New Masada Quartet (Tzadik)
John Zorn
Released November 1, 2021
Slate Best Jazz Albums of 2021
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kZhhTuZBApF1d23CkPNKA9P938zOT0tPw
Spotify:
About:
The long awaited first recording by John Zorn’s newest and most exciting ensemble, the New Masada Quartet. Performing eight classic compositions from the Masada songbooks, NMQ is a tight unit of like-minded virtuosi and one of the best groups Zorn has ever had. Bristling hot guitar master Julian Lage, bass wizard Jorge Roeder and 30-year Zorn veteran Kenny Wollesen perform with a crackling live energy that brings the Masada music to life like never before! Led by Zorn’s versatile sax and stop and start conducting, the music is filled with burning solos, telepathic group interaction, heartfelt lyricism and hypnotic grooves. Beautifully recorded at Bill Laswell’s studio in New Jersey this is an absolute masterpiece. Essential!
Track Listing:
1. Tharsis 10:27
2. Rigal 6:10
3. Hath Arob 5:11
4. Sansanah 8:35
5. Mibi 3:06
6. Kedushah 10:00
7. Tagriel 8:16
8. Piram 1:15
Personnel:
Kenny Wollesen: drums
John Zorn: alto sax
Julian Lage: guitar
Jorge Roeder: bass
Recorded and mixed June 8, 2021, at Orange Music, NJ., by James Dellatacoma
Mastered by Scott Hull
Produced by John Zorn
Associate Producer: Kazunori Sugiyama
Collages by John Zorn
Design: Chippy, Heung-Heung Chin
Review:
Nearly 30 years have passed since John Zorn—composer, alto saxophonist, musical impresario—formed the Masada quartet and wrote hundreds of pieces for them to play, most built on one of the two “Jewish scales” (major with a flat 2nd or minor with a sharp 4th). The original sax-trumpet-bass-drums quartet created some of the most joyous, lilting, frantic, bluesy music of the ’90s. Zorn since adapted Masada tunes for a dozen different ensembles. Now he has a new quartet, with Julian Lage on guitar, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Kenny Wolleson on drums, and out of the box it’s nearly as volcanic as the original.
Fred Kaplan (Slate)
