Zornfest @ Knitting Factory 9/13-14/93
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Originally posted to rec.music.bluenote, 15 Sep 1993 02:40:25 -0400.
Yesterday I saw the first set of "News for Lulu" at the Knitting Factory.
George Lewis apparently couldn't make it so Curtis Fowlkes played trombone.
It was all tunes (Sonny Clark, John Patton, Dorothy Ashby), and for the
most part is was fairly straightahead. The hilight for me was definitely
Frisell. OTOH, if I compare this gig to when I saw Frisell/Lovano/Motian
at the Village Vanguard earlier this year (which is perhaps a reasonable
comparison), I'd have to say that this was nowhere near as good. News for
Lulu didn't have as much energy in their playing, or coherence as a group,
and the improvisation did not develop to the level of intensity that it did
with Frisell/Lovano/Motian. But still, it was an enjoyable set with some
nice moments.
Today was "Spillane" and "Godard". I caught the second set. "Godard"
was first. Frisell was prominently featured; he rocked. "Godard" is a
similar piece to "Spillane", with tightly structured segments of different
types, which sometimes overlap and/or develop (not all of the segments are
static). Hard to describe, but it was great! There were some very weird
moments. "Spillane" was next. "Spillane" was in fact the very first John
Zorn album I ever heard. In 1988 I was a senior in high school, heavily
into Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Michel Petrucciani, maybe I had just
started listening to Keith Jarrett (the Standards Trio, "Standards Vol. 1"
specifically, which someone gave me a tape of, got me into Keith finally).
For some reason I read a review of "Spillane" in _Stereo Review_ -- no
snide remarks please!!! :) -- and it sounded really weird and quite
intriguing. So I went to Tower and bought it (I liked the cover art a lot
too, and I've always liked film noir and hard boiled detective fiction, so
these factors probably contributed). It took a little while to adjust to
Zorn's "style" I guess, but I ended up quite liking the album. It was good
timing for me, since Zorn was putting out albums that were easy for me to
find. I got "Spy vs. Spy" and loved it. I remember the day "Naked City"
came out I went to Briggs & Briggs in Harvard Square to buy it (the Coop
never got things as soon as they were available). This dude that worked
(maybe still works) there was always really snide and obnoxious and was a
total snob about "classical" music. When I was looking for an Arvo Part
album he made me feel like an idiot when I asked whether the Hilliard
Ensemble was a group of cellists (I had heard the 12 celli version of
"Fratres" on the radio and wanted to find it so I was looking at the Part
section trying to figure out which album it was on). I think he was
annoyed that I came in just to buy "Naked City". I also asked about a
Loung Lizards album and he gave me some line about "this store does not
carry much popular music, we sell mostly classical music"
etc. What a jerk. Anyway, "Spillane" is still one of my favorite Zorn
pieces (and albums), although I rarely listen to it these days simply
because I've heard it so many times and I know the whole thing... But I
didn't think I'd ever see it performed live! It was definitely a more
intense experience than listening to the recording. Some of the abrupt
shifts and certainly the loud ominous parts were impressive. The band was
pretty tight; some of the jazz/swing/blues segments really cooked.
Anothony Coleman was prominently featured (when he played "cheesy cocktail
piano" as Zorn refers to it on the album, Zorn would announce "Anthony
Coleman on piano" etc., like it was some lounge gig. My only complaint is
that I thought Lurie's reading of the text was superior on the album (BTW,
Zorn supplied the voice of Mike Hammer's conscience in case you were
wondering; he spoke a lot in "Godard" actually). There were also two Asian
women narrating in (I think, I might be wrong) Chinese and Japanese, which
added to the piece. I had no idea what they were saying of course, but on
a purely aesthetic level this provided a new and effective "counterpoint"
to the other sounds.
Naked City tomorrow! I heard that Friday
and Saturday are already sold out. Hope everyone got tickets in
advance...
Ciao,
-Ed
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Last modified 18 March 1994.