Masada: Live in Middelheim [Live]

Masada: Live in Middelheim [Live]

ASIN: B00002EQ80

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Based on their numerous studio recordings, it was all too easy to earmark John Zorn's Masada as an Ornette Coleman-inspired recipe with a dash of Middle Eastern spice. But hearing this powerful live recording from the quartet's 1999 gig in the Netherlands, there's no denying the saxophonist is onto something. Here, Zorn, trumpeter Dave Douglas, drummer Joey Baron, and bassist Greg Cohen don't just use Masada's infectious melodies as launch pads for solos. Just the opposite--they fly from the start and somehow keep looking back to the original tunes along the way. Opening with "Nevuah," the quartet set a relentless pace; "Sippur" is Masada at it's most sly and soulful; and as "Ne'eman" slowly unfolds, the brass just gets wilder. On "Kedushah" and "Kochot," we finally get to hear Cohen, somehow keeping up with these gale force lungs. At times--thanks to Baron--they swing, but mostly this is a no-holds-barred assault of great, energized playing. Intense, solid, and one of the group's best efforts to date. --Jason Verlinde

Tracks:

Nevuah
Sippur
Hath-Arob
Kedushah
Ne'eman
Karet
Kochot
Piram: Encores
Paran
Ashnah
Tahah

Amazon.com

Based on their numerous studio recordings, it was all too easy to earmark John Zorn's Masada as an Ornette Coleman-inspired recipe with a dash of Middle Eastern spice. But hearing this powerful live recording from the quartet's 1999 gig in the Netherlands, there's no denying the saxophonist is onto something. Here, Zorn, trumpeter Dave Douglas, drummer Joey Baron, and bassist Greg Cohen don't just use Masada's infectious melodies as launch pads for solos. Just the opposite--they fly from the start and somehow keep looking back to the original tunes along the way. Opening with "Nevuah," the quartet set a relentless pace; "Sippur" is Masada at it's most sly and soulful; and as "Ne'eman" slowly unfolds, the brass just gets wilder. On "Kedushah" and "Kochot," we finally get to hear Cohen, somehow keeping up with these gale force lungs. At times--thanks to Baron--they swing, but mostly this is a no-holds-barred assault of great, energized playing. Intense, solid, and one of the group's best efforts to date. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

A fine set, but comparatively weak........2006-01-03

"Live at Middelheim" captures Masada live in 1999. The band (John Zorn- alto sax, Dave Douglas- trumpet, Greg Cohen- bass and Joey Baron- drums) by this point had such a stunning rapport that a Masada show is pretty much guaranteed to be filled with excellent, intense, and powerful music. Having stated that, this one pales compared to other live releases by the band.

The quartet hit the ground running-- downright explosive on "Nevuah". Zorn and Douglas rail away in a dueling solo with the rhythm section feeding the flames, and its really a jaw-dropping performance. "Sippur" matches this, but it's a quieter sort of intensity. But after this piece, the intensity drops a bit. This isn't to say it's not powerful music, it just feels a notch below the first couple pieces and other Masada shows. Admittedly, a deeply groove-oriented "Ne'eman" (with a bizarrely restrained and tense solo from Zorn) and a meditative and lovely "Ashnah" are among the finer Masada performances, but when comparing this to "Live at Tonic 2001", for example, it feels a bit lightweight as a whole.

Maybe I'm being too harsh-- if this were any other band, this would be a five star review, but I suppose my expectation from Masada is enormous.

I smell something burning..........2003-09-19

Most of Masada's recorded music is a quaint blend of Middle-Eastern melody with early-60's American jazz stylings. This, my friends, is a wholly different animal. This live recording is a cathartic, brutal trip into the minds of Joey Baron, Greg Cohen, Dave Douglas, and John Zorn as they cast the expectations of their audience into the mud and reinvent themselves at the same time. Unlike any Masada recording before or since, the band literally consumes the material alive in a high-speed, breathless and often mind-bogglingly-chaotic show of force. Although "Volume 4" and the like are a great deal more coherent and better showcase the material over the playing, this is my favorite Masada album by far. The interplay is just amazing.

good grab-bag of Zorn + World Class Musicians.......2001-11-13

John Zorn has never been an unqualified or uncreative musician. At the same time, he is almost never as world-class as the sidemen he surrounds himself with.
This recording of Masada, one of Zorn's most straight-ahead blowing ensembles, is a good example. Their music is a mating of classic Ornette Coleman Quartet with the music of Palestine, Mesopotamia, the Balkans. They can easily, if you're careless about protection, peel the skin right off your butt. Zorn has plenty to do with that burn, but I think he's outclassed by his choice of cohorts: Dave Douglas, Joey Baron and Greg Cohen. Their performance in Middelheim isn't an exception. Zorn's ideas bear a very close resemblance to what he plays on the recordings; He sounds a little hemmed in by his own set of gimmicks.
I usually really dig those gimmicks, but they have less of an impact when stood up next to the stylings of Dave Douglas. I had no trouble predicting what would come careening out of Zorn's horn, but trying to anticipate trumpeter Douglas would be like trying to bite a fart bubble at the base of a waterfall. That goes for Baron, too. And from Greg Cohen on bass, I haven't heard a better groove since I first heard the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever.

I have no real beef with being able to predict what comes from John Zorn, because that ability is more than compensated for by my ineptitude at foretelling what kind of mind-imploding, beautiful dung-bombs will come from the others. That's what makes this album good; plenty of good ol' Zorn-isms and a few jiggers of something fresh.

not for the faint of heart.......2000-06-03

this is punk rock jazz if i have ever heard such a thing. all the musicians are in top form, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, Joey Baron of drum, and John Zorn on sax. if you like Zorn get this and any other Masada projects. they are all great.

Completely Wild.......2000-04-05

This is one of the craziest albums I have heard in a long time. The wails, screams, and turbulance are enough to crack any sane human being. Of the live Masada albums, this ranks as the best. It has more energy than a morning cup of coffee infused with 4 shots of espresso. Don't listen to it in a tranquil mood. This is for the heavy hitters. This album will keep giving from the first listening. Basically, it's the most exciting thing in free jazz in a long time. Buy it; you won't be disappointed

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