The Circle Maker: Pt 1 Issachar - John Zorn (1998)

ideated from: Filling in some gaps with more 90s records.

I hate it when these turn into an infodump. OK, no I don’t. I love it, but societal norms (such as they are these days) tell me I’m supposed to feel bad for being really into stuff I’m into. As I’ve outlined before, I don’t believe in the concept of guilty pleasures. I love Zorn’s music.

One of Zorn’s many facets is the “Masada compositions”, a group of records he’s released over the decades that celebrate what he calls “radical Jewish culture.” It’s modern compositional jazz, often with some serialist or formalist constraints as a framework for improvisation. It’s all themed heavily with structures, harmonies, and melodies of the Jewish musical tradition while always being forward facing and modern.

This is write-up is only for the first of two discs in the Circle Maker. This first disc is the Masada String Trio, a violin / cello / bass setup featuring frequent players on previous Masada releases.

This does sound a bit like chamber music, but it’s much more challenging than average. It’s brilliant through and through.

The second disc is even better, but I’ll save that for next week maybe.