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Zorn List Digest         Sunday, June 27 1999         Volume 02 : Number 686



In this issue:
-
       Re[2]: VAO
       Re: KVD/MacArthur
       John Zorn: The String Quartets
       Masada in Belgium
       Re: KVD/MacArthur
       Re: VAO/Pierre Dorge
       re:$4.95 cds
       small sale (UK)
       Re: $4.95 cds
       Re: VAO
       Re: VAO
       Re: VAO etc.
       Re: VAO etc.
       Chris Burn Ensemble
       Zorn in Europe
       cortex bomb
       Masada live in Warsaw, Poland

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 99 09:28:51 -0500
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re[2]: VAO

Alan Kayser wrote:

>...but Mr. Reugg is to be commended for the
>many fine albums that the band produced.  IMHO, much superior to the Breuker
>output.  On a par with another excellent Euro-bigband, the Pierre Dorge New
>Jungle Orchestra.  They are still active, too, but have, like the VAO, slid
>from their best work.

While I agree that all of these bands are long past their prime periods, I have
to put in at least a wee defense of WBK. Their recorded output up to the late
80's (circa 'Metropolis') imho easily outshines that of other large bands in
that general category, ie, groups using diverse influences (including humor and
European musical traditions) to showcase more-or-less free soloists. A couple of
their albums, 'Live in Holland' and 'Dreibergen-Zeist' (both on BVHaast) are,
again, imho, two of the finest jazz releases from the 80's. That being said,
their recordings over the last ten years or so have been (largely) clunky
affairs with some brighter spots (much of 'Sensemaya', a few minutes of the
recent 'Pakkepappen'). But I'd also have to say that live, at least in NYC
performances in recent years, they still put on an exciting show. Yeah, the
shtick gets old and some of the arrangements are a bit stultified, but the band
still boasts some great players including, perhaps, the two best trumpeters that
no one knows about, Boy Raaymakers and Andy Altenfelder as well as the
extraordinary bassist, Arjen Gorter.

That ponderous quality seems to afflict many once-promising large ensembles,
including those Alan mentioned, as well as Vesala's band and others, at least on
recording. Perhaps it's a different story live, but I get the impression that
the art of arranging is an increasingly lost one. Few of these bands soar or
groove with Ellingtonian or Mingusian (or Sy Oliverian!) ease.

Except....Barry Guy's LJCO. For me, _that's_ the large ensemble that matters
these days. I'm sure there are others around, toiling in obscurity; nominees
welcomed.

Brian Olewnick






- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 10:54:45 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken Waxman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: KVD/MacArthur

265,000 clams (U.S.), which ain't hay. You might be interested to know
that over in Chicago angry e-mails are going back and forth because soem
folks don't feel Ken "deserves" the $$$.

I too could thinbk of many other deservinbg people besides Ken, but heck,
at least someone in the "out" community got the kale. Hopefully he'll use
it to promote the music even more than he does now. (Hope, though, that he
doesn't want to write an "opera" or "string quartet" -- see WMarsalis).

Ken Waxman
[e-mail]




On Fri, 25 Jun 1999, Mike Chamberlain wrote:

> Brian Olewnick wrote:
> >
> > In case anyone here's not heard (those z-listers who don't lurk at rmb),
> > Ken Vandermark has been given a MacArthur grant
>
> He's doing OK--and his wife's a doctor, to boot.  Oh yeah, I think you
> meant over $250,000; otherwise it has only prestige value. :-)
>
> --Mike
>
> -
>
>

- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 22:04:54 +0200
From: "Rob Allaert" <[e-mail]>
Subject: John Zorn: The String Quartets

Finally some news about Zorn. I'm sure a lot of you (who surf to Tzadik)
were already aware of this but I never read anything about on the Zorn li=
st.
Anyway, here it is:

John Zorn: The String Quartets

At last all four of Zorn=92s infamous compositions for string quartet are
available on CD! Originally commissioned by the world-renown Kronos Quart=
et,
three of these pieces are recorded here for the first time. From the
cartoon/montage qualities of the popular "Cat O=92Nine Tails," to the S/M
poetry of "The Dead Man," the hermetic philosophy of "Memento Mori" and t=
he
spiritual transcendence of "Kol Nidre," these four quartets take on and
challenge the tradition of classical string quartets from Beethoven, Bart=
=F3k,
Webern, Carter and Ferneyhough, forging an exciting new world of their ow=
n.
Performed by an exciting new quartet of Zorn veterans and new music
virtuosos, Zorn=92s unique compositional voice shines like never before.

Track listing:

1. Cat o'nine tails
Composed by John Zorn
with Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Joyce Hammann, Lois Martin

2. The Dead Man
Composed by John Zorn
with Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Joyce Hammann, Lois Martin

3. Memento Mori
Composed by John Zorn
with Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Joyce Hammann, Lois Martin

4. Kol Nidre
Composed by John Zorn
with Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Joyce Hammann, Lois Martin

Release date: July 20,1999

Rob Allaert
[e-mail]
ICQ #18906168
=A0
Buy a nice book or CD and support me! Follow this link to FrontStage and
I will get a special bonus on all your orders. I recommend FrontStage,
visit them soon. Thanks!
http://friends.frontstage.com/?13772


- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 22:05:30 +0200
From: "Rob Allaert" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Masada in Belgium

Hi JazZorns,

I'm the luckiest man alive. Masada will be playing in Belgium. Now I wond=
er
what Masada line-up it will be? Will it be Zorn, Douglas, Cohen and Baron=
 or
is this impossible?

Any Comments ?

Rob Allaert
[e-mail]
ICQ #18906168
=A0
Buy a nice book or CD and support me! Follow this link to FrontStage and
I will get a special bonus on all your orders. I recommend FrontStage,
visit them soon. Thanks!
http://friends.frontstage.com/?13772


- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 21:11:05 -0400
From: Alan Lankin <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: KVD/MacArthur

Ken Waxman wrote:
>
> 265,000 clams (U.S.), which ain't hay. You might be interested to know
> that over in Chicago angry e-mails are going back and forth because soem
> folks don't feel Ken "deserves" the $$$.
>
> I too could thinbk of many other deservinbg people besides Ken, but heck,
> at least someone in the "out" community got the kale. Hopefully he'll use
> it to promote the music even more than he does now. (Hope, though, that he
> doesn't want to write an "opera" or "string quartet" -- see WMarsalis).
>

I don't think he's exactly loaded.  The Vandermark 5 has been on ae
16-cities-in-16 days tour. I heard the group in Philly last Friday
(great concert) & Ken was talking about sleeping on somebody's floor.
Perhaps he can get a hotel room for his next tour.

In an interview, he said he felt underserving compared to be in the same
company of other award winners & that he was still learning.  I'm
cheered by his show of humility.

As for plans, he mentioned trying to get a U.S. tour of the Brotzmann
tentet & being able to get more material released on Okkadisk (in which
he has no financial stake, evidentally).

There are others also deserving of this grant, but it's nice that
someone got it.

Alan
http://home.att.net/~lankina/jazz/newjazz.html

- --
Alan Lankin
[e-mail]
http://home.att.net/~lankina/jazz

- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 20:58:51 -0500
From: Dave Lechtenberg <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: VAO/Pierre Dorge

Alan E Kayser wrote:
> I suppose it would have been difficult to keep so many high quality players
> together over a twenty year period, but Mr. Reugg is to be commended for the
> many fine albums that the band produced.  IMHO, much superior to the Breuker
> output.  On a par with another excellent Euro-bigband, the Pierre Dorge New
> Jungle Orchestra.  They are still active, too, but have, like the VAO, slid
> from their best work.
>

I'll second the good word for Pierre Dorge's New Jungle Orchestra.
They're a bit different than VAO and WBK because of the strong African
element. Very upbeat and joyous. Johnny Dyani plays on the early albums.
Anyone interested in African flavored jazz should give them a try.

Anyone else notice that the 4th edition Penguin Guide gives only 3 stars
to
Dorge's Brikama even though 2nd edition gave 4 stars? (Don't know about
the
3rd edition since I don't have it.) Seems like a typo to me. It's a 4
star
recording in my opinion. Find it if you can. Steeplechase stuff is hard
to find these days...

- -Dave

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 16:47:22 +1000 (EST)
From: Aaron Chee-Kean Chua <[e-mail]>
Subject: re:$4.95 cds

tried to log on to the site today. does anyone know if they have
discontinued their offer? i couldn't even find any of cds from earlier
visits to the site at regular prices.

aaron


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 09:46:58 +0100
From: DAVID THOMAS <[e-mail]>
Subject: small sale (UK)

some things for sale ( due to cd prices in the US being cheaper
than Europe,  not much point in selling outside the UK/Europe..)

Braxton - Four comps, quartet 1995 - =A39
              Istanbul, sextet 1996 (2 x cd) - =A315
MMW - Combustication - =A38
Open Loose - Come Ahead Back (Eskelin, Helias, Rainey) -=A38

prices include postage...thanks.

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 07:12:42 -0500
From: Eric Saidel <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: $4.95 cds

> tried to log on to the site today. does anyone know if they have
> discontinued their offer? i couldn't even find any of cds from earlier
> visits to the site at regular prices.
>
> aaron
>

Bad news I fear.  I called their customer service and was told that
they're out of stock on many items and for others the price has
changed.  Oh well, we knew this wouldn't last.  They weren't very
helpful about what would happen orders as yet unfilled.  My guess is
that if you've ordered and they haven't shipped it yet (a boat I'm in),
then you won't be getting your cds.  Keep an eye on those credit card
charges!

- - eric

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 08:38:39 -0400
From: "Caleb T. Deupree" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: VAO

At 09:28 AM 6/25/99 -0500, [e-mail] wrote:
>
>Except....Barry Guy's LJCO. For me, _that's_ the large ensemble that matters
>these days. I'm sure there are others around, toiling in obscurity; nominees
>welcomed.

I like the LJCO, but I'd nominate Chris Burns' Ensemble, whose recent album
on Acta is superb; and the ICP Orchestra, whose arrangements of Ellington
pieces are excellent.  I also like the King Ubu Orchestra disk a lot, are
they still active?  And I hear good things about the Italian Instabile
Orchestra and the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.  And what about the
Brotz tentet?

- --
Caleb Deupree
[e-mail]

Computers are useless; they can only give you answers
- -- Pablo Picasso

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 11:07:45 -0400
From: Brian Olewnick <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: VAO

Caleb T. Deupree wrote:

> I like the LJCO, but I'd nominate Chris Burns' Ensemble, whose recent album
> on Acta is superb;

Caleb--could you give a brief description of this? Always meant to give
his ensemble a listen but, of course, haven't gotten there yet.

> and the ICP Orchestra, whose arrangements of Ellington
> pieces are excellent.

The one I have, 'Bospaadje' (sp?), I'm not too crazy about. Gets back to
the arrangements, a frequent problem I have with large avant-garde
ensembles. There's too often a (take your pick) thinness, stridency or
shrillness to my ears. Now, in some cases this may be intentional but in
many examples, I'm fairly sure the arranger was going for a
semi-traditional sound but falling short. That's one of the aspects of
Guy's ensemble I most enjoy, the extreme richness and depth of his
sound. But maybe I just haven't heard the right ICP stuff yet.

> And what about the
> Brotz tentet?

Of course, but one has to draw the "large ensemble" line somewhere!
Gotta get herr Brotz to add Van Hove and his son, then they might
qualify. ;-) BTW, any news on jungen Caspar's activity lately?

Brian Olewnick

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 13:25:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken Waxman <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: VAO etc.

Here I have to take issue again. Yes, yes, the Brotzmann tentet (and
octet) is great. Run out and get the 3-CD set on Okka disk. Ditto the
Italian IO. It has a great 2-CD set on Leo.

But, as much as I like the individual players in Chris Burns' Ensemble, I
find the end product both precious and airy.  I saw the band at Victo in
1998 and have the CD, but feel the group could use a dose of steroids or
maybe an alarm clock. My humble opinion, of course.

Ken Waxman
[e-mail]


On Sat, 26 Jun 1999, Caleb T. Deupree wrote:

> I like the LJCO, but I'd nominate Chris Burns' Ensemble, whose recent album
> on Acta is superb; and the ICP Orchestra, whose arrangements of Ellington
> pieces are excellent.  I also like the King Ubu Orchestra disk a lot, are
> they still active?  And I hear good things about the Italian Instabile
- -Orchestra and the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.  And what
about the > Brotz tentet?
> -
>
>

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 15:45:14 -0400
From: "Caleb T. Deupree" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: VAO etc.

At 01:25 PM 6/26/99 -0400, Ken Waxman wrote:
>
>But, as much as I like the individual players in Chris Burns' Ensemble, I
>find the end product both precious and airy.  I saw the band at Victo in
>1998 and have the CD, but feel the group could use a dose of steroids or
>maybe an alarm clock. My humble opinion, of course.

I'll admit they don't play the same kind of music as, say, LJCO.  The
traditions of what we'd call 'big band music' is much less in the Ensemble,
and in that sense it's closer to King Ubu, or perhaps some of the
experimental classical music of Stockhausen (or even Zorn's game pieces).
What Ken speaks of as 'precious and airy' I hear as textured and delicate.
As I think about it, there are a lot of ensembles like this, including
Butch Morris' conductions as well as some of Maarten Altena's larger
groups, where collective improvisation counts for as much as
ensemble-solo-ensemble.

For more traditional-type arranging, how about some of Carla Bley's
outfits, including the terrific Liberation Music Orchestra she's done with
Charlie Haden?


- --
Caleb Deupree
[e-mail]

Computers are useless; they can only give you answers
- -- Pablo Picasso

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 16:05:02 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Chris Burn Ensemble

In a message dated 6/26/99 3:40:56 PM, [e-mail] writes:

<< The traditions of what we'd call 'big band music' is much less in the
Ensemble,
and in that sense it's closer to King Ubu, or perhaps some of the
experimental classical music of Stockhausen (or even Zorn's game pieces).
What Ken speaks of as 'precious and airy' I hear as textured and delicate. >>

I think they're closer to textured and delicate also, at least on record, but
I wouldn't have minded seeing some espresso shots passed around the band
before their 1998 Victo show.

I'd like to mention Simon Fell's Composition No. 30 (Bruce's Fingers) for the
umpteenth time as an example of a composer who's doing something new and
interesting with a larger ensemble.

Jon
www.erstwhilerecords.com

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 09:53:18 +0200
From: "johnrust" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Zorn in Europe

Havin' no opportunity to go neither to Poland nor to Belgium to see Zorn I
would like to ask everyone who knows anything about his other european
appearences (if any). So far I haven't seen any comments on this in German
press. Please please don't let miss another chance!... (although I don't
know if there is one....:(  )


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 02:39:08 -0700
From: sushi <[e-mail]>
Subject: cortex bomb

Hello Zornphiles,
we are a quintet from tucson sometimes compared to naked cities/bungle
blah
blah whatever. Anyhow we have a cd available next week (contact me if
interested) and some free mp3 files for you to sample on our website.
buenos dias,
Richard Swelling/ 6strung electrick bassbomber
http://www.mockbrawn.com/bands/cortex/

btw- any of you with a chance to see ruins will kick yerself silly if
you
miss that show...shit i'll kick you silly if you miss that, i live in
tucson, no one comes here ever dammit. (zeni geva 1994?)


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 21:10:01 +0200
From: "Artur Nowak" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Masada live in Warsaw, Poland

Hi Philozorners!

Last Friday Masada was performing at Warsaw Summer Jazz Days Festival in
Poland. Actually, this were three Masadas playing:

MASADA STRING TRIO:
Greg COHEN:  bass
Mark FELDMAN:  violin
Erik FRIEDLANDER:  cello
John ZORN:  conductor

MASADA - BAR KOKHBA:
Cyro BAPTISTA:  percussion
Joey BARON:  drums
Greg COHEN:  bass
Mark FELDMAN:  violin
Erik FRIEDLANDER:  cello
Marc RIBOT:  guitar
John ZORN:  conductor

MASADA QUARTET:
Joey BARON:  drums
Greg COHEN:  bass
Dave DOUGLAS:  trumpet
John ZORN:  alto

The show started at 19:00 and after two 15 minutes breaks between each band
it ended at 23:00.

This show was absolutely amazing. I saw Masada for the first time in my
life, but I know the band quite well, I have all DIW albums, Tzadik Chamber
Masadas and quite few live recordings of Masada Quartet. I must say, that
this was the best show I ever saw. Not only the music was beatifull, but
Zorn and the band were great. He was in a very good mood, he said "fuck off"
to the photographers and "we are fucking Jews from New York" he was ready to
go, very concentrated. He was enjoying the String Trio playing, he was
sitting on the stage right afront of them, making signals, and laughing to
Feldman, Friedlander and Cohen. I was in the third row, almost right behind
his shoulders, so I could see the three paying musicians looking at him and
looking for hints. I could also see the TV monitor screen on the side (whole
show was recorded and will be transmitted this Monday) showing Zorn form the
front - this was I could see whole communication between them. Zorn was
smiling a lot showing "OK" to the musicians after their solos, swinging his
head to the subtle rhythm. After few minutes I could understand the signs he
was giving with the hands - when to play solo, come back to the main theme,
or use pizicato. Watching it happening was an incredible expirience. The
music was passionate and beautifull.

The second set added some more heat, they were playing "The Circle Maker"
songs in the order of the CD (if my memory serves). Joey Baron was lauging
to Zorn all the time, after one of Ribot's solos (Marc was playing the day
before with the Cubason Postizos) Zorn was shaking his hand, and you could
see the message on his face "this was good Marc, very good". Feldman and
Friedlander gave few amazing duets - dialogues, I could swear they were
reading each others mind and intentions. Baron was wild, lauging, giving a
lot of positive energy to Zorn and the people on the audience. I never saw
anybody playing with such pleasure. Cohen ("the man of the night" Zorn said,
he was playing all sets through) was the foundation of the band. After the
encore ("we gonna play some sephardic surf music for you"), Zorn was hugging
them all. It was a kind of "Masada reunion" - they have extreme pleasure of
playing together again.

And then was the "brass Masada", with Douglas. They played for almost an
hour and this hour passed like 10 minutes to me. Only known songs, but they
rocked! Baron gave few wild solos, Douglas was playing from this memory all
the time, after his solos, at the end of the song Zorn has hugging and
kissing (!) him, saying something to his ear, and both were laughing.

The audience was full and Masada gave one encore. People were clapping their
hands (and kicking the sits) again, so Zorn brought all the musicians to the
stage, asking for applause for each individually. Unfortunately, they were
too tired to play one more encore. Me and my friends were extatic, the way
they played just smashed us. The music is well known to us form the records,
but the energy and passion for the music they had was absolutely
unbelievable.

    __________________________________________________________________
    Artur Nowak [arno AT emd.pl]
    www.emd.pl - Discography of Bill Frisell


- -

------------------------------

End of Zorn List Digest V2 #686
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