The Classic Guide to Strategy

Last updated
The Classic Guide to Strategy
Classic Guide (album).jpg
Compilation album by
Released1983 (Vol. 1)
1986 (Vol. 2)
1996 (Compilation)
RecordedRecorded at the OAO Studio in Brooklyn, New York on February 27, 1983 (Vol. 1)
Radio City Studios, New York City on July 30 & September 9, 1985
Genre Avant-garde
Length77:57
Label Lumina
Tzadik (Compilation)
Producer John Zorn, Ned Rothenberg (Vol. 2)
John Zorn chronology
Yankees
(1983)
The Classic Guide to Strategy
(1983)
Ganryu Island
(1985)
Original Volume 2 Cover
Classic Guide Volume 2.jpg

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), [1] (tracks 3-8). [2] 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.

Contents

The cover art from Volumes One and Two are the kanji characters for "earth" and "water", respectively, which relate to the first volumes of The Book of Five Rings written by Miyamoto Musashi.

The third volume of The Classic Guide to Strategy was released as part of Zorn's Birthday Celebration Series subtitled The Fire Book in 2003 and fourth, The Wind Book in 2016. [3] [4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]

The Allmusic review by Stacia Proefrock states "when a line is drawn through Zorn's previous work, it ends up here -- the playfulness of sound, the variety of textures, the use of silence and space as part of the composition -- if the listener approaches this album expecting to find musical genius, he or she will not have to look too far". [7]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz observed "This surviving torso of a much larger project serves notice of what an inventive saxophone player Zorn is... This is emphatically a jazz record". [6]

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn

  1. "Part 1" a.k.a. "Senki (War Spirit)" - 19:36
  2. "Part 2 (Cartoon Music)" a.k.a. "The Moon In The Cold Stream Like A Mirror" - 19:32
  3. "Aoyanian Michi" - 11:15
  4. "Enoken" - 3:21
  5. "Katsumi Shigeru" - 6:34
  6. "Kondo Toshinori" - 6:04
  7. "Togawa Jun" - 8:54
  8. "Mori Ikue" - 2:38
  • Recorded at the OAO Studio in Brooklyn, New York on February 27, 1983 (tracks 1 & 2), and at Radio City Studios, New York City on July 30, 1985 (tracks 3-5) and September 19, 1985 (tracks 6-8)

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<i>Bar Kokhba</i> (album) 1996 studio album by John Zorn

Bar Kokhba is a double album by John Zorn, recorded between 1994 and 1996. It features music from Zorn's Masada project, rearranged for small ensembles. It also features the original soundtrack from The Art of Remembrance – Simon Wiesenthal, a film by Hannah Heer and Werner Schmiedel (1994–95).

John Zorn American composer, saxophonist and bandleader

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. In 2013, Down Beat described Zorn as "one of our most important composers" and in 2020 Rolling Stone noted "Though Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he's gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time".

<i>The Big Gundown</i> (album) 1986 studio album by John Zorn

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.

<i>Filmworks 1986–1990</i> 1990 soundtrack album by John Zorn

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."

<i>Taboo & Exile</i> 1999 studio album by John Zorn

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.

<i>Kristallnacht</i> (album) 1993 studio album by John Zorn

Kristallnacht is an album by John Zorn first released in 1993 on the Japanese Eva label and subsequently in 1995 on Zorn's own Tzadik Records label.

<i>Pool</i> (John Zorn album) 1980 studio album by John Zorn

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).

<i>Locus Solus</i> (album) 1983 studio album by John Zorn

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.

<i>Ganryu Island</i> (album) 1985 studio album by Michihiro Sato & John Zorn

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.

<i>Godard/Spillane</i> 1999 compilation album by John Zorn

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.

<i>Filmworks IV: S&M + More</i> 1997 soundtrack album by John Zorn

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.

<i>50th Birthday Celebration Volume 9</i> 2004 live album by John Zorn

50th Birthday Celebration Volume 9 is a live album by John Zorn featuring a solo performance at Tonic in September 2003 that was part of his month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series. It is a continuation of his solo work documented on The Classic Guide to Strategy Volumes 1 & 2.

<i>50th Birthday Celebration Volume 2</i> 2004 live album by John Zorn & Milford Graves

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.

<i>50th Birthday Celebration Volume 10</i> 2005 live album by John Zorn and Yamataka Eye

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.

<i>First Recordings 1973</i> 1995 studio album by John Zorn

First Recordings 1973 is an album by John Zorn featuring recordings that he made while still a student between 1973 and 1974 which was released on the Tzadik label in 1995.

<i>The Unknown Masada</i> 2003 studio album by John Zorn

Masada Anniversary Edition Volume 3: The Unknown Masada is the third album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project. It features twelve previously unreleased Masada compositions performed by Erik Friedlander's Quake (1), Rashanim (2), Dave Douglas (3), Tatsuya Yoshida (4), Naftule's Dream (5), Jamie Saft (6), Zahava Seewald (7), Koby Israelite (8), Julian Kytasty (9); Fantômas (10), Wadada Leo Smith and Ikue Mori (11), and Eyvind Kang (12).

<i>The Parachute Years</i> 1997 box set by John Zorn

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.

<i>Voices in the Wilderness</i> 2003 studio album by John Zorn

Masada Anniversary Edition Volume 2: Voices in the Wilderness is the second album in a series of five releases celebrating the 10th anniversary of John Zorn's Masada songbook project. It features 24 compositions by Zorn, each performed by different ensembles.

<i>I Hate to Sing</i> 1984 live album by Carla Bley

I Hate to Sing is a live album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded at the Great American Music Hall in 1981 combined with three tracks recorded at Grog Kill Studios in 1983 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1984.

<i>The Watchman</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Erik Friedlander

The Watchman is a 1996 album by cellist Erik Friedlander which was released on the Tzadik label.

References

  1. Discogs Page Vol 2. Retrieved October 19th, 2015
  2. Tzadik catalogue
  3. Tzadik catalogue
  4. Tzadik catalogue
  5. Allmusic Review
  6. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2000). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (5th ed.). Penguin. p. 1613. ISBN   0-14-051452-X.
  7. Proefrock, S. Allmusic Review accessed March 10, 2009
  8. Discogs Page. Retrieved October 19th, 2015