Customer Reviews

Masada Live In Jerusalem 1994

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

 

 

Zorn's playing is the most sublime thing here-- he really plays his patookus off. I've never heard him solo with such restraint and yet so much passion! The song list is great, too... all the catchiest masada tunes. Be forewarned though... the audio is kinda squirrely. Although mixed by the same guy who did all the other Masada albums, the overall sound is REALLY bright and dynamic. It doesn't have the "brown sound" of the other recordings. Still, this difference kind of adds to the charm of it. The audience, by the way, is clearly loving this performance and seem to applaud constantly. It's a little bizarre but, again, nicely quirky. If you've never heard Masada before, this isn't perhaps the place to start, but it's definitely the most Masada for your buck, and if you love their other albums and want to hear what they'd sound like in a live setting with an adoring crowd, this is your golden egg. Personally, I'd rather listen to Masada in the studio, where you can hear every nuance of what they're playing. Aside from that, this is really cool and different. Four stars.

When Tzadik started releasing Masada live recordings, I thought there's no particular rush to get them. I know most of the material, and -- after all -- how different can all these concerts be? Well... they can and they are.

I was fortunate to see Masada in concert relatively early, in October 1995, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. They dashed out on stage -- no 'Good evening', no 'Hello', nothing -- grabbed their instruments and.... BANG! they've hit us with a couple of fast ones, instantly grabbing our attention and not letting go until the end. Zorn was wearing some washed out, out of shape T-shirt and camouflage trousers, they all appeared like some jazz guerrilla, elite assault jazz unit! Their breathtaking command of instruments, music heavily saturated in the folk motives of the Middle East... I remember being dazed, almost like in a trance of a kind, throughout the concert. Afterwards, I felt like I could walk on water.

Live in Jerusalem 1994 presents Masada's first concert in Israel. No doubt, this must have been a very special occasion. 1994 was when they just started, having recorded material for the first four Masada studio CDs (Alef, Beit, Gimel and Dalet). Perhaps because of the awareness of the venue and the occasion (and the audience, of course), the music played on this concert "grabs" you in a different, dare I say: more subtle, way. If the tracks appear on the two CDs in order they were played (as they appear to be), it shows quite a different dynamic of the concert. Having different experiences myself, I appreciate this even more. This too, was a very memorable concert. It's impressive to hear (again) how well they hear and inspire each other, always finding some new and unexpected turn in their improvisations, constantly taking music higher and higher.

Every time I listen to these CDs I seem to find another song to "lock" on. I've just hit <program> and <repeat> on the player to play Hekhal repeatedly, the last song of the first CD, upbeat, fast and oriental song with Joey Baron playing like a pair of castanets. I am sure you will do the same with some of the 18 tracks providing almost two hours of music.

In the early 1990s, John Zorn put together the Masada songbook-- what ended up being about 200 songs composed over a few years of jazz melodies written using the "Jewish scales", lending that familiar Eastern-European-meets-Middle-Eastern sound to the music. Zorn assembled a quartet that's pretty much without peer to record the music-- himself on alto sax, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, and Joey Baron on drums, a quartet modelled after Ornette Coleman's famed quartet. "Live in Jerusalem", recorded in 1994, finds this quartet in full flight. They'd been in the studio, recording the better part of three albums and an EP (the first four Masada releases, from whence all the material on this recording was drawn), but the band and project on the road was always something more than it was in the studio, and this release is a perfect example of that.

The key to the material on this is building tension. The second piece on the first disc, "Bith-Aneth", is a good example of it. It opens delicately, almost gently, with Baron muted and Cohen deep in a groove. Zorn and Douglas flutter and freely associate on top before settling into the theme, stated like an afterthought. The two horns solo, first indepedently then together, with Zorn encouraging and pushing Douglas higher and higher.

It sounds a bit like hyperbole, admittedly, but that's pretty much a good summary of just about any of the pieces on here-- superb interaction, fantastic performances, and one member pushing the others higher and higher. The only complaint is sonic, the bass is a bit quieter than I'd like, but the performance is top notch. For a first exposure to Masada, I'm hard pressed to recommend anything other than "50th Birthday Celebration Volume 7", but to hear the band in their early days in full flight, "Live in Jerusalem" is a fine pick. Recommended.

I have all ten Masada CDs (from "Alef" to "Yod") on the DIW label and had the good fortune to see them in concert twice - when they'd only been together a few weeks and after they had recorded their seventh DIW CD. All of the DIW CDs are great but a little expensive. For a solid compilation of earlier Masada performances "Live in Jerusalem" is a good buy. This CD contains material from the first 3 CDs - maybe more, I haven't compared track listings. The first time I saw Masada they were still coming to grips with the material; this recording proves their mastery of it. The band stretches out on the material and everyone plays well; the recording captures the sound of four exceptional musicians having a really good night.

while i cannot say i possess the knowledge of masada's catalog necessary to tell you whether this is a definitive performance and release, i can tell you that it's as good as any masada i've heard, and i'm tempted to say as good as any jazz i've heard. it can be hard to recommend individual albums of masada's, as they all seem so similar on first glance, but i have been pleased with all of the recent live releases.
a lot of this review is going to be commentary on masada itself, but since this is the prototypical documentation i've heard of the group, and a good starting place, as it shows them in their true element (on stage, interacting and creating on the spot).
there's some truly remarkable music here. the instrumentation and personality of the group is the perfect mix, as it is obvious that everyone's improvising nearly all the time, and playing ingeniously and unpredictably off of one another, but they come together to form a unified voice that is extremely powerful. the sound is kind of divided in half, between the front line and the rhythm section. zorn and douglas's melodies are sometimes gorgeous flowing passages in which their two voices in unison create a bright and stark theme. the trumpet and sax sound like one mind at times during the heads, but the harmonies fracture just enough to let you in on each of their eccentricities. the rhythm section is equally important in creating the group's distinct sound. baron's drumming is constantly inventive and in control, always with a strong pulse but always changing rhythms and throwing in strange repeated figures that will leave you wondering how he keeps such a strong pulse, while maybe only playing the hi-hat on the beat. the bass playing is ostinato in many places, adding to the strong sense of swing and groove, but cohen also gets a number of long solos. he's probably the one that does the least amount of "extended technique" playing or noise-making.
the compositions are from the huge masada songbook, all written by zorn. before the last song you can hear them flipping pages and trying to find a song ("#51?"). super slow minor key melodies, hyper speed free jazz freakouts, middle eastern flair to all of it. at least one tune in a funky straight-eights feel. absolutely incredible interplay between the musicians, most notably zorn and douglas. for most people, john zorn is the primary attraction of listening to masada. his style, technique, and manner of improvising are truly something else. whereas the 60's school of free-blowing saxophonists (ok, mostly late coltrane) seemed to be exploring themselves through their instruments, testing the very outer limits of their instruments, their souls, and their audience's tolerance... zorn is clearly in the driver's seat the entire time. he always knows where he's going and uses his instrument to poke and prod his colleagues/cohorts into the upper boundaries of their own skill. it's apparent that he's having an absolute blast doing it all.

this is the only Masada release that i have heard, so i can't compare it to other many other albums that this group has available. but this is a fiery set delivered with passion, and intensity. i like the fact that the on-stage banter between band members was not edited out. it's fun to hear them talk to each other between songs. like all Tzadik releases, this features some pretty nice artwork and graphic design.

"Live In Jerusalem" is a terrific live recording of what must have been a cathartic moment for Masada, performing live for the first time in Israel. And what a concert it is; this is one of the few live albums where you can actually *feel* the connection between audience and performer. The Jerusalem Festival audience were most likely getting their first real taste of the band, and they respond with enthusiastic applause, as well as tickled-pink laughter at points. This album is also, in my opinion, the best recorded live Masada album, though bassist Greg Cohen does seem a bit undermixed to me.

A song like "Jair" shows what this band is all about and what Masada are like at their best. Obviously using the original Ornette Coleman Quartet as their jumping-off point, this band in no way sounds like they are imitating Coleman or paying him homage. This is pure Zorn; the new Jewish poetry. Passionate and with the utmost conviction, Masada finds musical space that not too many jazz bands can reach; an expression of pure crystalline joy, like a dancing naked child.

Give it repeated listens. Soon the curtain will part, and all the wonderful melodies, stream-of-consciouness improvisations, and telepathic music communication will come to the fore.
This was the best live jazz album of 1999.

Given that Zorn and Masada have so much stuff out there, it is hard to know what to buy but it would be hard to top this double cd. Douglas (as usual) and Zorn are both in peak form with their excellent rhythm section keeping up. A few of the 18 songs may be too wild for some listeners but these are actually the shorter songs so most listeners would find the vast majority of the cd very accessible.