John Zorn is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist. His music crosses genres that include jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. Zorn incorporates diverse styles and compositional methods in his works, which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers".
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.
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.
Filmworks IX: Trembling Before G-d is the ninth album of film scores by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's label, Tzadik Records, in 2000 and features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for the documentary Trembling Before G-d which was directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski. Five of the tracks are pieces from Zorn's Masada songbook.
Filmworks XI: Secret Lives features a score for film by John Zorn performed by the Masada String Trio with guest appearances from Vanessa Saft on vocals and Jamie Saft on piano. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2002 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII, a documentary on Jewish children hidden during the Second World War directed by Aviva Slesin. The documentary was originally to be titled Under the Wing and several sources still refer to the soundtrack under this name.
Filmworks XII: Three Documentaries is an album containing three scores by John Zorn for documentary films released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2002. It features music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Homecoming (2002), a tribute documentary about the dance program at Performance Space 122 in New York by Charles Dennis, Shaolin Ulysses (2002) a film by Mei-Juin Chen and Martha Burr that follows Shaolin monks living and training in the United States, and Family Found (2002), a portrait of outsider artist Morton Bartlett which was directed by Emily Harris.
Filmworks XIII: Invitation to a Suicide is an album containing a score for film by John Zorn which was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2002 and features music written and recorded for a black comedy directed by Loren Marsh.
Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2003 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for, Hiding and Seeking (2003), a documentary directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky.
Filmworks XV: Protocols of Zion features a score by John Zorn for a documentary film by Marc Levin. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2005 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for, Protocols of Zion (2005), a documentary detailing the rise of anti-semitism following the September 11 attacks.
Filmworks XVII: Notes on Marie Menken/Ray Bandar: A Life with Skulls features scores by John Zorn for two documentary films. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2006 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for, Notes on Marie Menken (2006), directed by Martina Kudláček and a percussion score for Ray Bandar: A Life with Skulls directed by Beth Cataldo.
Filmworks XVIII: The Treatment features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2006 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for the romantic comedy, The Treatment (2006), directed by Oren Rudavsky.
Filmworks XIX: The Rain Horse 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 the animated short film The Rain Horse (2008), directed by Russian animator Dmitry Geller.
Cartoon/S&M is a double album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn. The piece Kol Nidre which appears in two versions on this recording is a tune from Zorn's Masada songbook.
Moloch: Book of Angels Volume 6 is an album by Uri Caine performing compositions from John Zorn's second Masada book, "The Book of Angels".
Filmworks XX: Sholem Aleichem 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 a documentary on the 19th century Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem.
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.
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.
Filmworks XXIV: The Nobel Prizewinner is a soundtrack album by American composer John Zorn released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik, in 2010 featuring music written and recorded for Dutch film director Timo Veltkamp's's De Nobelprijswinnaar (2010).
Filmworks XXV: City of Slaughter/Schmatta/Beyond the Infinite is an album of solo piano pieces composed by John Zorn and performed by Zorn, Omri Mor and Rob Burger which was recorded in New York City in 2009 and 2012 and released on the Tzadik label in January 2013. The album is rumoured to be the last in Zorn's Filmworks series.
Filmworks Anthology is a compilation album featuring selections from the first fifteen Filmworks albums by John Zorn and one previously unreleased track which was issued on the Tzadik label in 2005.
