When we (Mills College Contemporary Ensemble) did Zorn's "Bezique" back in 1992 or so, Zorn Fax'ed the score to Willie Winant for us.
Of course Willie was also playing on a San Francisco Great American Music Hall date with Zorn around the same time, in a superstar double trio for "Xu Feng", so John flew into town, but he didn't get to see our performance though. I think John's "Xu Feng" was actually a couple of weeks before our "Bezique".
I had a nice long talk with him as I drove him over the Bay Bridge. Although he may look like a "punk" and his music may often sound totally irreverent, he is quite articulate and wants to be recognized as a "composer" in the great tradition of 20th century music.
With his game strategy pieces, starting with Cobra, John Zorn actually invented a whole new way of making music with a group of people. His concept is revolutionary in its freshness but it is also PRACTICAL! It WORKS! and produces wonderful performances, if the musicians and the prompter are tuned in to what is going on.
He's invented a new type of music which is not "through-composed" but is also not totally "improvised". He's invented a performance genre with multiple levels -- there's the strategy game going on among the players and the prompter, which is a visual theatrical spectacle to watch, AND there's also the music itself which is being produced by their instruments, which you can also just close your eyes and listen to.
The score is just a few pages of instructions -- what the prompter cards should look like (someone has to cut them out of cardboard), what the rules are (it helps to already be familiar with "Cobra" rules, because "Bezique" rules are an extensive elaboration/enhancement of them). "Bezique" needs a larger ensemble than "Cobra" did, just because of how lots of different combinations are possible. "Xu Feng" is specifically for a double trio (I got to watch Zorn teach it to the musicians at their soundcheck before the GAMH concert).
And actually for "Bezique", every one of the musicians is required to "compose" a little sequence of prompter cards plus instrumental combinations, on paper...... there are "intermissions" during which "gaffers" play incidental music, while the prompter asks some musician to step up and hand in their composed sequence, which then becomes the next segment of the performance...
A particular sequence will be a series of prompter card combinations, and musician combinations -- for example, "C major", "Rock", "Loud", "High notes", "Very fast", for a given named subset of musicians.
Or, a combination of prompter cards might be more Cobra-like, "Duets" or single notes or whatever they're called in Cobra language (i.e. every musicians plays one note, and it goes around the circle of musicians rapidly, for example), there are also specifications for a musician who might be supposed to interrupt what the others are doing and disobey the rules, etc. (a "spy" who has to wear a headband, it is tossed to them by the prompter).
"Bezique" also has three phases, I forget exactly, but in phase one, the musicians actually raise their hands, during the playing, and if the prompter calls on them, they give a silent hand signal indicating what they want to happen next..... but meanwhile they have to keep track of the playing that's happening because it might be their turn to play a note or something. This is also like Cobra.
Usually the prompter points out the players who are supposed to do the next thing, and once he's gotten their attention, he shows them the cards to tell them what to do, then he drops the cards to hit the table, which is the signal to GO.
In some of the things, a player is actually given the authority to point out what other players should play next.
But when the prompter drops the next card set to hit the table, it means to drop whatever you were doing before and GO on something totally new.
A segment from one set of cards can go on for minutes, or it can last a second or even less, depending on the prompter's whim.... if he thinks it is really grooving he'll let it go on, or if he's really getting into lightning speed hyper splices, he might to drop new cards as fast as he can...
In fact maybe phase one of Bezique is just this Cobra-like scenario? and phase two moves more into the pre-composed sequences that the musicians have written down on paper? I forget.
After phase three goes on for a while, the piece ends. You can go back and do it again, more than once, in the same concert, because it always turns out totally different each time.
There are differently-colored prompter cards -- ones that concern dynamics and tempo are one color, while specific ones for chords and styles are another color, and I think there's a third color too.
The musicians all have to memorize the hand signals, plus the meanings of all the prompter cards and the prompter's signals. They have to pre-compose the sequences. And while performing, they have to keep track of both the "game" aspect, AND the musical aspect itself.
It's really a very different skill set that is needed to play Zorn's music. You have to be very sharp, on your toes, you have to have all your chops, licks, cliches, for different styles, all ready to go at a moment's notice, and also be ready to instantly STOP at a moment's notice too. Plus you have to be raising your hand and fighting for the prompter's attention, at the same time as you are playing....
We found that more traditionally-trained "classical" musicians were inclined to freak out and lose it -- they just couldn't keep track of the "game" while they were playing. Also they would get upset if they had to suddenly stop what they were doing, if they were really getting into it.
