I really dig the Krauss trio record I've got on tape -- 'Good kitty' with Chris Speed. Also this fine Andrea Parkins record with Wollesen. His tone really knocked me out for a while. And Roscoe Mitchell is classic. More recently, I've gotten into Frank Gratkowski. He's got more of the European flavor with his Webern and post-serial influences. He knows how to blend vast regions of extended technique with complex melodic playing in ways that make perfect sense. And from listening to NRG, Brotzmann and Vandermark ensembles, Mars Williams really sticks out, as both player and composer. Neither of those guys are solely alto sax, though. But that Zorn motherfucker. At his prime, he was as revolutionary as anyone on the alto saxophone, maybe even Eric Dolphy or Charlie Parker. 'Classic Guide to Strategy' is a whole new standard of saxophonic technique. Sure, he got a lot of tricks from Evan Parker. But he picked up things from every-which-a-way and made a new system of articulation for the instrument's capacities. If you can't handle his high-pitched squeals, get out of the kitchen. That's like saying "I like Sonic Youth, but I wish they'd stop doing all that abstract noise shit." I'm sort of surprised when I see Zorn say in interviews that he's not really a saxophonist. That's just obviously untrue. However, I do believe him when he says he doesn't have the technique he had in the early 80s. That stuff is outta sight. But it's all a matter of perspective -- technique is individual. (Braxton also brilliantly asserted that Captain Beefheart was a bad motherfucker on horn.) If you like hearing somebody cut like mad over speed bop changes, Zorn might not be your best bet. But even in that context, he sounds cooler than most cats. --bob

From: "Zachary Steiner" <zsteiner@butler.edu> To: "'Toby Dodds'" <toby@dodds.org>, <zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com> Subject: RE: Zorn as a player? Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 17:18:35 -0500

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I think Briggan Krauss would have to be considered

He has one of my favorite sounds of any alto player. He has that big, dirty sound you almost only find on tenor. I love his work with Sex Mob, but I've heard not so favorable reviews of his work as a leader. Any opinions?

Zach

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