John Zorn’s Acoustic Masada at Page Auditorium
What a set! The four players—Zorn (alto sax), Dave Douglas (trumpet), Greg Cohen (bass) and Joey Baron (drums)—came onstage briskly, got in position with a minimum of fuss as Zorn shouted something I didn’t catch, and immediately launched into a frenetic free-form piece, Zorn playing with one hand and jabbing behind his back with the other to direct the drummer. Grunge jazz, in the best sense of the word, all the way down to Zorn’s camo pants.
I haven’t listened to Masada before, and that’s been a real oversight on my part. In general I don’t either seek out or avoid Zorn’s music, and when it comes my way I tend to enjoy it for a while and then it loses me. A couple of years ago I heard his string quartet Cat O’ Nine Tails (Tex Avery Directs The Marquis De Sade). The first minute or two was great fun, maybe the highlight of the concert, and then the joke got old but the piece went on and on. With Masada the music was playful without that feel of self-conscious game playing—what I heard was distinctive but straight-ahead bluesy-bebop-on-a-camel alternating with exuberant free jazz.
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