The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone (15th Anniversary Edition [Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Ennio Morricone (Composer), Ennio / Pontecorvo, Gillo Morricone (Composer), John Zorn (Composer), John Zorn (Conductor, Performer), Anthony Coleman (Performer), Wayne Horvitz (Performer), Bobby Previte (Performer), Arto Lindsay (Performer), Shelley Hirsch (Performer), Diamanda Galás (Performer), Mike Patton (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, Wayne Horvitz, Bobby Previte, Arto Lindsay, et al.
• Conductor: John Zorn
• Composer: Ennio Morricone, Ennio / Pontecorvo, Gillo Morricone, John Zorn
• Audio CD (August 22, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Tzadik
• ASIN: B00004W3KY
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,374 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #20 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Avant-Garde

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As if John Zorn's super-creative take on film composer Ennio Morricone weren't essential in its first iteration on Nonesuch Records, Zorn is celebrating the album's 15th anniversary with an updated, remastered version. The darker lows and brighter highs make this Gundown clearly superior--with its original cast of characters (Bill Frisell, Arto Lindsay, Diamanda Galas, and many more) sounding alternately darker, sultrier, and more cinematic than ever. Zorn's reticence to record the original album's 10 pieces looks altogether unreasonable, as his genius for adding color and dimension to Morricone's tunes shows profusely. To make this an even better deal, there are six new bonus tracks that feature Marc Ribot as part of an ad hoc string quartet on "The Sicilian Clan" and "Chi Mai," and as sparring partner with British avant guitar god Derek Bailey on the roaring "Svegliatti and Uccidi." This one's magnificently important. --Andrew Bartlett

From Jazziz

On The Big Gundown, John Zorn's "major label debut" of 1986, the unique and distinctive music of Ennio Morricone proved perfect fodder for the multifarious artist. The unforgettable scores Morricone created for Sergio Leone's "Spaghetti Westerns," with their odd musical voicings, devices, and juxtapositions, are only one small facet of the composer's overall oeuvre, which ranges from lush orchestral tapestries to straightforward songcraft.

Zorn, a cagey veteran of the catch-as-catch-can guerrilla aesthetics of Downtown art, had been set loose in a high-tech recording studio for the first time a few years prior, and the experience had a profound effect on his working methods. The Big Gundown marked the first album-length appearance of his "file card" composing method. Zorn compiled his various thoughts regarding his subject on index cards, and then arranged those into a working roadmap for his band of improvisers, which here included Bill Frisell, Anthony Coleman, Wayne Horvitz, Bobby Previte, Christian Marclay, and many others.

The result is an explosive set of reinterpretations in which Zorn seizes upon elements of the original pieces, fragments them, rearranges them, and intensifies them exponentially. From the dramatic orchestral chimes, thunderous timpani, and startling transitions of the title track to the sexy, breathy "Erotico (The Burglars)" to the bracing martial tattoo of "The Battle of Algiers" and the scorched-earth electric guitar drama of Jody Harris and Robert Quine on "Once Upon a Time in the West," Zorn's extraordinary range pays homage to a seminal influence in a way far more appropriate than mere imitation could be.

The 15th anniversary edition on Tzadik offers all the music from the original issue along with six newly recorded bonus tracks. Unlike many other works from the period, The Big Gundown wears its age lightly and is as fresh and startling today as when first issued. The new tracks, featuring such recent Zorn collaborators as Derek Bailey and Mike Patton, effortlessly re-create the astonishing sound world that made the original release compelling and essential.

--- Steve Smith, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, better than the original, August 13, 2002

By 

George Grella "Urbane citizen" (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone (15th Anniversary Edition (Audio CD)

I just recently took the plunge on this reissue of the Big Gundown, comparing it to my original Nonesuch CD, and the new one is a winner. The music is obviously the same, and great it still is, but I always regretted the thickness of sound and low-level mastering of the original CD. The reissue has cleaned, brightened and polished the sound to a much higher level, it blossoms immediately in the ears and is now superb. The additional tracks are a treat too, Chi Mai is one of Morricone's greatest and pithiest themes, although the manner of the new material is fairly straight-ahead. Also nice is the extensive liner notes, an addition from the original release and a departure for many other Tzadik-Zorn recordings. Zorn fans should go for this in an instant, as should the Zorn-curious. This is his single greatest and most important record.

Morricone fans, you should give this a try too! This will challenge your ears and your notions of one of your favorites, and that's a good thing. Zorn is always true both to the themes from the movies and the context of those movies, which is the most remarkable thing. But for those only used to straight renditions of the music, this CD will shock, because the music is put through a cut-and-paste technique that owes much to cartoon music, and a recontextualization that owes is all to a free-improvisation aesthetic. Don't let those ears and minds get flaccid, folks!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remastered Zorn/Morricone project better than ever!, September 11, 2000

By 

Daniel P. Whitworth "whitworth59" (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone (15th Anniversary Edition (Audio CD)

The first thing to note here is that this Tzadik reissue/remaster of John Zorn's Ennio Morricone tribute "The Big Gundown" genuinely sounds better that the original Nonesuch CD release. This is particularly noticeable on the more noise/cut-up oriented pieces like 'Metamorfosi' and the Zorn original 'Tre Nel 5000', where previously obscure sounds now stand out with alarming clarity. If this side of Zorn isn't to your liking, lusher tracks like 'Poverty (Once Upon A Time In America)' add more color-- Guy Klucevsek's accordion, Toots Thielmans' harmonica and pitch-perfect whistling-- to the extended pallette of Zorn's first cover project. The new liner notes are extensive to a fault, while the bonus tracks offer some new pleasures that really make this disc worth buying. The bonus tracks are not from the original sessions; they were recorded recently to flesh out the disc, but they're more than mere filler. 'Svegliatti & Uccidi' pairs Marc Ribot and Derek Bailey for a delightful jarring guitar excursion, while members of the Masada chamber ensembles (Ribot, Mark Feldman, Greg Cohen et al) tackle 'The Sicilian Clan' and 'Chi Mai' with real gusto. But for me, the highlight of this album remains the last track on the original release: Jody Harris and Robert Quine sculpting a towering wall of electric guitar pasta on the title piece from Sergio Leone's 'Once Upon A Time In The West.' An essential part of any Zorn collection. Now if only Tzadik would reissue the News For Lulu sessions....

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zorn's first masterpiece, April 29, 2005

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone (15th Anniversary Edition (Audio CD)

One of the best albums in Zorn's catalog, "The Big Gundown" is a masterpiece augmented in this 15th anniversary edition with a number of new recordings. These are reinterpretations of Mooricone pieces (with one Zorn original) for various groups. The entire record is powerful and energetic, with breathtaking arrangements, brilliant performances, and a fire that had not been captured in Zorn's previous recordings. It is also probably his first true masterpiece.

I think in many ways, the opener and title track best illustrates the aesthetic on the record, if you don't like that one, you'll probably not care for the rest of it-- it covers a number of moods, being dark, haunting, theatrical, explosive and esoteric, sometimes all at once. This sort of theatrical mood extends across a number of songs, the haunting circular piano and percussion workout "Peur Sur la Ville" (with a blazing alto sax solo from Tim Berne), an the dark electric guitar workout take of "Once Upon a Time in the West", reduced a funereal pace.

But there are also many moments of delicate beauty as well-- take for instance "Poverty (Once Upon a Time in America)", with an unusual instrumentation of whistling, harmonica (both handled by Toots Theilman), harp and accordian. Particularly when the harmonica takes the melody, the support swells and embraces and holds on, expressing pain and loss and fear for the future. Or consider the brooding and yet someone still light "Giu la Testa (Duck You Sucker!)", building anticipation through its dark motifs and bizarre instrumentation (among others, the Japanese shamisen, english horn, acoustic guitar, gamecalls and keyboards).

The bonus tracks are no less essential-- Zorn brought in about everyone he played with for the originals, these were a chance to catch up. The amazing thing about Zorn is that as an arranger, he's lost none of his flair in the intervening years, in fact, he may have even gotten better. Zorn uses his "Bar Kokhba" sextet (the Masada String Trio augmented by guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Joey Baron and percussionist Cyro Baptista) to great effect on breathtaking arrangements of "The Sicilian Clan" and "Chi Mai", and adds another great guitar workout feature with Ribot and Derek Bailey in a noisy, disjoint take of "Sveggliatti and Uccidi", but its Mike Patton's Tom growl on "The Ballad of Hank McCain" that is the gem of the material-- stunning delivery that really captures something special (and may be the best vocal Patton has ever done) over a delicate organ (Jamie Saft) and percussion (Baptista) backdrop that matches and perhaps outstrips the best of the original material.

This is essential music for Zorn fans, if you're not, this may well be a good place to start-- the music can be difficult, and it covers a ton of moods, but there is a lot to hear. Highly recommended.