Customer Reviews

Masada Guitars

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Three great guitar players: Marc Ribot, Tim Sparks and Bill Frisell come together on one album to create beautiful guitar renditions of Masada songs. I've played this album for numerous people since I bought it and all who have heard it say it sounds "peaceful", "beautiful" or "relaxing", all of which I agree with. The song "Ravayah", played by Tim Sparks is one of the best guitar songs I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Even though this disc is very pleasing to the ears, I would suggest that you start off with other Masada releases before you start here, that way you get a good feel of the band and their killer klezmer/jazz songs. Oh and if you get the chance to see them live....DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is one of those rare Zorn albums that satisfies everyone. It's melodic and calm enough to please the squares who listen to music that makes them feel *good.* It's also exotic enough to justify putting this in the avant-garde category. If you're the typical Zorn fan, there's just enough weirdness here to make this a must-have for your collection.

And it's a must for fans of jazz guitar. These three guys play beautifully, adding creative flourishes without losing the basic structure of each song.

Buy this one and you'll listen to it over and over. It might get a little boring after the fifth or sixth time, but you'll keep returning to it as the years go by.

Each individual piece as played by the guitarist's are small masterpieces. I don't know how much direction he gave his players but a photograph seems to put him in a elevated trancendental state of mind. I would like to see a second offering that would include Eugene Chadbourne, Nels Cline, Derek Bailey, Henry Kaiser and Marc Ducret along with the current line up. Anyway, this is deffinately a good CD to add to a jazz collection.

There's really not much that needs to be said about this album, is there? Music Zorn composed for Masada, interpreted here by Tim Sparks, Marc Ribot, and Bill Frisell. (NOT in trio format - each track features only one of the three, Frisell on seven cuts, Sparks on five, Ribot on nine -- all kinda mixed-up together, so that I haven't had a chance to figure out how I feel about each player individually; track 10 obviously jumps out as being a Bill Frisell performance, but it's the only one I've had that reaction to, really NOTICING the identity of the player -- I'm slow about such things). The Tzadik obi, or whatever those things are called when it's a non-Japanese release, talks about the music including "a nod to Fahey, Julian Bream, Segovia, Van Eps and others." That, really, is accurate to the point of making my blather redundant. Strangest thing to me is that Zorn seems to be crossing over into some sort of mainstream success with this disc; the local Virgin Records ordered 15 copies of it, when usually they MIGHT pick up one or two copies of a new Tzadik release -- many they ignore outright, tho'). And this IS very accessible, easily-listened to stuff; you could probably play it for your most unhip relatives, even people who own a Kenny G disc, and they'd like it. (People with no taste can sometimes appreciate beauty, too). My only misgiving, if slight: I guess I feel a smidgen weird about the two photos of Zorn, one on the obi-thing, the other in the booklet, which have him just-kinda bathed in divine illumination, looking a little too too "Great Artist"; I kinda dug those days when his photo simply didn't show up anywhere in his releases, and don't know why he's fronting it NOW (unless it's some move to actually get the light of celebrity shining on him, which just doesn't seem very Zorn-like, tho' wouldn't be a bad idea, in some ways... maybe he's just caught sufficient flak for the various pornographic/brutal images he's shared with us previously that he's tryin' another tack; maybe there's even IRONY in these images, I dunno). But to heck with me for sayin' such things; they make the CD no less beautiful an experience, to those who appreciate beauty; the music is passionate and sincere and exquisitely played, and the disc will be one you'll wanna spin frequently. It WOULD be weird if Zorn somehow became a mainstream pop icon, of some sort, tho', wouldn't it? But, like, there ain't much water in this here desert, so why not...

Some of Zorn's most restrained, sincere work comes in the form of his Masada revisions via a few friends on guitar. Immediately, and throughout the sprawling compilation it is apparent just how spectacularly sensitive playing remains by three alternating guitarists, giving these usually brassed and jacked-up renditions a minimal, lingering sheen any instrumentalist would only wish to bask inside of. A must for classical guitar enthusiasts and seekers of technical talent everywhere.

I'm more of a guitarista than a Zorn follower. The Zorn experts know far more than I do about how this album fits into his canon of work. But as far as guitar albums are concerned, this has to be one of the most sophisticated and sublime works I've ever heard.

The recording method allows much of the process to bleed through, which places the listener in the room. This creates an intimacy that is rare for this level of playing.

It's not what I would call a friendly album. Considering its theme, it shouldn't be. It's a challenging exploration of the sonic range of acoustic and electric guitars by three of the best instrumentalists to ever play this instrument.

This is one of my favourable collection though I've owned more than 3000 CDs. The three guitarists, Tim Sparks, Marc Ribot and Bill Frisell were able to demonstrate their virtuoso in this project. Touching guitar music.

This is a good album but I don't find myself coming back for repeat listening like I do with the Masada quartet. All the guitarist are very good and interesting but the album lacks a coherence. Perhaps having all the Frisell songs together, then all the Ribot songs, etc. would've worked out a little better. The CD might also be improved upon with more guitar players in the mix. Ducret, Kaiser, Frith perhaps, etc. If you're into Masada - get it, if not, skip it.

For the tenth anniversary of the Masada project, John Zorn decided to pull the project into different contexts, to let the songbook breathe a bit more on its own rather than in the shadow of the quartet. This, the first volume of this series, "Masada Guitars" is pretty much what it sounds like, solo guitar performances from three masters and friends of John Zorn: Bill Frisell, Tim Sparks, and Marc Ribot. Frisell performs seven pieces (and is the only one to use an electric guitar on any of them), Sparks performs five, and Ribot performs nine. The performances are mixed throughout the disc (i.e. a Ribot may be followed by a Sparks and so on) and it provides a nice contrast in styles.

The music on here is fairly unique-- with the Masada songbook having the flavor it does and the presentation-- each guitarist pretty tightly infuses their own style on the pieces-- Frisell is all over the map, from haunting delicate playing ("Abidan") to electric, processed, and bizarre ("Katzatz"), Ribot infuses his own personality on the pieces, the sort of folk-meets-surf-meets-free jazz that was so clearly illustrated on his "Saints" album comes out here ("Hodaah", "Moshav"), and an extrordinarily wide range of technique is often in the fore ("Hadasha"). Sparks, whose work I'm relatively unfamiliar with, manages to strike a nice counterbalance to the two-- his playing is a bit more firmly lodged in classical technique (at least on this recording) and I think the pieces actually benefit from this-- from beautiful circular lines ("Ravayah") to a subtlely decorated melody and bass ("Kanah", "Kedushah") that really matches the music well.

One complaint though, and it largely effects my rating-- as many have said, this is pretty music that generally can be appreciated by a wide audience. This is precisely the problem I have with it-- Sparks and to a lesser extent Frisell (when he's not plugged in) don't take enough chances with the pieces, and render them in a sort of background mode. They're all quite nice, but they don't reach out and grab me. The music all works well enough, but I don't think it takes enough chances. An enjoyable listen, and maybe a good way to appreciate Zorn as a composer, but I don't think of this as essential in his canon.