the voice of Hitler.
In 2001, he received the Performing Arts award from the US National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
Zorn conceives of the Radical Jewish Music range as a challenge to adventurous musical thinkers.
“What is Jewish music? What is its future … Can Jewish music exist without a connection to klezmer, cantorial or yiddish theatre?”
The Adelaide Festival is from February 28 to March 16. Bookings: www.adelaidefestival.com.au.
REPORT by Melissa Lesnie
PHOTO of John Zorn conducting his musicians. Photo: Maarten Mooijman
Feast of concerts
Masada Marathon
Tuesday, March 11
John Zorn joins more than 20 performers in a marathon four-hour concert that features his Masada compositions and inspiring music ranging from jazz and rock to classical and world music.
Classical Marathon
Wednesday, March 12
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Elision Ensemble and conductor David Fulmer join forces with John Zorn to perform some of his greatest classical works in a two-hour concert.
Triple Bill
Thursday, March 13
In Bladerunner, the first part of the Triple Bill, John Zorn plays his saxophone with bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Dave Lombardo for a performance of extraordinary improvisation. Essential Cinema sees members of Electric Masada play Zorn-composed and conducted film scores. The final part, Cobra sees Zorn play conductor, signal caller and ringleader in avant-garde improvised music.
Zorn@60
Friday, March 14
A 60th birthday four-hour extravaganza featuring performances from Mike Patton, Jesse Harris and Sofia Rei, the beautiful exotica of The Dreamers, a powerful tribute by Moonchild, and the wild sounds of Electric Masada.
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