Customer Reviews

Masada, Vol. 9

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Volume nine of ultra-diverse saxophonist and composer Zorn, with his amazing group of players, ventures into warping traditional Jewish music once again in this second to last of the Masada numbered series; already a vast project in an already downright intimidating catalog. Perhaps completionists may argue Tet, and quite a few of Zorn's other discs, do not really cover any new ground, and in the proficient but repetitious ninth volume of an overwhelmingly similar sounding Avant-Garde, post-bop, Israeli-influenced noise this decade-long project has articulated, one would be hard pressed to recommend this volume over a few other standout sessions. Capturing equal parts slow mystic noodling and blazing, irritated puncuations, Masada 9 offers a fine overview of the group's unique, intoxicating jazz interplay, though rarely steps over mere summations of what they have achieved more intensely and intricately on prior sets.

"Tet", Masada's ninth album, is another strong entry in the band's catalog. Loosely definable as John zorn's Jewish-tinged jazz project, the band consists of four genius insrumentalists (Zorn on alto, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, Joey Baron on drums) who have developed a nearly psychic interaction and a sense of interaction that by this point anything less than flawlessness on their part seems unacceptable.

The good news is, the band rarely executes in any other state, and "Tet" is another example of that.

Opening with one of the real standouts in the Masada catalog, "Chayah", a strangely meditative piece, with a nice unison theme statement occasionally bouncing into double time, then melodic solos from Zorn, Douglas and Baron (the latter unnerving in his brilliance). It sets the stage for this being the album where Baron consistently manages to steal the show from the rest-- his playing is superb on several cuts often making them ("Kochot", "Jachin"). Not to be outdone though, bassist Greg Cohen gives him a run for his money, turning out superb solos on bass feature "Kedushah" (with nice subtle theme references) and "Moshav", and really allowing overly melodramatic "Acharei Mot" to work through his just breathtaking performance.

Mind you, its not as though Zorn and Douglas are sitting idly by-- check the Naked City-meets-Masada jump cut of "Leshem"-- switching on a dime and featuring monster playing from the front line, or the brilliant dueling improv of jaunty "Meholalot", or the subtlety from both in the composed and improvised sections of "Ner Tamid", one of the real standouts in the Masada canon. Delicately performed, Zorn and Douglas show why it is they are probably the most exciting frontline working in the jazz idiom in the past thirty years.

In truth, this is really one of the best Masada studio pieces out there-- the other one that comes to mind is their second album, "Beit", but this one feature a more balanced display of the band's abilities. It is an essential part of the band's catalog and a good starting place for exploring the band. Highly recommended.