The intellectual air of New York must be really conservative these days – John Zorn at 60 years young looks great. It's hard to think of an artist more keen on breaking bounderies – Zorn does so in each kind of artistic activity he engages in – as a musician, composer, publisher. Zorn@60 is an event designed to present multifaceted versatility of his repertoire and vastness of his vision and ambitions.
Set I
The
all-star The Dreamers begin the evening, in a company of three singers, with
just a slight change in a line-up – John Medeski sits in on keys for Jamie
Saft. The formation takes upon the proug name Song Project.
Mike Patton
cuts through the air with the very first song. It's rock'n'roll with the right
amount of hardcore. Some of the next remind you of the drunk bar-songs by Tom
Waitts. Patton's voice comes straight from the guts, it can nonetheless charm
you with the deep, if a bit rusty tone. Just to pierce the space with primal
scream right afterwards.
The
dynamite intro is followed by Sofia Rei – songs she's featured in resonate with
the bittter-sweet latin note. It's lyrical, Sofia's voice is deeply emotional,
if a bit theatrical. Her strong voice fits well with Mike's in the duo setting
as well.
The third
vocalist – Jesse Harris does not fit the bill. No stage charisma, his voice
thin, soft and bit flat. His songs in the smooth-pop-rock-jazz vein, along with
occasional bossa nova only reinforced that impression. Nicety but guttless. To
create on stage collision between Patton of Harris – that's a sign of
demiurge's cruelty.
John Zorn
sits in the middle of the stage, a master of puppets of sorts to direct the
show – here's a juicy guitar solo by Ribot, there's John Medeski on piano to charm
the audience. It's all good, with such fine musicians on stage it must
be.
