Naked City was an avant-garde music group led by saxophonist and composer John Zorn. Active primarily in New York City from 1988 to 1993, Naked City was initiated by Zorn as a "composition workshop" to test the limits of composition in a traditional rock band lineup. Their music incorporated elements of jazz, surf, progressive rock, classical, heavy metal, grindcore, country, punk rock, and other genres.
Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian percussionist in jazz and world music. He creates many of the percussion instruments he plays.
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.
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 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."
Spillane is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, composed of three file-card pieces, as well as a work for voice, string quartet and turntables.
Taboo & Exile is an album by John Zorn. It is the second album to appear in Zorn's Music Romance Series following Music for Children (1998). Three of the tracks on this recording are from Zorn's Masada songbook.
The Gift is an album by John Zorn released in 2001 on the Tzadik label as the third volume of his Music Romance Series and described as an album "for lovers only".
Godard/Spillane is a compilation album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn consisting of music created through Zorn's file-card compositional process. The composition "Godard", a tribute to French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard whose jump-cut technique inspired Zorn's compositional approach, on the French tribute album Jean-Luc Godard|Godard ça vous chante? in 1986 issued by the French Nato label. "Spillane" was first released on Zorn's Nonesuch Records album Spillane in 1987, and "Blues Noël" was first released on the compilation album Joyeux Noël - Merry Christmas Everybody! on Nato in 1987.
Filmworks II: Music for an Untitled Film by Walter Hill features the second release of scores for film by John Zorn. The album was originally released on the Japanese Toys Factory label in 1995 and subsequently re-released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1996. It features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Trespass which was not used in favor of a score by Ry Cooder.
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 IV: S/M + More features film scores by John Zorn. The album was released in Japan on Eva Records in 1996 and on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1997. It features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Maria Beatty's The Elegant Spanking, Beatty and M.M. Serra's A Lot of Fun for the Evil One, "Credits Included" written for the film of the same name directed by Jalal Toufic and "Maogai," written for a piano scene in a film by Hiroki Ryuichi.
50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4 is a live album by Electric Masada documenting their performance at Tonic in September 2003 as part of John Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration.
Cobra is a double album featuring a live and studio performance of John Zorn's improvisational game piece, Cobra recorded in 1985 and 1986 and released on the Hathut label in 1987. Subsequent recordings of the piece were released on Knitting Factory, Avant and Zorn's own label Tzadik Records, ) in 2002.
Before We Were Born is the first album by Bill Frisell to be released on the Elektra Nonesuch label. It was released in 1989 and features performances by Frisell, Hank Roberts, Kermit Driscoll, and Joey Baron with guest appearances by Arto Lindsay, Peter Scherer, Julius Hemphill, Billy Drewes, Doug Wieselman, and Cyro Baptista.
Filmworks XXI: Belle de Nature/Rijksmuseum features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2008 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for film director Maria Beatty's Belle de Nature (2008) and a documentary on the renovation of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Estrangeiro is a 1989 album by the Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso. It was produced by Peter Scherer and Arto Lindsay and features Naná Vasconcelos, Carlinhos Brown, Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot. Robert Christgau named it 27th on "The 1989 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll" of best albums released in that year.
Interzone is an album by American composer John Zorn developed to pay tribute to the influence of writers William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin and released on Zorn's Tzadik label in 2010.
A Dreamers Christmas is an album of Christmas music by John Zorn released in October 2011 on the Tzadik label. It was produced by John Zorn and released on his own label Tzadik Records. It was Zorn's 5th album in 2011.
A Vision in Blakelight is an album by John Zorn recorded in New York City in December 2011 and released on the Tzadik label in 2012. The album is inspired by the works of William Blake.
