KlezCalendar

A true downtown supergroup, blending the raw power of Naked City with the improvisational madness of Cobra and the lyrical soul of the Masada songbook, Electric Masada is considered by many to be the most exciting band Zorn has ever had.

A lifelong New Yorker, composer and saxophonist John Zorn made his mark as a central participant in the fertile "Downtown" experimental music scene beginning in the mid-1970s. In the mid-1980s he signed to the Elektra-Nonesuch label, releasing the critically-acclaimed breakthrough The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone, which was endorsed by Morricone, and incorporated elements of traditional Japanese music, soul jazz, and other diverse musical genres. Since then, he has been exceptionally prolific, usually putting out several new recordings each year. In 1993 Zorn began composing and performing his 208 tunes that now comprise his Masada songbook. Over the years, these compositions have been performed by various artists including his ensembles the Masada String Trio and Bar Kohkba, but most frequently with his extremely popular Ornette Coleman-influenced quartet Masada – featuring Joey Baron, Dave Douglas and Greg Cohen.

He has also founded Painkiller, a mix of heavy metal and free jazz, and Naked City, an often aggressive mix of jazz, rock and thrash metal. He has worked with musicians such as Bill Frisell, William Parker, George Lewis, The Boredom’s Yamatsuka Eye, Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Melt Banana, John Medeski, and the Violent Femmes. He has written music extensively for television and film, continues to oversee his recording label, Tzadik, which is dedicated to experimental music, and is the principal force behind The Stone, an avant-garde performance space in New York's Alphabet City. In 2006, Zorn was honored with a MacArthur Fellow.

Part of the IHP/ANW Out There series.