Search - Masada :: Masada, Vol. 7

Masada meeting stalling and more.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 06/24/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Zayin" is an odd entry into the Masada catalog-- John Zorn's Jewish-tinged jazz quartet (Zorn on alto, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen- bass, Joey Baron- drums) seems this time to be tackling not only their usual styles, but also drifting closer to Zorn's love of Carl Stalling and cartoon music. Such things had been hinted at on earlier albums, but here the influence is overt.



Nowhere is this clearer than "Hath-Arob", with its propulsive theme and goofy improvisation. The band sounds to be having a blast and the piece is superb. Ditto for the nursery-rhyme-ish theme "Bacharach" (wisely kept short as its sing-song nature could get rather annoying) and the skipping melody and seemingly randomness of "Nevuah".



Beyond the cartoon influenced stuff, there's quite a bit of great playing on this one-- bass feature "Otiot" is a three and a half minute workout for Cohen, everyone else lays out and he shows his mastery, "Kedem" features Douglas blowing in a trio setting, a dark muted melody with rolling percussion below it, before after several minutes he and Zorn play a haunted, quiet melody in unison. But for all this, "Mahshav" is probably the gem here-- a nice melody/countermelody statement from Zorn and Douglas eventually bleeds into a superb drum solo by Baron where he's outshined by Cohen's accompaniment, then a return of favor with Cohen soloing and Baron sparkling below him. And closer "Tekufah" is a great example of the sort of work Masada excels at-- dueling horns, great grooves, fantastic work from four musicians.



In the end, "Zayin" is one of the better entries into the Masada catalog, its varied, unique, and quite different from the earlier material. Recommended."