Masada Live In Jerusalem 1994 [Live]

Masada Live In Jerusalem 1994 [Live]

ASIN: B00000IITS

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The blueprint behind John Zorn's Masada is simple enough: take the instrumentation of Ornette Coleman's quartet at their prime (no, not Prime Time), add Zorn's soul-filled touches of klezmer, and allow each player to improvise as he sees fit. It's a fearsome recipe that has delivered a dozen or so great recordings, most of which were recorded over a few days in 1994. And it's the perfect vehicle for Masada's four virtuosos: saxophonist Zorn, trumpeter Dave Douglas, bass player Greg Cohen, and drummer Joey Baron. Live in Jerusalem catches the lineup at the Jerusalem Festival (also back in '94), and it's perhaps the best documentation of the group's magical, swinging, yet always wild chemistry. Tunes such as "Idalah-Abal" begin as funeral marches and launch into power blowing; others, such as "Ravayah," never slow down. Masada on disc can be a curse of overabundance (how do you pick between the numerous studio recordings and string ensemble discs Zorn has released?); Masada live can be a magical thing. Thankfully, this disc combines the best of both worlds, with great sonics and a strong setlist. --Jason Verlinde

Tracks:

Piram
Bith-Aneth
Lachish
Peliyot
Hadasha
Ravayah
Zebdi
Tirzah
Hekhal

Tracks:

Kanah
Shilhim
Ziphim
Abidan
Nevitot
Zelah
Idalah-Abal
Jair
Ashnah

Amazon.com

The blueprint behind John Zorn's Masada is simple enough: take the instrumentation of Ornette Coleman's quartet at their prime (no, not Prime Time), add Zorn's soul-filled touches of klezmer, and allow each player to improvise as he sees fit. It's a fearsome recipe that has delivered a dozen or so great recordings, most of which were recorded over a few days in 1994. And it's the perfect vehicle for Masada's four virtuosos: saxophonist Zorn, trumpeter Dave Douglas, bass player Greg Cohen, and drummer Joey Baron. Live in Jerusalem catches the lineup at the Jerusalem Festival (also back in '94), and it's perhaps the best documentation of the group's magical, swinging, yet always wild chemistry. Tunes such as "Idalah-Abal" begin as funeral marches and launch into power blowing; others, such as "Ravayah," never slow down. Masada on disc can be a curse of overabundance (how do you pick between the numerous studio recordings and string ensemble discs Zorn has released?); Masada live can be a magical thing. Thankfully, this disc combines the best of both worlds, with great sonics and a strong setlist. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

a fine live performance-- 4 1/2 stars........2005-12-28

In the early 1990s, John Zorn put together the Masada songbook-- what ended up being about 200 songs composed over a few years of jazz melodies written using the "Jewish scales", lending that familiar Eastern-European-meets-Middle-Eastern sound to the music. Zorn assembled a quartet that's pretty much without peer to record the music-- himself on alto sax, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, and Joey Baron on drums, a quartet modelled after Ornette Coleman's famed quartet. "Live in Jerusalem", recorded in 1994, finds this quartet in full flight. They'd been in the studio, recording the better part of three albums and an EP (the first four Masada releases, from whence all the material on this recording was drawn), but the band and project on the road was always something more than it was in the studio, and this release is a perfect example of that.

The key to the material on this is building tension. The second piece on the first disc, "Bith-Aneth", is a good example of it. It opens delicately, almost gently, with Baron muted and Cohen deep in a groove. Zorn and Douglas flutter and freely associate on top before settling into the theme, stated like an afterthought. The two horns solo, first indepedently then together, with Zorn encouraging and pushing Douglas higher and higher.

It sounds a bit like hyperbole, admittedly, but that's pretty much a good summary of just about any of the pieces on here-- superb interaction, fantastic performances, and one member pushing the others higher and higher. The only complaint is sonic, the bass is a bit quieter than I'd like, but the performance is top notch. For a first exposure to Masada, I'm hard pressed to recommend anything other than "50th Birthday Celebration Volume 7", but to hear the band in their early days in full flight, "Live in Jerusalem" is a fine pick. Recommended.

intense and playfully tuneful free jazz.......2005-11-19

this is the only Masada release that i have heard, so i can't compare it to other many other albums that this group has available. but this is a fiery set delivered with passion, and intensity. i like the fact that the on-stage banter between band members was not edited out. it's fun to hear them talk to each other between songs. like all Tzadik releases, this features some pretty nice artwork and graphic design.

excellent live album!.......2004-03-30

"Live In Jerusalem" is a terrific live recording of what must have been a cathartic moment for Masada, performing live for the first time in Israel. And what a concert it is; this is one of the few live albums where you can actually *feel* the connection between audience and performer. The Jerusalem Festival audience were most likely getting their first real taste of the band, and they respond with enthusiastic applause, as well as tickled-pink laughter at points. This album is also, in my opinion, the best recorded live Masada album, though bassist Greg Cohen does seem a bit undermixed to me.

A song like "Jair" shows what this band is all about and what Masada are like at their best. Obviously using the original Ornette Coleman Quartet as their jumping-off point, this band in no way sounds like they are imitating Coleman or paying him homage. This is pure Zorn; the new Jewish poetry. Passionate and with the utmost conviction, Masada finds musical space that not too many jazz bands can reach; an expression of pure crystalline joy, like a dancing naked child.

Give it repeated listens. Soon the curtain will part, and all the wonderful melodies, stream-of-consciouness improvisations, and telepathic music communication will come to the fore.
This was the best live jazz album of 1999.

maybe the best.......2004-02-24

Given that Zorn and Masada have so much stuff out there, it is hard to know what to buy but it would be hard to top this double cd. Douglas (as usual) and Zorn are both in peak form with their excellent rhythm section keeping up. A few of the 18 songs may be too wild for some listeners but these are actually the shorter songs so most listeners would find the vast majority of the cd very accessible.

Sounds good to me!.......2002-01-29

while i cannot say i possess the knowledge of masada's catalog necessary to tell you whether this is a definitive performance and release, i can tell you that it's as good as any masada i've heard, and i'm tempted to say as good as any jazz i've heard. it can be hard to recommend individual albums of masada's, as they all seem so similar on first glance, but i have been pleased with all of the recent live releases.
a lot of this review is going to be commentary on masada itself, but since this is the prototypical documentation i've heard of the group, and a good starting place, as it shows them in their true element (on stage, interacting and creating on the spot).
there's some truly remarkable music here. the instrumentation and personality of the group is the perfect mix, as it is obvious that everyone's improvising nearly all the time, and playing ingeniously and unpredictably off of one another, but they come together to form a unified voice that is extremely powerful. the sound is kind of divided in half, between the front line and the rhythm section. zorn and douglas's melodies are sometimes gorgeous flowing passages in which their two voices in unison create a bright and stark theme. the trumpet and sax sound like one mind at times during the heads, but the harmonies fracture just enough to let you in on each of their eccentricities. the rhythm section is equally important in creating the group's distinct sound. baron's drumming is constantly inventive and in control, always with a strong pulse but always changing rhythms and throwing in strange repeated figures that will leave you wondering how he keeps such a strong pulse, while maybe only playing the hi-hat on the beat. the bass playing is ostinato in many places, adding to the strong sense of swing and groove, but cohen also gets a number of long solos. he's probably the one that does the least amount of "extended technique" playing or noise-making.
the compositions are from the huge masada songbook, all written by zorn. before the last song you can hear them flipping pages and trying to find a song ("#51?"). super slow minor key melodies, hyper speed free jazz freakouts, middle eastern flair to all of it. at least one tune in a funky straight-eights feel. absolutely incredible interplay between the musicians, most notably zorn and douglas. for most people, john zorn is the primary attraction of listening to masada. his style, technique, and manner of improvising are truly something else. whereas the 60's school of free-blowing saxophonists (ok, mostly late coltrane) seemed to be exploring themselves through their instruments, testing the very outer limits of their instruments, their souls, and their audience's tolerance... zorn is clearly in the driver's seat the entire time. he always knows where he's going and uses his instrument to poke and prod his colleagues/cohorts into the upper boundaries of their own skill. it's apparent that he's having an absolute blast doing it all.

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