See, now that's how *I* feel, but I've seen more than a few snide remarks around here about his playing. And I always scratch my head and wonder why. His playing with Masada, Naked City, as a sideman and with his own one-off projects consistently blows me away. He is so versatile yet so singularly grounded that I always know it's Zorn on sax. The recent Tonic Live disc's track with Emergency shows Zorn to be downright funky. Chances are Zorn will be remembered for his compositions, but I hope history gives his playing a nod as well.
Tom
In a message dated 11/19/02 3:08:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, velaires@earthlink.net writes:
Personally, I think he's way above average. Just on SPILLANE you can hear
how proficient he is at any tempo, has a great tone (and a beautiful sound
on clarinet, which we can hear him play in the ungodly hard for clarinet key
of D flat), stays in tune throughout, obviously reads obscenely well. He's
a guy that can play in a bunch of different genres -- and appropriately to
each -- and remain recognizable. It would be follish to dismiss his
flat-out ability to play the saxophone.
skip h
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Discs I'm listening to at work:
Down To The Promised Land -- Five Years of Bloodshot Records
Finger -- Finger demos
David Krakauer -- The Twelve Tribes
Rollins Band -- End of Silence Demos
U2 -- Best of 1990-2000 & B-sides