The Wake

“I think [music] has a real impact on people’s lives—I’m still naïve enough to think that,” says John Zorn in a conversation with curator Phillip Bither at the Walker Art Center. Zorn, who has been making music on his own terms for 30 years, is far from naïve. In fact, he’s among the most revered people in the New York art community. On Feb. 17, John was in town for the Walker’s Zorn x 3, which featured a conversation with the musician, a performance by his band Electric Masada, and a unique film viewing experience.

John Zorn is known primarily for his work as a saxophone player, and his prowess on the instrument is remarkable. Well-versed in the styles of great, off-beat players like Ornette Coleman, Zorn can alternate between slow, melodic lines and fast, atonal sheets of sound in a matter of seconds. In addition to playing, he’s prolific composer, writing for his many ensembles and for film, a conductor and an entrepreneur who started his own record label, Tzadik.

“Doing it on your own is the only way to get anything done,” Zorn says. “But you’ve got to like the ‘doing’ part of it—the motivation is the work itself.” And it certainly must be the motivation for Zorn, who is constantly writing, producing and performing. His busy schedule made his appearance at the Walker a highly anticipated event.

The evening started with the conversation with the Walker’s performing arts curator, Phillip Bither, which reminded me of Inside the Actor’s Studio-. The two of them talked on stage about life as an artist. Zorn is renowned as a private person, but the conversation seemed very open. He spoke about his writing process, his disdain for the way the music business is run and his love of “excitement” in music.

“If it’s exciting,” Zorn remarks, “People will come out to see it, but it’s got to be like ‘What the fuck is this!’ if you know what I mean.” This and similar comments garnered laughs from the audience, but Zorn’s talk was full of insight, too. “The Dark Ages are upon us—the pharos have returned … but the Dark Ages area great time for art and music.”

After the 45-minute conversation, it was time for John’s band Electric Masada to play. An eight-piece experimental jazz ensemble, Electric Masada is truly a supergroup. “It’s a good band,” Zorn says. “I look at the players and say, ‘This looks great!’”

From as far away as Brazil and Japan, the musicians that make up the group form a web of connections that span the globe; they’re all in such high demand that the show at the Walker is the only date Electric Masada has scheduled for 2006 (as well as their first show outside of New York City). The music that Electric Masada plays is a mixture of free form jazz and rigid, delineated music scores.

“I’ve got to find the right balance between composition and interpretation,” remarks Zorn. The band played so fluidly that it was hard to tell which moments were planned and which were spontaneous.

Part of this is due to the fact that even within an improvisational environment, Zorn “conducts” the group. While guitarist Mark Ribot’s solo on the first song of the evening intensified, Zorn gestured towards drummers Kenny Wollesen and Joey Baron, evoking a chaotic crescendo from the rhythm section. Zorn provided the lead, but it was still up to the drummers to choose how to respond to his calls for more volume.

This sort of dialogue, sometimes mediated by Zorn, brought the performance to life. Even in moments of frantic, atonal sound, there was an assurance in the minds of the audience that the noise was leading somewhere.

Like a good bandleader, Zorn was interested in highlighting the rest of the group. He seemed especially concerned about bringing out the rhythmic subtleties provided by percussionist Cyro Batista and the ambient, manipulated sounds of Ikue Mori’s laptop and sampler. With all these elements in tact, the songs became a starting point for the saxophonist’s rich, unruly improvisation. Whether playing with perfect timbre and pitch or mashing keys and evoking squeals from his alto, John’s solos were always purposeful. The same could be said for the other featured soloists: Mark Ribot on guitar and Jamie Saft on electric piano.

The audience was in rapt attention throughout the evening. Looking around, it was common to find a head nodding along with Trevor Dunn’s funky bass lines or a foot tapping to an intensely syncopated rhythm being provided by the drummers. In the end, the set from Electric Masada was the evening’s high point.

After a brief intermission, the audience returned to the McGuire Theater (located inside the Walker for the evening’s third installment: “John Zorn’s Music for Films.” Working with some of his favorite avant-garde cinema, the composer and the rest of Electric Masada provided a living soundtrack to the short films.

These shorts ranged from a red-toned, fragmented narrative from the 1930s to a frantic, time-lapsed journey through New York City titled Go, Go, Go. The music adapted itself to the film clips, and was highly improvised in the same manner as the earlier set. To my disappointment, these two stimuli—the music and the film—were not as compatible as I had anticipated. But to its credit, the music that accompanied Go, Go, Go was played with more speed and ferocity than any metal band could ever muster.

I entered the Walker that night with a decent knowledge of John Zorn’s music and a desire to know about John Zorn the person. Upon leaving, I was sure of two things about the man behind the music: He cares deeply about his community of musicians and he will never let his art be compromised. As he so modestly put it, “I just try to make music, that’s what musicians do.”