| Avant Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Founder | John Zorn Kazunori Sugiyama |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Status | Defunct |
| Distributor(s) | DIW, Disk Union (physical) |
| Genre | Avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, experimental |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Location | Chiyoda, Tokyo |
Avant Records was a record label in Japan that specialized in avant-garde jazz, avant rock, and experimental music. The label released more than 80 albums between 1992 and 2004.
New York saxophonist John Zorn was signed to Nonesuch, but his band Naked City recorded music that required a different label. He started Avant in 1992 as a division of DIW/Disk Union in Japan and produced its first albums. [1]
The label's roster included Derek Bailey, Duck Baker, Cyro Baptista, Joey Baron, Steve Beresford, Anthony Coleman, Sylvie Courvoisier, Dave Douglas, Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Wayne Horvitz, Joe Maneri, Misha Mengelberg, William Parker, Bobby Previte, and Min Xiao-Fen. [1]
In 1995 Zorn and Kazunori Sugiyama started Tzadik Records in New York as a vehicle for Zorn's albums and for musicians who recorded for Avant.
John Zorn is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music.
Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.
Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer John Zorn since the early 1990s.
Han Bennink is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano.
Wayne Horvitz is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer. He came to prominence in the Downtown scene of 1980s and '90s New York City, where he met his future wife, the singer, songwriter and pianist Robin Holcomb. He is noted for working with John Zorn's Naked City among others. Horvitz has since relocated to the Seattle, Washington area where he has several ongoing groups and has worked as an adjunct professor of composition at Cornish College of the Arts.
Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian percussionist in jazz and world music. He creates many of the percussion instruments he plays.
Erik Friedlander is an American cellist and composer based in New York City.
The Big Gundown is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn. It comprises radically reworked covers of tracks by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone.
Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was born in New York City, and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music.
Beat the Donkey is an album by percussionist Cyro Baptista, which marked the debut of his rotating percussion and dance ensemble that would become known as Beat the Donkey, which was released on the Tzadik label in 2002.
Filmworks VII: Cynical Hysterie Hour is a 1989 album by John Zorn featuring music written for a series of Japanese animated shorts that were created by Kiriko Kubo. It features Zorn's first music for cartoons and was originally released on the Japanese Sony label in limited numbers. In late 1996 Zorn finally attained the rights for his music and remastered and re-released the album on his own label, Tzadik, in 1997.
Filmworks 1986–1990 features the first released film scores of John Zorn. The album was originally released on the Japanese labels Wave and Eva in 1990, on the Nonesuch Records label in 1992, and subsequently re-released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1997 after being out of print for several years.
"For Zorn, filmscores have always been a place to experiment, and the FilmWorks Series is in many ways a microcosm of his prodigious output. This original installment of the FilmWorks Series presents three scores ranging from punk-rockabilly ; a jazzy Bernard Herrmann fantasy; to a quirky classical/improv/world music amalgam for Raul Ruiz's bizarre film The Golden Boat. Zorn's infamous one-minute arrangement of Morricone's classic The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, is included as a bonus track. This is the place where it all began."
Music for Children is the first release in John Zorn's Music Romance Series and features three Naked City compositions performed by Zorn with the band Prelapse; a 20-minute composition for wind machines and controlled feedback systems dedicated to Edgar Varese, and a classical chamber music piece for violin, percussion and piano performed by the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio framed by a poly-rhythmic etude for percussion and celeste and a lullaby for music box.
John Zorn appears on over 400 recordings as a composer or performer. This is a selection of recordings released under his name, bands he was/is part of, collaborations with other musicians, and significant albums to which he has contributed. The year indicates when the album was first released and any subsequent years if the following release included additional material.
Filmworks III: 1990–1995 features the scores for film and advertisements by John Zorn. The album was originally released on the Japanese labels Evva in 1995 and Toys Factory in 1996 and subsequently re-released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1997. It features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Thieves Quartet (1993), directed by Joe Chappelle, which was performed by the group that would become Masada; nine cues for Kiriko Kubo's Music For Tsunta (1988); eleven tracks for Hollywood Hotel (1994), directed by Mei-Juin Chen; and thirty-two pieces for advertisements by Wieden & Kennedy.
Filmworks VIII: 1997 features two scores for film by John Zorn released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1998. It features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for The Port of Last Resort (1998), a documentary directed by Joan Grossman and Paul Rosdy examining the experiences of Jewish refugees in Shanghai and Latin Boys Go to Hell (1997) which was directed by Ela Troyano.
Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2 is an album by John Zorn that includes his game piece, Cobra. The piece was recorded in previous versions by the labels HatHut, Knitting Factory, and Avant but this was the first time by Zorn's label Tzadik.
Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-profit, cooperative record label.
Vira Loucos is an album by percussionist Cyro Baptista performing the compositions by or inspired by Heitor Villa-Lobos which was released on the Japanese Avant label in 1997.
Bradley Christopher Jones is an American jazz bassist who performs on both bass guitar and double-bass.
