picture of John Zorn
 

 
pipe organ
 

 
John Zorn
John Zorn (* 1953) is an American composer, arranger, producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist (among others the organ) with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, klezmer, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers".
 
Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music. After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and received wide acclaim with the release of The Big Gundown, an album reworking the compositions of Ennio Morricone. He attracted further attention worldwide with the release of Spillane in 1987, and Naked City in 1989. After spending almost a decade travelling between Japan and the US he made New York his permanent base and established his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s.
 
Tzadik enabled Zorn to maintain independence from the mainstream music industry and ensured the continued availability of his growing catalog of recordings, allowing him to prolifically record and release new material, issuing several new albums each year, as well as promoting the work of many other musicians. Zorn has led the hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the klezmer/free jazz-influenced quartet Masada, composed over 600 pieces as part of the Masada Songbooks that have been performed by an array of groups, composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often performing at festivals with many other musicians and ensembles that perform his diverse output.
 
Zorn's compositions cross many genres and he has stated "All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I'm an additive person — the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can't see the connections, but they are there." For Zorn "Composing is more than just imagining music — it's knowing how to communicate it to musicians. And you don't give an improviser music that's completely written out, or ask a classical musician to improvise. I'm interested in speaking to musicians in their own languages, on their own terms, and in bringing out the best in what they do. To challenge them and excite them."
 
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Discography
Filmworks XII : 2002 Volume Two - Three Documentaries
Tzadik TZ 7340
recorded in Brooklyn, NY/USA
John Zorn, organ, piano, harmonica
Min Xiao-Fen, pipa
Marc Ribot, guitar
Jamie Saft, Wurlitzer
Mark Feldman, violin
Erik Friedlander, cello
Trevor Dunn, bass
Cyro Baptista, percussion
Roberto Rodriguez, percussion
Jennifer Charles, vocals
Filmworks XVI: Workingman's Death
Tzadik TZ 7347
recorded January through March 2005 in Brooklyn, NY/USA
John Zorn, organ, gamelan
Jamie Saft, guitar, piano
Ikue Mori, electronics
Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, bass
Cyro Baptista, percussion
Rimbaud
Tzadik TZ 8301
recorded December 2011 in New York City/USA
John Zorn, alto sax, guitar, organ, piano, drums
Bradley Lubman, conductor
Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Rane Moore, clarinet
Stephen Gosling, piano
Steve Beck, piano
Ikue Mori, electronics
Alex Lipowski, vibes
Erik Carlson, violin
Elizabeth Weisser, viola
Chris Gross, cello
Trevor Dunn, bass
Kenny Wollesen, drums
Mathieu Amalric, vocals
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 1
Tzadik TZ 7399
recorded December 2011 at the Aeolian Skinner organ, St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University in New York City/USA
John Zorn, church organ
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 2
Tzadik TZ 8312
recorded September 2013 at the Aeolian Skinner organ, St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University in New York City/USA
John Zorn, church organ
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 3
Tzadik TZ 8326
recorded 2014 at St. Paul's Hall in Huddersfield/Great Britain
John Zorn, pipe organ
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 4
Tzadik TZ 8340
recorded October 2015 at St. Bart's in New York City/USA
John Zorn, church organ
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 5
Tzadik TZ 8357
recorded March 2017 at Philharmonie De Paris/France
John Zorn, pipe organ
The Urmuz Epigrams
Tzadik TZ 8358
recorded September 2017 in New York City/USA
John Zorn, conductor, sax, guitar, organ, piano, bass, percussion, voices
Ches Smith, vibes, glockenspiel, drums, percussion, voices
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 6
Tzadik TZ 8362
John Zorn, pipe organ
Tractatus Musico-Philosophicus
Tzadik TZ 8365
recorded November 2018 in New York City/USA/USA
John Zorn, sax, organ, piano, bass, drums, percussion
The Hermetic Organ Vol. 7
Tzadik TZ 8367
recorded May 2013 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City/USA
John Zorn, church organ
Les Maudits
Tzadik TZ 8373
recorded January 2020 in New York City/USA
John Zorn, sax, organ, piano, percussion, vocals
David Fulmer, conductor
David Byrd-Marrow, horn
Mike Lormand, trombone
Rebekah Heller, bassoon
Andrew Madej, tuba
Claire Chase, flute
Alice Teyssier, flute
Joshua Rubin, clarinet
Simon Sheldon Hanes, guitar, piano, accordion, cello, harp, bass, percussion, vocals
Daniel Lippel, guitar
Cory Smythe, harpsichord
Ikue Mori, electronics
Ches Smith, vibes, glockenspiel, drums, percussion vocals
Erik Carlson, violin
Miranda Cuckson, viola
Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello
Nathan Davis, percussion
Ross Karre, percussion

 
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