The Entrepreneur...

In the interest of full disclosure, let me state right here that I'm not a huge fan of John Zorn's music. It's not that I'm turned off by it but that I really don't get what all the fuss is about. In my humble opinion, Zorn's renown within the music world has more to do with how he has marketed and promoted himself than anything else. I do think that most professional musicians might do well to study Mr. Zorn's techniques in those areas - marketing and promotion - in order to raise their own profile in the world. He's created a persona that is outrageous, fanatical and mysterious. He's surounded himself with outstandingly creative improvising musicians (how many can you name? 20?, 30?). He's developed a portal (Tzadik Records) from which to disseminate all of his material (well, most of it) thus keeping control of what he creates. And we still haven't even mentioned his music yet.

And that's the point.

Like all musical creators, John Zorn has a discography which runs the gamut of success. To be sure, he's been a prolific composer but the simple fact that he's released a new recording is no guarantee that it is good. But there are many who consider a work to be great simply by virtue of the fact that it is by John Zorn. That seems a tad myopic to me...

But on to today's offering...

Here for your listening pleasure is John Zorn's Electric Masada recorded September 26, 2003 at Tonic, NYC.

The band is made up of John Zorn (alto sax); Jamie Saft (keyboards); Ikue Mori (electronics); Marc Ribot (guitar); Kenny Wollesen (drums); Joey Baron (drums); Cyro Batista (percussion); Trevor Dunn (bass).

It's a fairly lengthy show made up of two sets. The music is excellent, the sound quite good and the interaction between players awesome.

The playlist (completely unknown) rolls out like this:

1. introductions 1:18

2. 22.44

3. 06:23

4. 11:18

5. 15:40
end of first set

1. introductions 0.50

2. 19.26

3. 07.08

4. 11.02

5. 11.13

6. 06:00

Enjoy!