The Cracow Klezmer Band - Balan: Book Of Angels Vol. 5 (2006)

Probably the album in the series that is the most rooted in the traditional klezmer sound. Still fun and well done overall and another great set of tunes. Still a bit of "free" moments but not as off the wall as the Koby Israelite release.

The first striking thing about the Cracow Klezmer Band's reading of John Zorn's tunes from his Book of Angels, on Balan, is the sound -- crystalline, full of separation and space. The next is Jaroslaw Bester's bayan -- hunted, witchy, signaling from some far-off place to Oleg Dyyak's hand drums, Wojciech Front's double bass, and then the small army of strings provided by the band's own violinist, Jaroslaw Tyrala, and the DAFO String Quartet. They respond as if gathering in some hidden terrain, and begin to dance. And it is about dancing, folks. Thus begins "Zuriel," the first cut from this entrancing, ingenious, and by all means exotic recording. On the following cut, "Suria," the seemingly random guttural vocals of Jorgos Skolias enter into the mix along with Ireneusz Socha's minimal electronics. Skolias becomes an Eastern soul singer by the track's middle as the strings envelope him in ether. On "Kadosh," the track melds traditional klezmer, symphonic cadenzas, and free improvisation into the mix, but the result is no less songlike. Bester's bayan commences "Asbeel," with a single note played obsessively and repeatedly, which is answered at first by Tyrala's plucked violin and then the entire band swirling like drunken Gypsies around the lone note that has now become one song, then another, and then yet another ranging from classic klezmer and Yiddish folk melodies to manic Gypsy tunes and even French bistro pop amid crazily shifting dynamics between group play and soloists. Bester arranged all of this material, and has done something utterly unexpected -- something, ironically, that listeners have come to expect from this entire series of recordings -- in pushing the klezmer genre to its limit and then past it, letting in a flood of other musical approaches and ideas. While all of Zorn's Book of Angels recordings have been wonderful thus far, Koby Israelite's beautifully intoxicating Orobas and this volume push the Masada material into entirely new sound worlds. Beguiling.
-Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

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Koby Israelite - Orobas: Book Of Angels Vol. 4 (2006)

This album is fucking bizarre dudes. Another set of Zorn tunes, but this one is definitely one of the most far out from the Book of Angels series. The album is all over the place. One song will be Jewish/Turkish electronic fusion stuff like Balkan Beat Box, the next will be traditional, the next will sound like heavy metal, the next traditional, the next jazzy, the next fusion etc. It's a fucking blast and definitely NOT background music. Not for everyone, but if you are a fan of bands like Secret Chiefs 3 or whatever, this album is pretty good. Find joy in the schizophrenia.

Koby Israelite has issued two previous CDs for the Tzadik label, Dance of the Idiots and Mood Swings. Both showed a tremendous flair for composition, instrumental acumen, humor, and an ability to shift genres without batting an eye. Israelite was born in Tel Aviv, and has played everything from traditional Hebrew folk music, classical music (he was trained on piano at a conservatory from the age of nine), and he's a huge fan of heavy metal and has played in a number of metal and punk bands. This set of John Zorn tunes -- from Zorn's second Masada book -- Orobas: Book of Angels, Vol. 4 was handpicked by the composer. The results are stellar. There's the Yiddish gypsy blues that meld with funk and jazz on "Czgadi," where accordions engage in contrapuntal free form with a fretless bass before guitars and trap kits move to the center of the mix. The startling metal guitar riffing that introduces "Zafiel" is splayed out by Turkish folk melodies by mid-track. Then there are the mariachi-styled melody lines played by trumpets, electric guitars, Farfisa organs, and a drum kit on "Khabiel"; the mood changes, the genres smash and meld effortlessly (klezmer melodies and reggae enter and leave seamlessly and the track is taken out by a kind of prog-surf metal before it ends), and the music becomes hypnotic while remaining exciting, even breathtaking. The other musicians who lay here -- trumpeter Sid Gauld, Stewart Curtis on recorders, piccolos and clarinet, and Yaron Stavi on bass, (Israelite plays no less than eight instruments himself) -- are in top-flight, and this feels more like a band than an individually directed effort. And perhaps that too is a strength Israelite possesses, to place his imprint on Zorn's music in an idiosyncratic way, and still give his ensemble an individual identity. As for the series, Orobas: Book of Angels, Vol. 4 is another essential Four-for-four and counting. This is the most exhilarating set of recordings Tzadik has offered in quite some time. For those who haven't yet checkout Israelite, this is a fantastic opportunity.
-Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com

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Mark Feldman & Sylvie Sylvie Courvoisier - Malphas: Book of Angels Vol. 3 (2006)

Perhaps my favorite of the Book of Angels series. There are certainly still some elements of Zorn's jazz side here, but this is more like of a classical record than anything. If you got the Masada String Trio album I posted with Mark Feldman's amazing violin playing, he is all over this one too. And Sylvie Courvoisier plays pretty inventive piano notes. It's beautiful and again very Jewish in sound. A few of the pieces are a little more "avant-garde" but overall, a very pretty effort from this duo.

The second book of Masada tunes—300 compositions John Zorn penned in 2004—is only revelatory for the most diehard of fans. What’s more exciting over a decade into the Masada story is that new life has been breathed into the project. Following Book Two releases by Jamie Saft and the Masada String Trio, Malphas is a set of eleven of those compositions interpreted by pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman, a duo which has been one of the most exciting of the many performers of this music.

Where other groups focus on the jazz or the upbeat groove of the songbook, Courvoisier and Feldman bring a classicism to the project, closer to the Masada String Trio (Feldman with bassist Greg Cohen and cellist Erik Friedlander). Their delicate playing is gorgeous, even more so than on their Masada Recital from 2004. It’s an airy yet poignant record, catching the best of what Zorn creates in the compositions.

The packaging, likewise, is simple and attractive: a maroon digipack with a stylized Star of David cut from the front. Occasionally the pieces are referential, quoting Mozart or the six-note ballpark “charge” theme, an approach Zorn has long worked into his compositions. He quoted “Für Elise” in his pivotal 1993 work Kristallnacht and used cartoon sounds in the string-quartet-plus-turntable piece “Cat o’ Nine Tails.” There, however, the quotations referred to something about the context of the piece. Here they just seem to emphasize Zorn’s eclecticism and serve as a distraction. Those moments, however, are few on a warm and beautifully recorded album.

-Kurt Gottshalk, Allaboutjazz.com

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Masada String Trio - Azazel: Book Of Angels Vol. 2 (2005)

Volume 2 of Zorn's Book of Angels features the original Masada trio: Mark Feldman (violin), Greg Cohen (bass) and Erik Friendlander (cello). Again, it's jazz, though deefinitely leaning on the third stream or classical/chamber sound. But this set is definitely more in the jewish music setting as well. Like I also said before, if you have always been wary of getting into Zorn's works, Book of Angels is probably the easiest to get into (though not necessarily representative). Marvelous, beautiful stuff. Feldman's violin is especially prominent.

When saxophonist/composer John Zorn first introduced Masada in 1994, it’s unlikely that he could have anticipated it would become so successful. The first songbook was originally developed for his adventurous but clearly jazz-centric quartet featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Greg Cohen, and drummer Joey Baron. Since then Zorn’s compositions—brief sketches meant to encourage exploration and interplay—have been interpreted by a wide variety of ensembles, ranging from the raucous Electric Masada to the elegant but still rhythmically propulsive Bar Kokhba Sextet and the chamber recital approach of Feldman and Courvoisier in duet. Special projects, including Masada Guitars and Voices in the Wilderness, have demonstrated the remarkable adaptability of Zorn’s songbook.

The Masada String Trio is Zorn’s most accessible ensemble, although it makes absolutely no compromises with the probing spirit that has rendered the Masada project his most endearing and enduring work. While the trio—violinist Mark Feldman, cellist Erik Friedlander, and bassist Greg Cohen—has been at the center of a number of Zorn projects including Filmworks VIII (Tzadik, 1998) and Filmworks XI (Tzadik, 2002), it’s been nearly a decade since they have recorded a studio album of new Masada material.

With over 300 tunes composed for his second Masada songbook, Zorn is in a different and more advantageous position. Whereas the bulk of the first book was first introduced by his flagship quartet, this time he can inaugurate the material using the wealth of musical contexts that have become part of the larger Masada universe. Astaroth: Book of Angels Volume 1 found long-time associate Jamie Saft approaching ten new pieces from a piano trio perspective. Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2 reconvenes the Masada String Trio and, like Volume 1, demonstrates that there’s plenty of life left in the Masada project.

While there are brief moments of reckless abandon on the cue-driven “Mibi” and “Gurid,” the balance of the thirteen-song set manages to be approachable while at the same time filled with the kind of telepathic and complex interaction that renders it impossible to distinguish form from freedom. While some might expect that the trio’s inherent chamber aesthetic would be self-limiting, Feldman, Friedlander, and Cohen prove it’s possible to cover an expanse of emotions, from the exhilarating “Ahiel,” with Cohen’s powerful forward motion, to the darker title track, the Satie-like elegance of “Garzanal,” and the dervish-like frenzy of “Bethor.”

Like Astaroth, Azazel remains undeniably a Masada project, though it demonstrates a wider stylistic purview than the first songbook. Additionally, the trio has clearly evolved as a unit, with Feldman and Friedlander especially notable for shifting roles from support to lead so seamlessly that the changes are virtually invisible.

Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2 is a strong argument against naysayers who accuse Zorn of milking the Masada project dry. With a large community of artists from which Zorn can now draw for Masada, there seems to be no end to its potential, and the Masada String Trio proves that it’s possible to create challenging and multifaceted improv-based chamber music that doesn’t sacrifice widespread appeal.

-John Kelman, Allaboutjazz.com

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Jamie Saft Trio - Astaroth: Book Of Angels Vol. 1 (2005)

So I've recently fallen in love with John Zorn's current Masada book, The Book Of Angels. So far there is 11 volumes of amazing jazz and klezmer tunes that are sort of traditional to the the Jewish culture as he sees fit, and each volume is a different artist (or part of the "Masada Family") and takes some of the tunes and makes a record however they want. All the records sound vastly different, yet they are all relatively short Zorn tunes. For those scared of John Zorn much of the work is his easiest to get into. It is not easy listening but it's definitely not demanding. Sort of the ideal blend. Jamie Saft rips it on the keyboards, Greg Cohen holds his own on the bass and then Ben Perowsky pounds the drums like his is known for (let us not forget he released "Camp Songs" one of my favorite Tzadik releases). This is the first version which has a nice nice jazz element, and kind of goes from some nice cool jazz to free jazz track after track, all while maintaining a certain Jewish feel. I'll probably upload all the volumes as I like all of them. Great stuff.

With Sanhedrin: Unreleased Studio Recordings 1994-1997, saxophonist/composer John Zorn put a period on what turns out to be but the first phase of his Masada project. His voluminous Masada songbook, first emerging in ’94 with his quartet featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Greg Cohen, and drummer Joey Baron, has gone on to a wide variety of interpretations, including solo guitar, piano/violin recital, string trio, and electric octet.

But when Zorn indicated in the liner notes to Sanhedrin that he had composed an entire second book of Masada music in an almost ridiculously short period of time, the question arose as to whether there was something new to be said, after over two hundred compositions in the first Masada songbook so vividly and completely explored the juncture of traditional Jewish music and a variety of improvising contexts. Based on the first recording of Masada Book Two material, Astaroth, Book of Angels, it's clear that Zorn's frenetic imagination has yet to run dry. In fact, there are a number of surprises about Astaroth that create high anticipation for future Book Two releases.

First is that, while Zorn continues to mine the harmonic territory of Jewish music, the overall aesthetic seems less direct, with the pieces now subsumed as part of a greater musical whole that recognizes broader thematic and rhythmic concerns. While some might accuse Masada Book One of ultimately becoming predictable, including hypnotic rhythmic foundations for some pieces, and rapid-fire themes for others, breaking down into chaos only to be magically pulled back at their conclusion, the material on Astaroth feels less categoric. And while nobody could accuse the Book One recordings of being anything but open-ended in terms of improvisational potential, the Book Two material feels somehow less rigidly of a kind.

But perhaps the biggest surprise is Jamie Saft—a keyboard player who has always seemed more a jack-of-all-trades, but here demonstrates an heretofore unheard talent in context of a traditional piano trio format (also featuring Greg Cohen and drummer Ben Perowsky). In the past, Saft's contributions have tended to feel more like confection, textural icing on the cake. Here he demonstrates an unfettered imagination and sense of invention that, for perhaps the first time, truly dominate. Capable of lyrical economy on the relaxed vibe of Shalmiel� and the melancholically bluesy Lelahel; harder-edged expressionism on Ygal�; flat-out swing on Ezeqeel and Sturiel; naive innocence on Ariel�; and darker abstract impressionism on Baal-Peor, Saft's performance on Astaroth deserves to see him reach a larger audience.

Cohen and Perowsky are equally impressive, but that comes as less of a surprise. And with Cohen having been a member of the flagship Masada quartet from the mid-90s, there's an undeniable continuity between earlier efforts and this new phase in Zorn's investigation of the varied possibilities of traditional Jewish music. If Astaroth is any indication, Zorn's Masada projects will continue to retain a specific identity, while branching out into even broader areas of exploration.

-John Kelman, Allaboutjazz.com

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Floratone - Floratone (2007)

Bill Frisell side project from last year, where he formed a "band" with drummer Matt Chamberlain, and then the other two "members" of the "band" are producers. I guess it's sort of jazz, but not really. It's not really avant-garde either at all. It's just instrumental music that is sort of a blend of a ton of styles and is just awesome. Also features a lot of Viktor Krauss and Eyvind Kang, so string-wise it's pretty set. Awesomely executed stuff.

A casual listen might suggest that Floratone is a new Bill Frisell project (and that would be mostly correct), except every indication is that this is a fully collaborative project between Frisell, drummer Matt Chamberlain, and Tucker Martine and Lee Townsend. Composition credits are all shared and they all appear on the front cover. Why is that notable? Because while Frisell and Chamberlain are both credited with "loops" along with their respective instruments, Martine and Townsend receive only "production" credits -- no instruments. That's because on Floratone, the pure elements of sound and space are given as much attention as the music itself. Not only are there cool shimmering loops coloring the tunes, but any musical element can get treated, delayed, bounced around, echoed and twisted through 360-degrees of the stereo spectrum. With titles that invoke the South, the songs mostly float along at a languid pace anchored by the bass of Viktor Krauss. Ron Miles (trumpet) and Eyvind Kang (viola) also contribute to several cuts but don't really figure prominently. The focus is squarely on FrisellChamberlain and the soundworld they've created with Martine and Townsend. There's the slight reggae lilt of the title cut with some great dub-style echo and the New Orleans flavored "Mississippi Rising" with its second line rhythm. "Louisiana Lowboat" is somewhat lumbering and clanky, coming across almost like a Tom Waits instrumental. "Monsoon" rocks things up a bit and "Threadbare" gets a bit noisy, but this is mostly a pretty laid-back affair. It's great to hear Frisell messing with the delays again in a big way (see also the "West" disc of East/West) and the pure sonics of Floratone are as much of a treat as the playing. It's pleasant enough for background music, but careful listening will be rewarded. Try this one with headphones.
-Sean Westergaard, AMG

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Joni Mitchell - For The Roses (1972)

By recommendation of my awesome girlfriend, who brought this lovely album to my eyes just today.

Mostly overlooked (though still generally regarded as a classic) "transitional" album my Joni Mitchell. This is where she first gets the ideas to start embracing the jazz influences that dominated her later work. Nice combination of folk with slight jazz touches.

On For the Roses, Joni Mitchell began to explore jazz and other influences in earnest. As one might expect from a transitional album, there is a lot of stylistic ground explored, including straight folk selections using guitar ("For the Roses") and piano ("Banquet," "See You Sometime," "Lesson in Survival") overtly jazzy numbers ("Barangrill," "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire," and hybrids that cross the two Let the Wind Carry Me," "Electricity," "Woman of Heart and Mind," "Judgment of the Moon and Stars"). "Blonde in the Bleachers" grafts a rock & roll band coda onto a piano-based singer/songwriter main body. The hit single "You Turn Me on I'm a Radio" is an unusual essay into country-tinged pop, sporting a Dylanesque harmonica solo played by Graham Nash and lush backing vocals. Arrangements here build solidly upon the tentative expansion of scoring first seen in Ladies of the Canyon. "Judgment of the Moon and Stars" and "Let the Wind Carry Me" present lengthy instrumental interludes. The lyrics here are among Mitchell's best, continuing in the vein of gripping honesty and heartfelt depth exhibited on Blue. As always, there are selections about relationship problems, such as "Lesson in Survival," "See You Sometime," and perhaps the best of all her songs in this genre, "Woman of Heart and Mind." "Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire" presents a gritty inner-city survival scene, while "Barangrill" winsomely extols the uncomplicated virtues of a roadside truck stop. More than a bridge between great albums, this excellent disc is a top-notch listen in its own right.
-David Cleary, AMG

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