[JPL] Twangy Tones and Vibes in a Fistful of Nostalgia

[r durfee]

March 3, 2008
Music Review | John Zorn
Twangy Tones and Vibes in a Fistful of Nostalgia 
By NATE CHINEN
John Zorn is capable of a coarse and brazenly puckered
timbre on alto saxophone, and he long ago mastered its
use as a sort of serrated blade in musical form. On
Friday night at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, the
first of two weekend performances there, he practiced
this skill for a total of two minutes, maybe three,
and the concision was wickedly effective. For the rest
of the show, Mr. Zorn sat onstage in a folding chair
and conducted his band with basic but emphatic hand
gestures. The saxophone sat on the floor beside him, a
tantalizing threat.

Mr. Zorn was presiding over the live premiere of “The
Dreamers,” a suite of short pieces he conceived for
six musicians other than himself. More specifically,
his ensemble consisted of the guitarist Marc Ribot,
the keyboardist Jamie Saft, the bassist Trevor Dunn
and the percussionists Kenny Wollesen, Cyro Baptista
and Joey Baron. Last year the same experienced crew
recorded an album version of “The Dreamers,” due soon
on Mr. Zorn’s Tzadik label. (The concert featured all
11 tracks, in the same running order.)

Though best known for his Jewish-folk-inspired Masada
projects and his almost equally prolific output of
concert music, Mr. Zorn never abandoned the mishmash
strategies of his early work. The general sound of
this ensemble was washy and nostalgic, with Mr.
Wollesen on vibraphone and Mr. Saft on Fender Rhodes
piano and Farfisa organ. Especially with Mr. Ribot
taking melodic leads in his twangy, reverb-rich tone,
the style was redolent of surf rock, psychedelia and
the film scores of Ennio Morricone. 

That last reference point, a longtime preoccupation of
Mr. Zorn, occasionally registered as a howling
presence. A piece called “Anulikwutsayl,” for
instance, featured a coolly implacable, pendulum-like
electric bass vamp — two notes, a pause, then two
more, and back again — along with an overlay of
percussive noise and atmospheric effects. Mr. Ribot
occupied the foreground with dramatic, spindly lines.
The ensemble, goaded on by Mr. Zorn, developed a
crescendo around him, swelling and cresting like a
wave.

Klezmer rhythms and modes rippled through most of the
pieces, including “Toys,” the one on which Mr. Zorn
opted to play. But they mingled with other sonic
suggestions. “Of Wonder and Certainty” managed to earn
its dedication to Lou Reed, while “Raksasa,” with its
serpentine bass line and guitar-and-vibes melody,
could have passed for a tune by Stereolab. “A Ride on
Cottonfair,” a snappy jazz waltz for acoustic piano,
bass and drums, with frisky forays into common meter,
uncannily evoked the Vince Guaraldi Trio. 

The precise dimensions of the pieces weren’t often
disturbed by anything as disruptive as an alto
saxophone meltdown. Sure, Mr. Ribot soloed often, with
heat and imagination — he’s a maestro of the
blues-abstracted fever dream — but his exertions
rarely had a chain effect within the band. Partly
that’s because the obsessively engaged Mr. Zorn, his
alto untouched but on hand, was there to ensure that
the train stayed securely on its rails. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/arts/music/03zorn.html?ref=music

Roy Durfee
P.O. Box 40219
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87196-0219
rdurfee2003 at yahoo.com


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