John Zorn Jazz musician and composer Date of Birth: 02.09.1953 Country: USA

Biography of John Zorn

John Zorn is an outstanding American musician and composer who refers to himself as a "playing composer". He has been involved in the music industry for thirty years and has emerged from the academic avant-garde scene. Zorn's music is created through the process of performance rather than predetermined notes, which sets him apart from mainstream jazz.

Born on September 2, 1953, in New York City, Zorn grew up in St. Louis where his family relocated. It was during his college years in St. Louis that he first encountered the influential African-American radicals from the "Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians" (AACM) and the local group known as the "Black Artists' Group" (BAG). Inspired by their music, Zorn decided to master the saxophone, despite having previously played piano, flute, and guitar in his childhood.

In 2001, Zorn's childhood experiences became valuable when he worked on the album "The Gift," which was influenced by surf music. Prior to this, Zorn had started taking composition lessons and envisioned himself as a composer, initially focusing on traditional symphonies and later becoming an avant-garde experimenter. His exposure to Mauricio Kagel's composition "Der Schall" introduced him to European avant-garde artists such as Boulez, Stockhausen, Xenakis, as well as non-establishment American composers like Gary Partch and John Cage. This broadened his understanding of music's possibilities.

Zorn's interest in music for 1930s-1950s cartoons led him to write a paper on composer Carl Stalling, which eventually resulted in the release of the album "Carl Stalling Project" in 1990. After two years of college, he moved to New York City in 1974 and settled in the Lower East Side, which had become a fashionable neighborhood for the city's bohemian community by the late 1970s. This is where he formed relationships with like-minded musicians, including George Lewis, Bruce Ackley, Ned Rothenberg, Tim Berne, Arto Lindsay, Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Mark Miller, Anthony Coleman, Wayne Horwitz, Bob Ostertag, Bill Laswell, David Moss, Diamanda Galas, Shelly Hirsch, Christian Marclay, and many others. Together, they established the Downtown scene and showcased their avant-garde and experimental works.

Since the mid-1980s, Zorn has been regarded as the undisputed leader of the Downtown scene. His professionalism as a composer and saxophonist has attracted listeners from diverse musical backgrounds. He is also known for his vast knowledge of music, with one of the largest record and CD collections in the United States. In 2000, he published a collection of articles by fellow composers titled "Arcana: Musicians On Music". Zorn founded several record labels, concert series at New York clubs "The Knitting Factory" and "Tonic", and independent record labels "Avant" and "Tzadik", which has released over 250 recordings, promoting Japanese avant-garde and Radical Jewish Culture.

Zorn's compositions from the late 1970s to early 1980s, such as "School", "Archery", "The Classic Guide to Strategy", "Locus Solus", "Yankees", and "OTB", facilitated the transition from modernism to postmodernism in the Downtown scene. One of his most famous modernist compositions is "Cobra", which has been performed and recorded since 1984, becoming a staple of the Downtown school. Additionally, Zorn collaborated with a large ensemble of musicians, including those previously mentioned, to record the influential album "The Big Gundown", featuring Ennio Morricone's music. This album solidified the Downtown scene's transition from modernism to postmodernism.

Throughout his career, Zorn has explored various paths simultaneously. These include the ensemble "Naked City", characterized by diverse source material and stylistic shifts, the noise trio "Painkiller" with Bill Laswell and Mick Harris, the "Filmworks" series featuring music for existing and imaginary films, chamber and symphonic compositions, and the acoustic quartet "Masada" with Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, and Joey Baron. "Masada" combines elements of Ornette Coleman's style from the 1960s with Jewish scales instead of African-American blues.

In addition, Zorn has released several albums of jazz improvisations from the 1950s and 1960s, such as "News For Lulu", "Sonny Clark Memorial Quintet", and "Spy vs Spy". His diverse range of musical endeavors showcases his versatility and innovation as a composer and musician.