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".
Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer John Zorn since the early 1990s.
The Book of Heads (1978), composed by John Zorn, is a set of 35 etudes for solo guitar. It was recorded and released in 1995, and featured Marc Ribot. The pieces use multiple extended techniques.
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 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.
Filmworks VI: 1996 features three scores for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1996. It features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Anton, Mailman (1996), a short film directed by Dina Waxman that was never completed due to loss of funding in its final stages, Mechanics of the Brain (1996) directed by Henry Hills and The Black Glove (1996), which was directed by, and starred, Maria Beatty.
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 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.
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.
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.
Angelus Novus is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer and alto saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn including compositions written in 1972 ("Christabel"), and 1983.
Chimeras is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer John Zorn featuring a 12 part piece inspired by Arnold Schoenberg's atonal composition "Pierrot Lunaire". In 2010 the album was revised and re-recorded, with an additional "Postlude".
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.
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.
@ is a studio album by John Zorn and Thurston Moore. It is the first collaborative album by the duo and was recorded in New York City in February 2013 and released by Tzadik Records in September 2013. The album consists of improvised music by Zorn and Moore that was recorded in the studio in real time with no edits or overdubs.
Dreamachines is an album by John Zorn recorded in New York City in April 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in July 2013. The album is inspired by the works of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin.
The Mysteries is an album composed by John Zorn and performed by Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel and Kenny Wollesen which was recorded in New York City in December 2012 and released on the Tzadik label in March 2013. The album is the second by the trio following 2012's The Gnostic Preludes.
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 was the last in Zorn's Filmworks series.
The Alchemist is an album composed by John Zorn and featuring two new compositions, one for string quartet and another for female voices, recorded in New York City in 2013 and released on the Tzadik label in February 2014.
