Search - John Zorn, Robert Burger :: John Zorn: Film Works XXIII - El General

Lacking in memorable themes, but carried by a stunning perfo

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/13/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A record whose story (detailed in the liner notes) is perhaps as fascinating as the music, "Filmworks XXIII: El General" is the score for a documentary about Plutarco Elias Calles, one-time dictator of Mexico. For the score, Zorn assembled an ensemble from his cast of regulars-- Marc Ribot on guitar, Kenny Wollesen on vibes, marimba and drums, Rob Burger on accordian and piano and Greg Cohen on bass, to perform an album of Spanish- (or more properly, Mexican-) tinged music. As with what seems to be any time Ribot gets involved in straighter, guitar-driven works of Zorn, the results are stunning.



The record works to be a feature for Ribot, whole consistently turns in fantastic performance after fantastic performance, be it as fierce and explosive in the vein of Film Works, Vol. 21: Belle de Nature/Rijksmuseum (opener "Los Cristeros"), gentle and sensitive (and on acoustic on "Besos de Sangre") or as a moody rumination ("Exilio"). It's not to imply that the rest of the band is dialing it in, but this is clearly Ribot's feature (barring the excellent piano trio reprise of "Besos de Sangre"), and he shines perhaps even moreso than the composer.



Curiously, the director, who didn't agree with Zorn on direction, only used three cuts from this score, but thankfully Zorn was able to release this. While it's not compositionally as essential as some of his other film scores (such as Filmworks XIII: Invitation to a Suicide) as it lacks significantly memorable themes, this score features some of Marc Ribot's finest performances on record. Recommended."

Beautiful, hypnotic themes

Julie | The dark side of the moon | 03/18/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most of the tracks here are dreamy and meditative; a few are a little more lively. As a film score, this is essentially background music, but background music of superlative quality. No singing, just instrumentals, with a beautiful combination of electric guitar, accordian, bass, piano, marimba, well-recorded with a richly resonant acoustic. Zorn's approach is to create a hypnotic jazz groove with a strong Mexican-Spanish folk music influence for the main instruments to improvise over. Unlike so much jazz music today, this is truly beautiful music. One song is especially outstanding and memorable: "Maximato." The album is worth the price just for this one stunning song, almost unbearably beautiful. Imho, this is the best yet of Zorn's Film Works."