John Zorn
New Masada Quartet
With Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, Kenny Wollesen & John Zorn
The saxophonist John Zorn is “the most prolific and polarizing figure in New York’s downtown scene” and “a major American composer whose work crosses just about every stylistic boundary imaginable” (The New York Times). In four decades, Zorn has released dozens of albums on his own label, Tzadik; their contents are famously varied, ranging from riotous jazz interpretations of Ennio Morricone and hardcore punk versions of Ornette Coleman to orchestral and choral music. As the uncontested icon of the American avant-garde, Zorn’s only conventions are collaboration, curiosity, and an unquenchable conviction that the story of music is still unfolding. An all-star cast performs eight different programs of his work at Big Ears.
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NEW MASADA QUARTET
“John Zorn’s long-running Masada project is a Hydra-headed endeavor that allows the composer and saxophonist to adapt his voluminous musical output for multiple ensembles,” The New Yorker said. With the New Masada Quartet, Zorn has put together a pretty monster indeed: The band features his trusted collaborators, the guitarist Julian Lage, the bassist Jorge Roeder, and the drummer Kenny Wollesen. With Zorn conducting from behind the saxophone, they breathe new life into the music of Masada, which amalgamates Sephardic Jewish music with Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic philosophy and accounts for some of Zorn’s most widely admired works.
John Zorn
Julian Lage
Jorge Roeder
Kenny Wollesen
RELATED EVENTS
John Zorn
18 Studies from the Later Sketchbook of J.M.W. Turner
With Stephen Gosling, piano
John Zorn
Chaos Magick
With Kenny Grohowski, Matt Hollenberg & John Medeski
John Zorn
Heaven & Earth Magick
with Stephen Gosling, Sae Hoshimoto, Jorge Roeder & Ches Smith
John Zorn
Nove Cantici Per Francesco D’Assisi
With Bill Frisell, Gyan Riley & Julian Lage
John Zorn
Simulacrum
with Kenny Grohowski, Matt Holllenberg & John Medeski
John Zorn
Songs for Petra Haden
with Jesse Harris, Petra Haden, Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder & Kenny Wollesen
John Zorn
The Hermetic Organ
Featuring John Zorn, pipe organ
