"During the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music. I feel this has been granted through His grace. ALL PRAISE TO GOD."
(John Coltrane on the liner notes of A Love Supreme, 1965)
To me, there has always been something so wonderful about bootlegs. For the most part, they let me experience moments in history that I wish I could have lived in person, being in direct contact with the moment that would have been happening right before my eyes. But on the other hand, when it comes to my favorite artists, they let me get deeper into their history, seeing their change in something that is very close to a first hand, witnessing their evolution, their change in style, ideals, goals, and emotions, or just their purest and most honest artistic expression; all through the exquisite form of musical expression that are live performances. In between diving through all the big archive that are live bootlegs, sometimes there comes a special place where that historical/unforgettable moment meets up with the "witnessing their most real form of expression", making up for some truly special recordings. Such is the case of this live gig.
There is a period in John Zorn's career that is very special to me. I personally see the period between 1998 to 2003 (aka post studio Masada, following the release of Yod, and right before the behemoth that was Electric Masada properly came to be) as a very reflective and personal time for him. His never-ending economical and artistic struggle was present as ever during that period, pressuring him more than usual during that time on the economical and personal side, but having the artist managing to use his work as a way to let all the frustration get released, coming up with ideas and sketches that would later on form part of his future series of compositions. Zorn himself has been open about that dark period, about how he had let his hair grow a lot and how he was taking less care of his own self than usual, but still pushing through. At the verge of being 50, with a radical change in mindset in a lot of different aspects due to a lot of different events, this period had him diving further into the variety and reach of his work, still connecting with more musicians, and still publishing record after record. The Masada live albums and performances were becoming more common, more intriguing and fascinating than ever in the rendition of the compositions of the so called New Radical Jewish Culture, Tzadik had been going stronger than ever with their series, specially with New Japan, supporting a wide range of styles and artists that had amazing works to be heard, and Zorn's solo work being as fascinating as ever, indulging more in his Classical style compositions, playing with artists like Seigen Ono, being varied and captivating with the Filmworks series, and delivering some of the most unique pieces of his discography with albums like Xu Feng and Ars Longa Dens Brevis. And in between all that, the solo live performances that took part during this period were sparse, but they were always focused on improvisation with different individuals. Enter John Zorn's Bladerunner.
This ensemble was a very short lived one, as a lot of Zorn's live ensembles tended to be in general, and consisted of the very intriguing quartet of John Zorn, Bill Laswell, Fred Frith, (these three classic behemoths who had been collaborating for years up to that point) and Dave Lombardo (fresh out of Slayer, and attempting to flesh out his musical work as a solo artist and by working with other musicians, attempting to play some classical works, becoming part of Fantômas, and eventually landing work with John Zorn in some of his records including Taboo & Exile and Xu Feng). It was most certainly an unconventional lineup, but at the same time it was also a highly promising one. And they most certainly didn't fail to deliver. They had played a gig on July 3rd on London, which left the audiences pleased and the artists satisfied with their work onstage, but there was an ambition to do more. Two days later, the quartet would present themselves in front of a French crowd on July 5th, at the La Villette festival that was taking place that year. The result? Seven improvisational pieces, including one rendition of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", that made up for an hour long gig that would go down as one of the most special for all the artists involved, miraculously captured by various audience recordings, with even VHS tapes of the set being shared between fans.
What is found here is something that is truly special within the lifespan of an artist. The opportunity where everyone is at the right place, at the right time. As a whole, the chemistry between all the artists involved ended up in one of the most mesmerizing and exciting gigs of their careers up to that point, improvisational pieces that managed to get the whole crowd puzzled by the event, but floored at the end of every piece. It is truly something that has to be heard an appreciated by any fan of John Zorn's work, by anyone who understands the fact that he uses whatever tool at hand in order to create a sense of community rather than a selfish and overly personal result, something which was specially present that very night, with every single piece of the puzzle pouring their heart and skill in order to deliver something unforgettable.
When Lombardo was asked about his most memorable and inspirational gig, he mentioned this particular set, stating that:
"I played there with John Zorn and Bill Laswell, the dub producer, and Fred Frith, the guitar player/sound effects guy. We did an improv there that brought the people to their feet — it was just amazing. We clicked so well that night that I don't think it was ever recreated again. That showed what could come out from your inside naturally — a musical experience that only happens not very often."
There's a lot of mystery surrounding this performance. About what lead the artists to dive into the patterns they chose, if there was a predetermined skeleton that they would let themselves be guided by, or if it was all a miracle, a matter of chance, of all the right elements coming together for the right results. I quoted John Coltrane's words earlier because even if Zorn isn't lead by religious beliefs or by a devotion to God, he, and most artists he ends up working with on a close level, are definitely lead by their own kind of devotion and belief. I see this recording, and in particular that excellent rendition of A Love Supreme, as Zorn's own special spiritual awakening, as a way to let his gratitude towards art (towards his work and his sense of delivering community to both the people he works with and the audiences that decide to invest themselves into the work that is being delivered) bleed out through the notes and the beautiful chaos that manifested during that night. We may never know why A Love Supreme or any of the other pieces took the turns they did, but that entire mystery is what ends up making moments like this something truly memorable and eternal. Because as Zorn has said time and time again: "if my life or my work didn't have any sort of mystery, it would all be a bore".
And maybe the sound quality isn't as good as one would like in order to appreciate this in the best way possible, but the simple fact that this recording exists, and that it can give us a taste of what transpired that night in France, is just amazing. Perhaps not everyone will connect with it in the same way, but it is still one hell of a good recording to give a try to.
If there is one thing bootlegs, and live recordings in general, will never completely deliver to me is the fact that I can't see the reaction of the audience first hand, and with gigs such as this I most certainly wish I could be able to, at least for a couple of minutes, stand within the audience, to just look around and see their reactions to whatever is going on onstage. But based on what we can be able to listen in this recording, the audience just seems to be unsure about how to react in general, almost as if they were holding their breath until the end of every piece, just to suddenly let their amazement show through their ovations and their excitement (this is only broken once throughout the entire set, at the halfway mark, with that wild and chaotic rendition of A Love Supreme, and for very good reasons). And if that happens to be exactly what happened, then I have to say my reactions were all the same.
In the end, I am never 100% certain if this recording is totally within the realms of Jazz, Rock, Experimentation, Metal or whatever the fuck comes to my mind whenever I revisit these improvisations, because as a whole this performance makes up for one of the most special, mesmerizing, memorable, and heart/brain melting live recordings that I have witnessed in Zorn's catalog; never ceasing to leave me puzzled, never ceasing to leave me excited and amazed.
But there sure is one thing I am very much certain of. Maybe it is provocative, maybe it is unwavering, maybe it is hard to digest as a whole, but regardless of all that, this is refined emotion being embodied in the chemistry between talented artists coming together to make one unforgettable experience. A perfect place that is rare to get to, where everything that comes out of the clash of artists feels like improvisation at its best, but it also somehow manages to feel perfectly rehearsed and well put together. It is all I aim to accomplish with my art, and also what I always want to find within art. Love for music, for one's craft, culminating in a purely cathartic musical bliss, leaving me with thoughts and emotions that I always treasure within my conscience. Priceless. Unique. Eternal. Magical. And let me tell you, I wouldn't trade those feelings for anything in the entire world.
God, I fucking love music.
John Zorn - Alto Saxophone
Bill Laswell - Bass
Fred Frith - Guitar, Sound Effects
Dave Lombardo - Drums
1 - [untitled] (10:47)
2 - [untitled] (16:02)
3 - [untitled] (8:55)
4 - [untitled] (11:49)
5 - [untitled] (4:23)
6 - A Love Supreme (10:19)
7 - [untitled] (9:50)
Total Time: 72:09
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