Re: John Zorn

Ashwin Tumne (ashwin@isgtec.com)
Tue, 17 Oct 1995 23:37:33 -0400 (EDT)


I'm not familiar with Zorn, but I think the music decribed below was
described to me before as free-jazz. If you're into free-jazz, check out Pharoah
Sanders, Sun Ra, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. There's actually a new
compilation out called UNIVERSAL SOUNDS OF AMERICA featuring these artists
plus others. Herbie Hancock also experimented with some free-jazz too (check out
SEXTANT). If you are looking for avant-jazz with funky grooves, then
Miles Davis' BITCHES BREW and ON THE CORNER are must gets. If you are into
the ambient style avant-garde music and are looking for the oldies, check out
Pink Floyd's UMMAGUAMMA and MORE recorded in 1969 before dark side of the moon
turned them into pop stars - not jazz but avant-rock. If you're looking for
something on a latin/salsa tip, Santana did some really chill stuff on their
early albums and shows (can't remember specific songs). You can go really
spacey and delve into the crates of Grateful Dead live shows for some
avant electro-country/bluegrass.

It seems that every musical genre has its own free form break away from the
norm side. What's acid-jazz's equivalent (i.e. acid-jazz artists producing
music that is not of any acid-jazz style we are familiar with)?

To me, the ultimate avant music has to be the sounds and songs of our
natural world, music that can only be made by the wonderful creatures
of this planet and the natural world they live in. National Geographic
once put out a 7 inch in one of their magazine issues entitled SONGS OF
THE HUMPBACK WHALE - I consider it the most valuable record I have.
We should all do what we can to ensure that, given the current relation-
ship between humans and their planet, such songs do not become
truely rare grooves.

shanti,

ashwin

ashwin@isgtec.com

>
> Marc (or Max)-
>
> Your assessment of Zorn's music (I call it that) is both correct but a little
> off. Just by your first sentence, calling it "experimental music", to me
> indicates that experimental is, at its roots, musical. After all, the general
> concept of music (melody, rhythm, etc.) is the basis on which we judge genres
> (ie jazz as opposed to rock as opposed to classical as opposed to hip-hop
> etc.), similiar to how colors are judged only by each other (white is the
> absence of color, black is all colors together).
>

<snip>