Masada (band)

History

In 1993 Zorn first worked with Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, and Joey Baron to provide musical cues for Joe Chappelle's film Thieves Quartet, establishing them as Masada to perform his recent compositions using the instrumental lineup and improvisational approach of Ornette Coleman's free jazz quartet. From 1994 the group released ten studio albums on the Japanese DIW label, each titled after a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Further releases on Tzadik highlighted live performances recorded in Jerusalem, Taipei, Middelheim, Seville, and in New York at the Knitting Factory and Tonic.

The quartet released a live DVD in 1999, another recording from Zorn's 50th Birthday Celebration Series, and a double CD of unreleased studio recordings, Sanhedrin 1994–1997, in 2005. By the end of 2004, Zorn had composed over 300 new tunes for the second Masada songbook, debuted at Tonic in December 2004 as a mini festival. Tzadik released a series of CDs of these songs played by various ensembles as the Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels collection.

As of early 2007, the Masada Quartet was officially breaking up, performing two last live concerts at Lincoln Center March 9th and 10th on a double bill with Cecil Taylor's New AHA 3. Nevertheless, they were scheduled to perform as the original quartet in Antwerp on June 22, 2008, with the bill later changed by the addition of pianist Uri Caine. The quartet also performed at Yoshi's San Francisco jazz club on March 12, 2008, with the 8pm show featuring music from the original Masada songbook and the 10pm performance featuring songs from Masada Book 2.

Related projects

Starting in the mid-1990s, John Zorn expanded the Masada universe with several new ensembles. The Masada String Trio, featuring Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, and Greg Cohen, reworks Masada themes into a classical-chamber jazz style. When Marc Ribot, Cyro Baptista, and Joey Baron join them, the group is called the Bar Kokhba Sextet. Both groups rely on improvisation, sometimes directed by Zorn, and draw heavily on the Jewish musical inflections built into Zorn’s Masada compositions.

Before the sextet existed, the Bar Kokhba album came out, featuring various small groups of Zorn’s regular collaborators playing Masada material. Electric Masada pushes the songbook into jazz fusion and noise rock territory. Its lineup includes Baron, Ribot, Kenny Wollesen, Baptista, Trevor Dunn, Jamie Saft, and Ikue Mori.

Zorn conducts with hand signals, creating new arrangements on the fly. The group’s first official release was 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4, recorded live at Tonic in September 2003 and released in May 2004. That was followed by At the Mountains of Madness, recorded in 2004 in Moscow and Ljubljana. In 2019, Zorn launched the New Masada Quartet with Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen.

10th Anniversary

For Masada's tenth anniversary in 2003, Tzadik put out five new CD sets. The first, Masada Guitars, features Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, and Tim Sparks playing the compositions, mostly on acoustic instruments. Voices in the Wilderness, the second volume, includes a wide variety of performers and groups.

The Unknown Masada, volume three, introduces more new ensembles alongside familiar names, playing Masada pieces that had never been performed live. A fourth set, Masada Recital, came out in 2004 with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and violinist Mark Feldman. The final volume, Masada Rock, by the band Rashanim, was released in August 2005.

Did You Know?

• On March 19, 2014, the first 20 compositions of a third Masada book were performed live at The Town Hall in New York.
• The total number of compositions in the third book is 92, bringing the total Masada compositions to 613, the same as the number of commandments in the Torah.
• Musical group compositions in the third book range from loud avant-garde rock to string quartet.