My first reaction is to say "relevant to whom?" His current audience, a wider audience? For me, he's more important as head of a label committed to making the avant-garde available to John Q. Public than as a composer or a player. But, as a player...for purely selfish reasons, what I'd really like him to do is work hard for however long it takes to get his alto playing where he thinks it needs to be, then record "Classic Guide to Strategy Vol. 3." William Crump ----------
From: "Zachary Steiner" <zsteiner@butler.edu>
I'll end this with questions: Where do list members want Zorn to go? What should he be doing to stay relevant?
Where next for Zorn? I just like hearing him do new and interesting things - I like the fact that nearly everything he did in the 80s and early 90s had a freshness and excitement about them - the game pieces, Classic Guide, Big Gundown, Spillane, News For Lulu, Spy Vs Spy, Naked City, Painkiller, Masada, etc... Of course, that last one has created quite a tangent, all the live albums, reworkings, the recent Masada-tinged Filmworks cds, and it seems there are many more off-shoots to come. But does Zorn have any of that 80s spark still in him? I suppose it's unfair to expect someone to keep reinventing themselves throughout their career, especially after nearly two decades of fantastically varied output. Only a few really have (eg Miles, Stravinsky, Bowie) with varying levels of success. And similarly, after all the music we've heard (from Zorn, and anywhere else) it's going to take something pretty revolutionary to make us take notice. I mean, he has had some minor revelations of his own recently (IAO, Invitation to a Suicide) but many of us remain relatively indifferent. I guess only time will tell whether Zorn can hit us again with something as exciting as Spillane or Naked City. For the moment, like someone else said, he is far more important as head of an interesting music label than as musician. J.
participants (2)
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Julian -
William Crump