John Zorn
Sound
Born 1953-09-02
Manhattan, New York, USA
69 credits
Read biography
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions, which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers".
Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s, performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music. After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and received wide acclaim with the release of The Big Gundown, an album reworking the compositions of Ennio Morricone. He attracted further attention worldwide with the release of Spillane in 1987 and Naked City in 1990. After spending almost a decade travelling between Japan and the US, he made New York his permanent base and established his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s.
Tzadik enabled Zorn to maintain independence from the mainstream music industry and ensured the continued availability of his growing catalog of recordings, allowing him to prolifically record and release new material, issuing several new albums each year, as well as promoting the work of many other musicians. Zorn has led the hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the Jewish music-inspired jazz quartet Masada, composed 613 pieces as part of the three Masada songbooks that have been performed by an array of groups, composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often performing at festivals with many other musicians and ensembles that perform his diverse output.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 69
Other credits
41 credits
The Port of Last Resort
Maohgai
The Treatment
Belle de Nature
The Elegant Spanking
The Golden Boat
Latin Boys Go to Hell
In the Mirror of Maya Deren
Invitation to a Suicide
She Must Be Seeing Things
Gotham
Workingman's Death
Zigrail
Anton, Mailman
Thieves Quartet
A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn
Cynical Hysterie Hour
Tears of Ecstasy
Kikoe
Masada: Live at Tonic 1999
Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII
Die Kunst des Erinnerns – Simon Wiesenthal
Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags
Le deuxième jour
Mechanics Of The Brain
Notes on Marie Menken
Arcana
Shaolin Ulysses: Kung Fu Monks in America
The Last Supper
Ray Bandar: A Life With Skulls
Neo-Geo: An American Purchase
Astros em Rotação
The eye
KiyaKiya
Boy
Celestial Subway Lines/Salvaging Noise
White and Lazy
La ronde
Generació Kibbutz
Sabbath in Paradise
Despite Treblinka
Acting
20 credits
The Port of Last Resort
365 Day Project
The Revenge of the Dead Indians
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis
John Zorn's Naked City
Rising Tones Cross
Put More Blood Into the Music
Zorn III (2018 – 2022)
A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn
Little Lieutenant
Masada: Live at Tonic 1999
Step Across the Border
Money
The Viking of Sixth Avenue
Zorn II (2016 – 2018)
Friday May 4, 2007: John Zorn – Cobra Part Two
Zorn I (2010 – 2016)
Sabbath in Paradise
Monday April 16, 2007
John Zorn's Naked City: Montreux Jazz Festival 1990
Writing
2 credits
Producing
1 credit
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