| Locus Solus | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1983 re-released 1990 and 1997 | |||
| Recorded | 1983 | |||
| Genre | Avant-garde, jazz, classical | |||
| Length | 68:37 | |||
| Label | Rift, Eva/Wave, Tzadik | |||
| Producer | John Zorn | |||
| John Zorn chronology | ||||
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| Original Rift Records Cover | ||||
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Locus Solus is an album of improvisations by John Zorn and other musicians. Originally released as a double vinyl album on Rift records in 1983 it was re-released as a CD with additional tracks on Eva/Wave in 1990 and on Zorn's Tzadik Records label in 1997. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |  [3] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 8/10 [4] |
The AllMusic review by Joslyn Layne stated: "This captures over an hour's worth of John Zorn's search for the improvised song form.... Overall, an album of short, angular, experimental energy tracks." [2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz observed: "This is one of the sacred texts of '80s New York improv, a fierce scrabbly set of associations that draw heavily on the power trio aesthetic of bands like Husker Dü... It's impressively compact but sometime rather abrupt". [3]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Bass and the Treble" | 2:57 |
| 2. | "Acquisition and Control of Fire" | 1:33 |
| 3. | "Honey-Cab" | 2:33 |
| 4. | "Switch" | 2:15 |
| 5. | "Juan Talks It Out of His System" | 2:11 |
| 6. | "The Wish" | 2:02 |
| 7. | "A Case Arose" | 2:00 |
| 8. | "The Elf" | 1:41 |
| 9. | "Getting Curly" | 1:51 |
| 10. | "Don't Switch" | 1:50 |
| 11. | "Smooth Cheeks of a Big Ego" | 1:51 |
| 12. | "Add Water" | 2:15 |
| 13. | "Cold" | 1:31 |
| 14. | "Friar T." | 0:58 |
| 15. | "Too Me" | 2:16 |
| 16. | "You Rang?" | 1:17 |
| 17. | "Self-Satisfied" | 1:22 |
| 18. | "Agora" | 1:10 |
| 19. | "Dot, Dot, Dot" | 1:14 |
| 20. | "Moi Non Plus" | 1:43 |
| 21. | "Liver" | 1:49 |
| 22. | "The Footman's Eyes Get Crossed" | 1:04 |
| 23. | "Heike Cipher Mystery" | 1:47 |
| 24. | "Jedi Mind Trick" | 1:06 |
| 25. | "Mysterious Island" | 2:11 |
| 26. | "You Only Live Twice, Mr. Bond" | 1:59 |
| 27. | "When Arrows Meet" | 1:38 |
| 28. | "Never Say Never Again" | 1:45 |
| 29. | "Sign of the Four" | 2:13 |
| 30. | "Locus Solus, Pt. 1–2" | 2:11 |
| 31. | "Where Are My Victims?" | 2:06 |
| 32. | "Disco Volante" | 2:06 |
| 33. | "Kaiser in Borneo" | 1:48 |
| 34. | "The Saint" | 1:40 |
| 35. | "The Violent Death of Dutch Schultz" | 1:23 |
| 36. | "Thunderball" | 1:43 |
| 37. | "White Zombie" | 1:30 |
| 38. | "The Slaves of Vesuvius" | 2:05 |
Note: (16,18,20,22) are extra tracks not available on the LP pressing.
John Zorn is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". His avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, contemporary, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and world music. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers" and in 2020 Rolling Stone noted that "[alt]hough Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".
The Big Gundown is the third studio album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn. It comprises radically reworked covers of tracks by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone.
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."
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.
The Circle Maker is a double album by John Zorn featuring Zorn's Masada compositions performed by the Masada String Trio and the Bar Kokhba Sextet which was released in 1998 on the Tzadik label.
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".
Kristallnacht is the seventh studio album by John Zorn first released in 1993 on the Japanese Eva label and subsequently in 1995 on Zorn's own Tzadik Records label.
Pool is an album by John Zorn featuring his early "game piece" composition of the same name which was first released on vinyl on Parachute Records in 1980 as a double album including the composition "Hockey". The album was released on CD on Tzadik Records with an additional bonus track featuring a test recording of Archery as part of The Parachute Years Box Set in 1997 and as a single CD in 2000. The album was the first released solely under Zorn's name following his collaboration with Eugene Chadbourne, School (1978).
The Classic Guide to Strategy is a compilation album by John Zorn featuring his two early solo records The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume One (1983), (tracks 1-2) and the Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two (1986), (tracks 3-8). The albums were first released on vinyl on Lumina Records in and later re-released on Tzadik Records in 1996 as a single CD. The second track is inspired by the work of Carl Stalling and tracks 3-8 are named after avant-garde Japanese artists. The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two also contained the track "Yano Akiko" (5:20) which does not appear on the CD re-release.
Ganryu Island is an collaborative album by John Zorn and Michihiro Sato. The album was first released on vinyl LP on Yukon Records in 1984 and later re-released on Tzadik Records as a CD with five additional tracks in 1998.
The Bribe: variations and extensions on Spillane is the ninth studio album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, consisting of music created for three half-hour radio plays produced by Mabou Mines theater company in 1986. It utilizes compositional techniques, source material, and personnel that are similar to Zorn's Spillane.
Elegy is the sixth studio album by John Zorn, which was dedicated to Jean Genet, featuring four "file card" compositions titled after colors and arranged in the style of chamber music.
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.
Live in Taipei is a double live album by John Zorn's Masada recorded at the Crown Theatre in Taiwan's capital city Taipei. The album is mistakenly dated 1995, while the performance was actually taken place in 1996.
50th Birthday Celebration Volume 2 is a live album of improvised music by Milford Graves and John Zorn documenting their performance at Tonic in September 2003 as part of Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series.
50th Birthday Celebration Volume 10 is a live album of improvised music by Yamataka Eye and John Zorn documenting their performance at Tonic in September 2003 as part of John Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series. Guitarist Fred Frith also appears on one track.
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.
The Parachute Years: 1977–1981 is a compilation album 7-CD box set by John Zorn. It features recordings of Zorn's game pieces originally released as self-produced albums on the Parachute label as well as previously unreleased performances. All of the discs in this box set have been subsequently given their own releases on Zorn's Tzadik label.
Lake Biwa is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter and composer Wadada Leo Smith released on John Zorn's Tzadik label in 2004. The album contains four pieces composed between 2000 and 2004.
