Search - John Zorn, Burger, Wollesen :: In Search of the Miraculous

Quite satisfactory

Jonathon M. Rose | 04/03/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This isn't among Zorn best, nor is it among his worst. I think the key to this particular album might be the listeners' background. Personally I enjoy a lot of stuff from the minimalist school, Steve Riech and Philip Glass ect... With that in mind I find a lot of this album to be in that sort of vein. Hypnotic and lovely, but not breaking any new or experimental ground. With that aspect in mind this disk is quite satisfying, and a good disk for people who don't normally like Zorn (my wife has never cared for any of his stuff, but didn't mind this at all) The music is as always well performed and quite melodic, I think it you look upon the disk as more meditative it is more satisfactory than if you want something that is purely engaging. The album works best when the listener wants something to slowly drift off into, and although that is not always a good thing, there are times when its ideal. So it's not at all a must have Zorn piece, but if you want something to slowly drift off into a pleasant place (in many ways its a "whiter" version of IOA since the subject isn't as dark) than it's a very enjoyable piece. All it really takes is the right mood at the right time and it gels. At which point it all makes sense, at that point it's a five. But since on a normal day its simple a solid listen, it's simply very good."

Miraculous

Sunlight | New York City | 04/03/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Zorn is an artist who continues to grow, and his writing is growing as well.

The music he is making these days has reached a stage where his interests can be more subtle.

This can throw off even his die-hard fans, who along with everyone else, also find it difficult to pigeonhole him.

This happened to Stravinsky, to Miles Davis and it is not at all surprising that it is happening to Zorn.

Many of his CDs get both 5-star reviews and 2-star reviews!



I was lucky to be at The Stone when this music premiered in 2009, and my friends still speak about it as one of the best concerts of the year.

For me this is one of Zorn's very best albums, and is a very logical step from Alhambra Love Songs, extending his recent experiments with melodicism to deeper places.

If you liked Alhambra you will love this.



It contains some of his most catchy compositions, Book of Shadows, and some of his most complex, The Magus, which is a powerful and relentless stream of melodic material, truly the "breakthrough" piece that the text on the front of the CD implies. As far as new ground, he has never done anything like it, and neither has anyone else!



This CD is about subtlety and nuance and on its own terms is an amazing listen at any time of the day or night. Moody and gorgeous, it captures the world of Magick with style and grace.



The eternally youthful Zorn is 58 years old now, and his writing is powerful, as it always has been. It is not surprising that many of his fans find it difficult to follow him to a place that has taken him 58 years to get to. But the most faithful of them will stick with him, new ones will appear (many women are being drawn into his most recent work Femina, Shir Hashirim, Mycale, as is attested by one of the reviewers here) and hopefully the others will come around."

Try as I might, I just can't get into this one.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 04/02/2010

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone who reads my reviews (and I suspect anyone shopping for John Zorn's material does) likely knows about my extensive love affair with Zorn's music. Zorn's recent fascination with melody and the exploration thereof, whether its the Masada songbook, The Dreamers or last year's Alhambra Love Songs has polarized his fan base. Quite honestly, I love a lot of this stuff, but I can listen to A Love Supreme, Scum and Pet Sounds in one sitting and love all of it. That Zorn has chosen to invest closer in the space of the latter doesn't bother me.



That said, I've held off reviewing "In Search of the Miraculous" because I keep waiting for it to sink in, I keep waiting for it to catch me, but over a month since I got it, and I just can't get into this one. Taking the trio that performed so ably on Alhambra Love Songs, Rob Burger on piano, Greg Cohen on bass and Ben Perowsky on drums, and augmenting them with Kenny Wollesen on vibes and Shanir Blumenkranz on electric bass (Cohen sticks to the acoustic double bass on this one), 'Miraculous' reminds me as much of [ASIN:B001EQPCRK Film Works, Vol. 21: Belle de Nature/Rijksmuseum]] as it does Alhambra Love Songs. It slinks into gentle, almost moody grooves ("The Book of Shadows") alongside the sort of vaguely uplifting material ("Affirmation"). What it doesn't do is grab me. There's nothing I can point to. As I write this, I have the disc playing and it's fine, the performances are top notch, particularly Burger, whose unusual feel for the keyboard comes through nicely, but there's no track I play that stops me in what I'm doing (although Cohen's brief statement on "Hymn for a New Millennium" is so incredibly sensitive, it did certainly make it take notice), nothing that makes me think "wow, this record is a real standout".



And you know, I keep waiting for that, I keep expecting to be grabbed. Some of Zorn's albums took a long time to sink in with me, and perhaps this one will be the same way. But I rate this as a below average record from John Zorn. Admittedly, Zorn's "below average" is probably better than 99.9% of what's out there, but this isn't one I can say you need to have."