Customer Reviews

The Circle Maker [2-CD Set]

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_The Circle Maker_, a two-disc collection of Jewish chamber jazz, is one of my favorite items to bear John Zorn's name. Zorn does not actually perform on either of these discs -- they are songs from the Masada songbook rearranged for two different formats. As is typical with Zorn, the musicians he employs are world-class wonders proficient in jazz and classical, imbuing the pieces with feel and lyricism and mature consideration.

_The Circle Maker_ consists of two discs. The first is _Issachar_, which is performed by the the Masada String Trio, comprised of Mark Feldman (violin), Eric Friedlander (cello), and Greg Cohen (double-bass). For the most part, the songs are highly melodic and picturesque Masada pieces, minus the free n' dissonant battle-damage of Zorn's original quartet. It tends to be very beautiful and soothing with a feisty rhythmic spirit, all the while evoking images of middle eastern and Mediterranean lands. Greg Cohen usually plays a disciplined, bouncy rhythmic anchor over which Friedlander and Feldman swirl and twist and clash. (If you have heard Zorn's _Taboo & Exile_, the string trio pieces there are pretty much representative of what _Issachar_ is.) Some of the pieces, especially the short ones like "Karet" and "Zebdi", are very frenetic and dissonant. "Yatzah" is also very intense, but in a different way: Cohen and Friedlander hold down a single rhythmic phrase for eight minutes while Feldman's violin minimalistically rises from quiet scratching to shrieking strikes. One piece, "Elilah", is a gorgeous cello solo, and definitely one of the highlights of the string trio disc.

The other disc, _Zevulun_, is performed by the Bar Kokhba Sextet, which adds to the string trio guitarist Marc Ribot, percussionist Cyro Baptista, and drummer Joey Baron. Ribot's glistening, mesmerizing electric guitar lines sparkle between the two percussionists (one in each channel) and the string trio fills in the blanks. _Zevulun_ is a little less rigorous than its counterpart in this set...it is more swaying and mellow. "Tevel" is familiar because a different arrangement of it appears on Zorn's _Music for Children_ as "Dreamer of Dreams". The songs are a little more diverse on this set: "Laylah" is very eerie and dramatic, "Khebar" has an almost-pointillist arrangement with some very catchy melodies that evoke a bustling desert village, and "Idalah-Abal" is a nocturnal piece centered around a gorgeous cello theme and peppered with a constellation of effervescent cymbals and reflective drumming.

The more of John Zorn's music I hear, the faster he is on the way to becoming my favorite artist. And among his mammoth discography, _The Circle Maker_ is one of his best and most pleasant -- which is saying a lot. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and not just for hardcore Zorn nuts like myself. It's hard to imagine anyone with good taste _not_ liking this. It's so good is EXPLODES the Amazon rating system.

John Zorn is nothing if not prolific - he already has released at least 4 CDs in 1998.

His new album "The Circle Maker" is difficult to categorize. I could perhaps describe it as Jewish Chamber Jazz, and be reasonably close. There are actually two CDs. One, called Issachar, is performed by the Masada String Trio. Masada is the name of a group of Zorn's that plays modern Jewish music. Their nine albums are only available as Japanese imports. This first CD is a string trio, consisting of violin, cello and bass, performing various Masada tracks. As is to be expected with the instrumentation it has a chamber music feel, although the bass provides a more jazzy, swinging underpinning, and at times the musicians attack their instruments in a manner reminiscent more of Albert Ayler than any classical player. The second CD, Zevulun, is performed by the Bar Kokhba Sextet, which augments the trio with guitarist extraordinaire Marc Ribot, brazillian percussionist Cyro Baptista, and jazz drummer Joey Barron. As is to be expected, this is a jazzier set, although the basic material is still Masada songs. Some of these tracks are reminniscent of another of Zorn's longstanding interests, soundtrack music. The tracks in which Ribot takes the lead in particular sound like they could come from a Morricone spaghetti western. Both CDs are extremely good, although I prefer the greater dynamic range of the trio disc. This is highly recommended.

This is one of John Zorn's ten best albums, and it's likely to stay in the top ten for a long time. Unlike some of his other work, which emphasizes noise and quick changes from one piece of music to the next, The Circle Maker plays out in elegant waves of melody and percussion. It's Zorn's most beautiful album. It started with Masada, Zorn's four-piece jazz band. Masada plays "free jazz klezmer" --- original compositions based on traditional Jewish folk music themes, written in a simple way that encourages improvisation. On the Masada albums, the band blows the melodies apart on trumpet, saxophone, drums, and bass.

Zorn wrote new arrangements of these songs for chamber ensembles, replacing the old instruments with cello, violin, viola, guitar, bass, and percussion. The improvisation is out. The musicians concentrate on the melodies, playing off of each other in very subtle ways. The result is a combination of jazz, chamber music, and Jewish folk music, all rolled into one --- and played simultaneously. Even if you have no interest in John Zorn, you'll love this album. There isn't a single bad song on these two CDs. After you hear it, you'll want Bar Kokhba, which is more of the same.

For a long time, I have held a basic simile tying together John Cage and John Zorn. Both of them have extraordinary ideas about the nature of music, and both a noted pioneers of new musical trends.

But both of them have created music that has been of little interest of me. With Zorn, I am a big fan of his Naked City work, and _Spy vs. Spy_ is nothing short of the Missing Link between jazz and punk. But when it came to his game pieces and a lot of his sporadic teamings (short of Hemophiliac), I have found his method tiresome and actually predictable, which for me tore down the curtain of awe and made me see him as a kind of one-trick solo pony. I credit the Tzadik label with pioneering many a talented new voice (ANYONE who promotes Eyvind Kang is a winner in my book), but it also seemed to become the Zorn repository, putting out any junk he had slapped together in the studio on a given day.

But this 2-CD set has revitalized my interest in a way I haven't felt since I first put on that original Naked City record. Zorn seems to do his best work with a little structure to work away from, rather than pretending to invent it from scratch. The Jewish rhythms used in here coupled with Zorn's purely original voice make this a wonderful listen throughout.

This disc is a great place to start with the composer/Sax player John Zorn.The first disc is a string trio playing very dark, velvety classical jazz.All three players seem to be involved in and captured by the music and have been recorded very well, this recording has a warmth and depth that I really love.I play this disc a lot.
The second disc adds percussion(and some of the best percussion I have ever heard, Baptista and Baron are simply wonderful, and the spacious and clear sound is a bonus)and Marc Ribot on electric guitar( Ribot has also worked with Tom Waits and brings something of that sound to this session).
In all, great tunes ,great playing and great sound quality.
Highly reccomended

John Zorn's "The Circle Maker" is two albums of new arrangements of pieces from the Masada songbook-- I hesitate to refer to this as "chamber music arrangements" because its largely untrue. The first disc, "Issachar", features the Masada String Trio-- Mark Feldman on violin, the incomparable Erik Friedlander on cello, and bassist Greg Cohen. The second disc, "Zevulon", credited to the Bar Kokhba Sextet, features the Masada String Trio again further augmented by guitarist Marc Ribot, percussionist Cyro Baptista, and drummer Joey Baron. Each record has its own personality.

The Masada String Trio, for those unfamiliar, is a powerful entity unto itself-- these three are masters of their instruments and like the Masada quartet, manage to operate on an extraordinarily high level. I find myself however comparing this album to the live "50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1" disc from the same group-- its actually quite a similar sleection of songs, but I'm inclined to find the live performance more engaging and much prefer that over this one. Still, there's a brilliance that shines in many spots. "Sippur" is probably the best example of this-- Friedlander delicately states the them beautifully arco over pizzicato backing, eventually Feldman counterpoints him, and then Fridlander takes an arco solo of absolutely breathtaking sensitivity. The haunting "Hadasha" shows off beautifully the range of technique these three have-- Feldman in particular digs in deep on this one, scratching and squeaking his way through the piece, but maintaing an extraordinary level of musicality. But probably nothing on the disc is as engaging as "Yatzah"-- opening all arco (unusual, Cohen plays pizzicato for the majority) with some lush and lovely soloing from Friedlander, eventually Feldman takes the theme with such a sensitivity and real understanding behind the music. His own solo finds him in an understated mood, but able to derive from one sustained note an uncommon level of power and what I contend is the best solo I've heard him play. And speaking of great solos, Friedlander takes a spotlight on "Elijah"-- performed as a solo cello piece, that is just stunning.

The second disc, "Zevulun", is not quite what one thinks of when one thinks chamber music-- indeed the ensemble feels more like a jam band playing Masada tunes then it does any sort of chamber ensemble. While the string trio's function remains largely the same, Ribot alternates between offering color and playing melodies, while Baron operates in a similar context to his place in the Masada Quartet. Baptista's role in the preceedings is, as always, harder to define-- he's all over the map, serving as rhythmic assistence, additional color, and a countermelodic voice at times. Many times, his presence on the pieces makes the piece.

Roughly speaking, "Zevulun" divides nicely into two kinds of pieces-- those where Ribot offers color and those where the String Trio does. Both have their moments-- I particularly like Ribot's playing on the surfish "Hazor" and the overly cinematic "Laylah". The latter in particular is really quite nice, it has that sort of churning anticipation that a good western soundtrack would need. Of the string driven pieces, "Khebar" is nice (and feels like a chamber piece) and "Teli" is just brilliant-- if Ribot plays at all, he's pretty muted, but the piece is downright funky with the strings intertwining with some frantic percussion. Also of note is "Ner Tamid", where the trio and Ribot alternate stating the theme (with minimal improvisation) and a nice chugging beat from the percussionists.

All in all, "The Circle Maker" is a has a lot of good music, and at its length (around two hours) and its price a bit over 20 bucks as I write this), its definitely a fine value, but there's definitely better material in this vein out there.

A couple months ago I grabbed the Naked city CD from my collection and gave it another listen after several years, it started me on a quest to hear as much John Zorn music as I can. The circle maker was one of my recent additions and it just grabs you and draws you into the music like no other. The blend of Klezmer and Jazz is simply outstanding and shouldn't be missed by music lovers with an open mind. If you like this CD also grab Bar Kokhba and for something a little more risky but still with Jewish roots Kristallnacht.

3 1/2

Delivered with virtuoso-like command, John Zorn's ongoing explorations into expanding the sonic palate of traditional Jewish music, as only the diverse musicianship of the notoriously eclectic, avant-garde trumpeter's Masada compilations would see fit, here translates some of their vast catalogue into a more traditional setting. Relying on a trio of string players, Zorn has reimagined some if his fiery klezmer jazz as fiery klezmer classical, replacing all of the Masada group's horn based zaniness with the fiery and overly erratic stringed assault, linked somehow deep within to the base that used to guide these compositions. When Zorn and company really want to do transcribed justice to these pieces, all is evident; the music explodes with a fiery, controlled expertise that will all but simmer the most shy of listeners. All too often however, Zorn falls prey to the same ambiguities that have seen all sides of his art suffer, the overdone artistic indulgences that seem to sometimes mask as soloing serves nothing but underlying the simplicity and disregard for substance with a blatant plea for style. There are still enough tracks on The Circle Maker that make this disc a must have for any adventurous jazz, classical, or Israeli fans to marvel over the talented and unique interpretations, but still too much material that will alienate someone not already keen on Zorn's particular sense of asymmetrical aesthetics.

The second cd is one of my most listened to cd's of the past year. I saw Jorn Zorn play live at the Texaco Jazz Fest. He doesn't actually play on this cd, but he shows his genius as a composer on this recording. My top Jazz album of 1998.