Sui Generis
I decided to pass on the complete Naked City recordings in favor of the single-CD package, once I saw the price tag, and while that was probably the right decision, I can only imagine just how far the full set could have gone. John Zorn is a fascinating musician, composing and performing material unlike anything else I’ve ever heard from anyone else. Yeah, somebody’s sure to say, oh, no, there’s this guy, and so on, but, look, this isn’t Ornette Coleman or John Cage or any of that post-fusion stuff from the ‘80’s (although Fred Frith plays bass here). Zorn’s music isn’t for everyone. It’s often very hard to listen to at all, and I like it. He’s got a very pointed fascination with movies and television, or their music, anyway. One of the first Zorn albums I ever bought was The Big Gundown, a collection of Ennio Morricone movie soundtrack songs. Naked City is like that, sometimes, with “A Shot in the Dark” and the James Bond theme being the most easily recognizable offerings. “Batman” and “Re-Animator” are in there, too, although I’ll probably have to rent those again just to refresh my memory of their dominate musical themes. I could do without the vocal gymnastics – screaming, really – but Zorn’s of that school where Diamanda Galas and Meredith Monk come from, pushing the boundaries of what constitute singing. And look: Frith, as mentioned, and Bill Frisell, the latter of whom, if you are listening to his current work, you’d never imagine here. Now that I’ve had one listen, I know I’ll start wishing I’d just bought the box.