John Zorn - Unknown Masada: 10th Anniversary 3
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Free Music Notes for Unknown Masada: 10th Anniversary 3
Free Music Review: High-speed electric klezmer
Hit: 5 Stars
Following two great "new arrangement" Masada albums (Masada Guitars and Voices in the Wilderness), John Zorn brings in another large group of musicians to play their interpretations of the Masada songbook. But this time, they're playing songs no one has heard before. On the other albums, you could compare the new arrangement to the original version on one of the ten studio albums. This time it's all new.The music is fun, fast, and more rock and roll than previous Masada albums. Heavy bands like Ruins and Fantomas plow through these klezmer tunes at high speeds. If you want to get into Zorn's eclectic klezmer music, this is a good place to start. Longtime fans will love it, too.
Free Music Review: Eccellente!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Eccezionali esecuzioni e ottime musiche per uno dei migliori album Masada.P.S.: piace anche a Pietro, e se non è una garanzia questa...
Free Music Review: unknown, no longer ...
Hit: 4 Stars
The third in a series celebrating John Zorn's 10 year anniversary of his Masada ensemble, The Unknown Masada may go the furthest afield yet. Where the previous tribute CD, Voices in the Wilderness, made an attempt to expand the sonic possibilities of previously documented Masada tunes, this album reveals both unrecorded compositions and drastically different ensembles.Where Voices in the Wilderness utilized a variety of groups to perform Zorn's klezmer tinged jazz pieces, most of those ensembles were either primarily acoustic in nature or more overtly improvisational in their execution. This album, on the other hand, features tunes that have been rarely performed by any of Zorn's various Masada ensembles, if only because most of these pieces are more compositionally intricate.
Dave Douglas' piece is exemplary of the albums best features. Not only does it feature an expanded variation on the classic Masada group (including Zorn himself no less) it has enough tricky time changes and stellar solo spots to make the album worth owning for this cut alone. Interpretations by the likes of Erik Friedlander, Naftule's Dream, and Eyvind Kang mingle with lesser known, but equally talented artists.
The only weak spots lie in the more rock oriented material, which comes of as overly arranged and less freewheeling. Both Fantomas and Yoshida Tatsuya (from the Ruins) contribute tracks that often sound merely like distorted Middle-Eastern chord changes pounding away into oblivion. These however are the exception to a highly varied album whose merits outweigh its flaws.
Free Music Review: It's not the original Masada but that's okay, right?
Hit: 4 Stars
This CD reminds me a bit of the Masada double disc release just before it. Different artists looking thru there own eye glass at Zorn's compositions - compositions that are/were intended by and large for the Masada Quartet. Overall the songs are strong, only a few lacking depth and interest. Fantomas performs on track 10 featuring a stellar performance but a poor effort on mixing and/or recording in the studio. They had the same problem on the "directors cut" album from Ipecac. Wadada Leo Smith is interesting...The two best tracks are the first one, under the direction of Eric Friedlander, and the 3rd track, featuring a confident Dave Douglas boldly arranging the composition with two other sax players, Zorn and someone else. Just what the Doctor ordered on that one!
Free Music Review: Sample this sampler
Hit: 4 Stars
Another quality, and sometimes more interesting, translation disc of Zorn's Masada material benefits from a powerful diversity to help rework these tunes into entirely new songs.
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