Zorn free

I keep stumbling across great things in the Internet Archive, and when I do, I feel compelled to share with the scant readership of this blog. Here we join John Zorn on KPFA Berkeley in 1987, previewing and talking about his album "Spillane," and speaking very interestingly about his compositional and improvisational processes. It was only a couple of years later that I discovered him via his collaboration with Tim Berne on Spy vs. Spy, and then the amazing Naked City album, which rearranged my musical brain in a profound way. Moving through every conceivable genre in kaleidoscopic fashion, with frequent stops in the worlds of thrash, hardcore, ambient, skronk, and Carl Stalling, whom Zorn name-checks around the 17:00 mark here, it's an intense musical ride, even 23 years later. The results were by turns beautiful and terrifying, with the latter being greatly aided by the presence of Yamantaka (then Yamatsuka) Eye, whom I also encountered for the first time here.

"A Visit with John Zorn, KPFA, 1987"

"Snagglepuss"

"Chinatown"