JOHN ZORN NEW MASADA QUARTET
Village Vanguard178 7th Avenue South, New York 10014
John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet brings its four-piece reading of the Masada songbooks to the Village Vanguard. Zorn plays alto saxophone with guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Kenny Wollesen. The group works through Zorn’s large body of Masada compositions, making room for fresh improvisation inside the written material. At the Vanguard, the music lands in the club’s triangular listening room, where the red-curtained stage and close-set tables keep attention on the players.
The quartet is a New York ensemble rooted in Zorn’s Radical Jewish Culture explorations. Masada’s musical premise, in Zorn’s phrase, is “Ornette Coleman with Jewish scales”; the New Masada Quartet interprets the project’s hundreds of tunes, with Lage’s guitar taking the role that a second horn held in the original quartet. Roulette calls the band “a unit of like-minded virtuosi,” citing “burning solos, harmonious group interaction, heartfelt lyricism, and hypnotic grooves.” The Arts Fuse heard “exceptional musicianship, bridging the accessible and avant-garde,” and noted playful interplay that can blur “the line between composition and improvisation.”
A narrow basement staircase leads to a triangular room with a red curtain and a stage at the point, where musicians play for a small audience of 123. Tables open like spokes from the stage, and the walls hold portraits of jazz legends. The acoustics are excellent, and the only sound before the music begins is the hum of the room. No food is served, only drinks at a bar. Shows start at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., with seating beginning at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. respectively. The atmosphere is focused entirely on the music, with silence requested before the concert begins.