Flotation Device presents its 70th birthday celebration of Downtown music’s most iconic and prolific figure: John Zorn. We’re helped by his bandmates in Painkiller, Naked City and Masada, along with such diverse collaborators as Marc Ribot, George Lewis, Eugene Chadbourne and Yamantaka Eye. Join us as we probe Zorn's oeuvre for the influence of Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Ennio Morricone, Japanese culture in general, and mid-century American cartoon music in particular. We've got reminiscences from Wayne Horvitz and Zorn himself. And we see just how wide-ranging Zorn’s impact has been as a concert and record producer, and a bridge between the worlds of composed and improvised music.
If you couldn't attend the live Zorn@70 festivities in San Francisco, New York and elsewhere, then we're the next best thing. A two-hour retrospective of the career of radical American music’s most prodigious linchpin.
With host Michael Schell. Originally broadcast September 3, 2023.
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I get it. COBRA.
Nice!
I dont know if i get it, thought of something floating,,, !!!
Ill keep this mix bookmarked though, John Zorn is a true legened and someone I need to get more aquinted with. Really nice work with the tracklist and credits!
Flotation Device 2023-09-03: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Zorn @ 70 [0:00]
1. [2:17] Naked City: Saigon Pickup. From Naked City (Nonesuch, 1990 reissued 2005 by Tzadik in Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings) with John Zorn (alto saxophone), Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Bill Frisell (guitar), Fred Frith (bass), Joey Baron (drums), Roger Moutenot (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1989, composition by John Zorn
2. [7:07] John Zorn on Carl Stalling and cartoon music (1989)
3. [7:45] John Zorn: Cat O'Nine Tails (excerpts). From Cat O'Nine Tails, The Dead Man, Memento Mori, Kol Nidre (ATMA, 2019) with Quatuor Molinari: Olga Ranzenhofer, Antoine Bareil (violins), Frédéric Lambert (viola), Pierre-Alain Bouvrette (cello), Johanne Goyette (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1988
4. [14:30] John Zorn: Oracle. From Taboo & Exile (Tzadik, 1999) with Miho Hatori (vocals), Erik Friedlander (cello), Jamie Saft (organ), Cyro Baptista (percussion), Dan Gellert, Jason Baker, Jim Anderson, Robert Musso (recording engineers)
5. [18:54] John Zorn, Yamataka Eye: Hilo Himo. From Naninani II (Tzadik, 2004) with John Zorn (tabla machine, Tibetan bells, percussion), Yamataka Eye (voice, electronics, organ, steel guitar, electric fan, objects, percussion), Jamie Saft (recording engineer)
6. [21:18] Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn: The Shreeve. From School (Parachute, 1978) with John Zorn (performer), Bruce Ackley (clarinet, soprano saxophone), Eugene Chadbourne, Henry Kaiser (guitars), H.I. Afa (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded December 9, 1977 in San Francisco
7. [22:54] Ornette Coleman: Peace Warriors. From Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman (Elektra, 1989) with John Zorn, Tim Berne (alto saxophones), Mark Dresser (bass), Joey Baron, Michael Vatcher (drums), Steve Rinkoff (recording engineer)
8. [24:16] Ennio Morricone: Gui La Testa (Duck, You Sucker!). From The Big Gundown, John Zorn plays the music of Ennio Morricone (Nonesuch, 1986, reissued 2000 by Tzadik as The Big Gundown, 15th Anniversary special edition) with John Zorn (vocals, game calls), Arto Lindsay (vocals), Ned Rothenberg (shakuhachi, ocarina, Jew's harp), Vicki Bodner (English horn), Michihiro Sato (tsugaru), Fred Frith (acoustic guitar), Wayne Horvitz (organ, celesta, electronic keyboards), Bob James (tapes), Don Hünerburg, Hahn Rowe, Martin Bisi (recording engineers). NOTE: Recorded 1984–85
9. [30:22] Voice break with Wayne Horvitz
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SET 2: Orchestral pain [34:44]
1. [35:54] John Zorn: For Your Eyes Only. From Angelus Novus (Tzadik, 1998) with The Callithumpian Consort of the New England Conservatory, Stephen Drury (piano, artistic director). NOTE: Composed 1983, recorded 1996
2. [49:34] Painkiller: The Prophecy (excerpts). From The Prophecy: Live in Europe (Tzadik, 2013) with John Zorn (saxophone), Bill Laswell (bass), Yoshida Tatsuya (drums), Oz Fritz (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live 2004–05 in Warsaw and Berlin
3. [56:09] Outro with Painkiller: Pashupatinath (Ambient)
4. [59:18] Naked City: Razorwire. From Radio (Avant, 1993, reissued 2005 by Tzadik in Naked City: The Complete Studio Recordings) with John Zorn (alto saxophone), Wayne Horvitz (keyboards), Bill Frisell (guitar), Fred Frith (bass), Joey Baron (drums), Alec Head (recording engineer)
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SET 3: Shakespeare and sacred [1:04:45]
1. [1:07:05] John Zorn: The Tempest, a masque. From On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits (Tzadik, 2013) with International Contemporary Ensemble: Claire Chase (flute), Joshua Rubin (clarinet, bass clarinet), Nathan Davis (drums, percussion), Marc Urselli (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 2012
2. [1:18:19] John Zorn on musicmaking (2014)
3. [1:19:11] John Zorn: Office Nr 4 (excerpt). From The Hermetic Organ (Tzadik, 2012) with John Zorn (organ), Silas Brown, James Perrella (recording engineers). NOTE: Recorded live December 9, 2011 on the Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ of St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University
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SET 4: Zorn the eclectic [1:29:22]
1. [1:31:19] Big John Patton: Minor Swing. From More News for Lulu (Hathut, 1992) with John Zorn (alto saxophone), George Lewis (trombone), Bill Frisell (guitar). NOTE: Recorded live January 19, 1989 at Maison de la Radio, Radio France, Paris
2. [1:36:41] John Zorn: Etude 23. From The Book of Heads (Tzadik, 1995) with Marc Ribot (guitar), Jason Baker (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1978
3. [1:39:44] John Zorn: Bagatelle #22. From John Zorn's Bagatelles Vol. 14 (Tzadik, 2023) with Peter Evans (trumpet, piccolo trumpet), Marc Urselli (recording engineer)
4. [1:41:39] John Zorn: Cobra 1 - Sensyo. From John Zorn's Cobra: Tokyo Operations '94 (Avant, 1994) with Yamamoto Kyoko (vocals), Tanaka Yumiko (gidayu), Isso Yukihiro (nokan, dengakubue), Kinoshita Shinichi (shamisen), Nakamura Hitomi (hichiriki), Takei Makoto (shakuhachi), Maruta Miki (koto), Ito Taeko (ortin doo), Uchihashi Kazuhisa (guitar), Mekken (bass), Uemura Masahiro, Senba Kiyohiko (percussion), Makigami Koichi (prompter), Kondo Yoshiaki (recording engineer). NOTE: Cobra was composed in 1984
5. [1:47:47] Electric Masada: Idalah-Abal. From 50⁴ - 50th Birthday Celebration, Volume 4 (Tzadik, 2004) with John Zorn (alto saxophone), Marc Ribot (guitar), Ikue Mori (laptop), Jamie Saft (keyboards), Trevor Dunn (bass), Joey Baron, Kenny Wollesen (drums), Cyro Baptista (percussion), Daniel Goldaracena (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live September 27, 2003 at Tonic, New York
6. [1:54:02] Outro with Ennio Morricone: Battle of Algiers
Photo credits: John Zorn and Ennio Morricone by Rodolphe Galant, John Zorn by David Garland, Ornette Coleman by Michael Hoefner, Electric Masada (Joey Baron, Ikue Mori, Kenny Wollesen, Jamie Saft, Marc Ribot, John Zorn, Trevor Dunn, Cyro Baptista) via Discogs, Naked City (Wayne Horvitz, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Joey Baron, Fred Frith) by Timothy Greenfield Sanders, Miho Hatori by Dreamstates TV, sigil from The Hermetic Organ, score excerpt from John Zorn: Cobra, John Zorn and Bill Laswell with Sterling Ruby painting by Pushpin Films, Bugs Bunny via Warner Bros., News for Lulu (George Lewis, Bill Frisell, John Zorn) by Manfred Rinderspacher