Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

since the early 1990s. Masada was the first ensemble to perform Zorn's compositions inspired by Radical Jewish Culture and written to be performed by small groups of musicians. Initially envisioned as a set of 100 "songs" notated within a limited number of staves and confined to specific

modes Mode ( meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * MO''D''E (magazine), a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is the setting fo ...

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

, Zorn's Masada project would eventually total 613 compositions divided into three specific "books".Jazztimes.com, John Zorn Introduces His Third Book of Masada Compositions
/ref> Zorn used

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

titles for these compositions along with melodic themes and musical structures reminiscent of

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

music, and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

imagery on album covers to explore Jewish identity within the Masada songbook and groups. He stated: "The idea with Masada is to produce a sort of radical Jewish music, a new Jewish music which is not the traditional one in a different

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, but music for the Jews of today. The idea is to put

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...

and the Jewish scales together."

History

In 1993 Zorn first worked with Dave Douglas (trumpet),

Greg Cohen Greg Cohen (born July 13, 1953) is an American jazz bassist who has been a member of John Zorn's Masada quartet and worked with numerous other noted musicians for over four decades. Career Cohen plays traditional jazz and other styles, includin ...

(double bass), and

Joey Baron Bernard Joseph Baron (born June 26, 1955 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American drummer best-known for working in avant-garde jazz with Bill Frisell and John Zorn. Music career Baron, who is of Jewish heritage, was born on June 26, 1955, in Ric ...

(drums) to provide musical cues for

Joe Chappelle Joseph Chappelle is an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television. He is perhaps best known for his work on the critically acclaimed HBO series ''The Wire'', where he directed six episodes and served as co-executive p ...

's first film '' Thieves Quartet'' (later collected on '' Filmworks III: 1990–1995'') and established them as Masada to perform his recent compositions using the instrumental lineup and improvisational approach of

's pioneering 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 The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicase, unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably ...

.Wolk, D
"Pat Metheny Mingles in the Weird World of John Zorn"
, MTVHive.com, May 29, 2013. Further releases by Masada on

Tzadik Tzadik ( ''ṣaddīq'' , "righteous ne; also ''zadik'' or ''sadiq''; pl. ''tzadikim'' ''ṣadīqīm'') is a title in Judaism given to people considered righteous, such as biblical figures and later spiritual masters. The root of the word ...

highlighted live performances recorded in Jerusalem (1994), Taipei (1995), Middelheim (1999), Seville (2000) and in New York at the Knitting Factory (1993) and at Tonic (2001). 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. Some of the new tunes were debuted at Tonic in December 2004, as a mini festival. Tzadik has released a series of CDs of these songs played by various ensembles, including the Masada String Trio,

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, Rock music, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notab ...

, Koby Israelite,

Erik Friedlander Erik Friedlander is an American cellist and composer based in New York City. A veteran of New York City's experimental downtown scene, Friedlander has worked in many contexts, but is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with sax ...

and others as the "Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels" collection. As of early 2007, according to the

website, "Together for close to fifteen years, John Zorn's Masada Quartet is officially breaking up and will be performing two of their last live concerts ever at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

March 9th and 10th on a double bill with

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...

's New AHA 3." Nevertheless, they were scheduled to perform as the original quartet on a concert in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

in Cultural Center Luchtbal on June 22, 2008 - the bill later changed with the addition of pianist

Uri Caine Uri Caine (born June 8, 1956) is an American classical music, classical and jazz pianist and composer from Philadelphia. Biography Early years Caine was born on June 8, 1956, in Philadelphia, to Burton Caine (1928–2023), a professor at Temple ...

, who performed with them the entire set, except for one song. Baron, Cohen and Douglas also joined the duo of Mike Patton and John Zorn the evening before, at the same venue, and the quartet also performed one song as an encore. The quartet performed together at Yoshi's San Francisco jazz club on March 12, 2008. The 8pm show featured music from the original Masada songbook and the 10pm performance featured songs from ''Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels''.

Related projects

Since the mid-1990s a number of new projects have arisen under the Masada banner.

Masada String Trio

The Masada String Trio performs selections from the Masada songbook in a classical-

chamber jazz Chamber jazz is a genre of jazz involving small, acoustic-based ensembles where group interplay is important. It is influenced aesthetically by the small ensembles of chamber music in musical neoclassicism and is often influenced by classical fo ...

form. Personnel include

Mark Feldman Mark Feldman (born 1955 in Chicago) is an American jazz violinist. Biography Feldman worked in Chicago from 1973–1980, in Nashville, Tennessee from 1980–1986, in New York City and Western Europe from 1986. He has performed with John Zorn, ...

(violin),

(cello), and Cohen (bass). With the addition of

(guitar),

Cyro Baptista Cyro Baptista (born December 23, 1950) is a Brazilian-born percussionist in jazz and world music. He creates many of the percussion instruments he plays. Career Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Baptista arrived in the U.S. in 1980 with a scholarship ...

(percussion) and

(drums), this same group has performed as the "Bar Kokhba Sextet". The performing style of both groups is characterised by the use of improvisation (sometimes conducted by Zorn himself) and its use of the inflections of Jewish music that are part of the compositional language of Zorn's "Masada" themes.

Bar Kokhba

Two different projects in the Masada family share this name. Prior to the creation of the

Bar Kokhba Sextet Bar Kokhba Sextet brings together six core members of Masada under the leadership of John Zorn. An improvisational group of New York's downtown artists, the sextet includes Cyro Baptista on percussion, Marc Ribot on guitar, Greg Cohen on bass, Joey ...

, the ''

Bar Kokhba Simon bar Kokhba ( ) or Simon bar Koseba ( ), commonly referred to simply as Bar Kokhba, was a Jewish military leader in Judaea (Roman province), Judea. He lent his name to the Bar Kokhba revolt, which he initiated against the Roman Empire in 1 ...

'' album was released, featuring a cast of regular Zorn collaborators performing Masada material in a variety of different small ensemble configurations.

Electric Masada

One of Zorn's most active Masada projects of recent years is Electric Masada. Drawing on Zorn's wide-ranging stylistic influences, the band takes the Masada songbook into a whole new direction, reminiscent of

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

and

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

. The group, which includes Baron, Ribot, Wollesen, and Cyro Baptista, from previous Masada groups, as well as

Trevor Dunn Trevor Roy Dunn (born January 30, 1968) is an American composer, bass guitarist, and double bassist. He came to prominence in the 1990s with the experimental band Mr. Bungle. While performing with Mr. Bungle, he would dress similar to the S ...

on bass,

Jamie Saft Jamie Saft is an American keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist and composer. He was born in New York City and raised a Conservative Judaism, Conservative Jew, and studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory, New England Conserva ...

on keyboards and

Ikue Mori (born 17 December 1953), also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, electronic musician, composer, and graphic designer. Mori was awarded a "Genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2022. Biography Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She sa ...

on laptop/electronics, continue to take the Masada themes and transform them into something entirely new. Zorn uses hand signals to conduct the band, allowing for him to make up different arrangements on the spot. During Zorn's 50th Birthday Celebration at Tonic in September 2003, Electric Masada was recorded live. Released in May 2004, '' 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4'' became the group's first official recording. This was followed by '' At the Mountains of Madness'' recorded in 2004 in Moscow and

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New Masada Quartet

In 2019, Zorn formed the New Masada Quartet with Julian Lage (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass), and

Kenny Wollesen Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist. Wollesen has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a fou ...

(drums).

10th Anniversary

2003 saw the 10th Anniversary of Masada and Tzadik released five new CD sets in commemoration. The first release, '' Masada Guitars'', has three guitarists,

Bill Frisell William Richard Frisell (born March 18, 1951) is an American jazz guitarist. He first came to prominence at ECM Records in the 1980s, as both a session player and a leader. He went on to work in a variety of contexts, notably as a participant ...

and

Tim Sparks Tim Sparks (born October 31, 1954) is an American Steel-string guitar, acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer. Life Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of ...

, playing the tunes, mainly acoustically. Volume 2, '' Voices in the Wilderness'', has a huge range of groups and individuals playing and Volume 3, '' The Unknown Masada'', has yet more new groups, together with some familiar faces playing Masada tunes never before performed in public. A fourth volume, '' Masada Recital'', performed by

Sylvie Courvoisier Sylvie Courvoisier (born 30 November 1968) is a composer, pianist, improviser and bandleader. She was born and raised in Lausanne, Switzerland, and has been a resident of New York City since 1998. She won Germany’s International Jazz Piano Pri ...

on piano and

on violin, followed in 2004. The fifth and final volume '' Masada Rock'' features the band Rashanim and was released in August 2005.

Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels

From 2003 Zorn has written a range of new Masada compositions which have been released on a series of albums under the banner of ''Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels''. Musicians contributing to the series include

, Masada String Trio,

and

, Koby Israelite, The Cracow Klezmer Band,

, the

Secret Chiefs 3 Secret Chiefs 3 (or SC3) is an American experimental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance (of Mr. Bungle and formerly, Faith No More). Their studio recordings and tours have featured different lineups, as the group performs a wide ...

the Bar Kokhba Sextet, Medeski Martin & Wood,

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

, 'The Spike Orchestra' (a big band) arranged by Sam Eastmond & Nikki Franklin, and most recently in 2016, Flaga (a piano trio)

Masada Book 3: The Book Beriah

On March 19, 2014, the first 20 compositions of a third Masada book were performed live at '' The Town Hall'' in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. The total number of compositions in the third book is 92, which brings the total number of Masada compositions at 613, the same as the number of mitsvah or commandments in the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. Musical group compositions range from loud avant-garde rock to string quartet.

Discography

Masada

''Studio Recordings'' *'' Masada: Alef'' (DIW, 1994) *'' Masada: Beit'' (DIW, 1994) *'' Masada: Gimel'' (DIW, 1994) *'' Masada: Dalet'' (DIW, 1994) *'' Masada: Hei'' (DIW, 1995) *'' Masada: Vav'' (DIW, 1995) *'' Masada: Zayin'' (DIW, 1996) *'' Masada: Het'' (DIW, 1996) *'' Masada: Tet'' (DIW, 1997) *'' Masada: Yod'' (DIW, 1997) *'' Sanhedrin 1994-1997 (Unreleased Studio Recordings)'' (Tzadik, 2005) ''Live Recordings'' *'' First Live 1993'' (Tzadik, 2002) *'' Live in Jerusalem 1994'' (Tzadik, 1997) *'' Live in Taipei 1995'' (Tzadik, 1997) *'' Live in Middelheim 1999'' (Tzadik, 1999) *'' Live in Sevilla 2000'' (Tzadik, 2000) *'' Live at Tonic 2001'' (Tzadik, 2001) *'' 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 7'' (Tzadik, 2004)

Masada String Trio

* John Zorn, ''

'' (Tzadik, 1996) * John Zorn, '' The Circle Maker'' - Disc 1: "Issachar" (Tzadik, 1998) * John Zorn, '' Filmworks XI: Secret Lives'' (Tzadik, 2002) * Masada String Trio, '' 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1'' (Tzadik, 2004) * Masada String Trio, '' Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2'' (Tzadik, 2005) * John Zorn, '' Filmworks XX: Sholem Aleichem'' - with Rob Burger and Carol Emmanuel (Tzadik, 2008) * Masada String Trio, '' Haborym: Book of Angels Volume 16'' (Tzadik, 2010)

Bar Kokbha

* John Zorn, ''

'' (Tzadik, 1996) * John Zorn, '' The Circle Maker'' - Disc 2: "Zevulun" (Tzadik, 1998) * Bar Kokhba Sextet, '' 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 11: '' (Tzadik, 2005) * Bar Kokhba Sextet, '' Lucifer: Book of Angels Volume 10'' (Tzadik, 2008)

Electric Masada

*'' 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 4'' (Tzadik, 2004) *'' Electric Masada: At the Mountains of Madness'' (Tzadik, 2005)

New Masada Quartet

* '' New Masada Quartet'' (Tzadik, 2021)

Anniversary Series

*''Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 1: Masada Guitars'' (Tzadik, 2003) *''Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 2: Voices in the Wilderness'' (Tzadik, 2003) *''Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 3: The Unknown Masada'' (Tzadik, 2003) *''Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 4: Masada Recital'' (Tzadik, 2004) *''Masada Anniversary Edition Vol. 5: Masada Rock'' (Tzadik, 2005)

Book 2: The Book of Angels

*'' Astaroth: Book of Angels Volume 1'' by The

Trio (Tzadik, 2005) *'' Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2'' by Masada String Trio (Tzadik, 2005) *'' Malphas: Book of Angels Volume 3'' by

and

(Tzadik, 2006) *'' Orobas: Book of Angels Volume 4'' by Koby Israelite (Tzadik, 2006) *'' Balan: Book of Angels Volume 5'' by The Cracow Klezmer Band (Tzadik, 2006) *'' Moloch: Book of Angels Volume 6'' by

(Tzadik, 2006) *'' Asmodeus: Book of Angels Volume 7'' by

(Tzadik, 2007) *'' Volac: Book of Angels Volume 8'' by

(Tzadik, 2007) *'' Xaphan: Book of Angels Volume 9'' by

(Tzadik, 2008) *'' Lucifer: Book of Angels Volume 10'' by

(Tzadik, 2008) *'' Zaebos: Book of Angels Volume 11'' by Medeski Martin & Wood (Tzadik, 2008) *'' Stolas: Book of Angels Volume 12'' by Masada Quintet featuring Joe Lovano (Tzadik, 2009) *'' Mycale: Book of Angels Volume 13'' by

Mycale Mycale () also Mykale and Mykali (, ''Mykálē''), called Samsun Dağı and Dilek Dağı ( Dilek Peninsula) in modern Turkey, is a mountain on the west coast of central Anatolia in Turkey, north of the mouth of the Maeander and divided from the ...

(Tzadik, 2010) *'' Ipos: Book of Angels Volume 14'' by The Dreamers (Tzadik, 2010) *'' Baal: Book of Angels Volume 15'' by The Ben Goldberg Quartet (Tzadik, 2010) *'' Haborym: Book of Angels Volume 16'' by Masada String Trio (Tzadik, 2010) *'' Caym: Book of Angels Volume 17'' by Banquet of the Spirits (Tzadik, 2011) *'' Pruflas: Book of Angels Volume 18'' by David Krakauer (Tzadik, 2011) *'' Abraxas: Book of Angels Volume 19'' by

Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz (born 1975) is an American bassist and oud player who has recorded and performed extensively with Cyro Baptista's Banquet of the Spirits, Daniel Zamir's Satlah, Rashanim, Pharaoh's Daughter, and John Zorn. Blumenkranz stu ...

(Tzadik, 2012) *'' Tap: Book of Angels Volume 20'' by

(Tzadik/Nonesuch, 2013) *'' Alastor: Book of Angels Volume 21'' by

Eyvind Kang Eyvindur Y. Kang (born 23 June 1971) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. His primary instrument is viola, but has also performed on violin, tuba, keyboard instruments, keyboards and others. In addition to his solo work, Kang has w ...

(Tzadik, 2014) *'' Adramelech: Book of Angels Volume 22'' by Zion80 (Tzadik, 2014) *'' Aguares: Book Of Angels Volume 23'' by Roberto Rodriguez (Tzadik, 2014) *'' Amon: Book Of Angels Volume 24'' by Klezmerson (Tzadik, 2015) *'' Gomory: Book Of Angels Volume 25'' by

(Tzadik, 2015) *'' Cerberus: Book of Angels Volume 26'' by The Spike Orchestra (Tzadik, 2015) *'' Flaga: Book of Angels Volume 27'' by Flaga (Tzadik, 2016) *'' Andras: Book of Angels Volume 28'' by Nova Express Quintet (Tzadik, 2016) *'' Flauros: Book of Angels Volume 29'' by AutorYno (Tzadik, 2016) *'' Leonard: Book of Angels Volume 30'' by Garth Knox & the Saltarello Trio (Tzadik, 2016) *'' Buer: Book of Angels Volume 31'' by Brian Marsella Trio (Tzadik, 2017) *'' Paimon: Book of Angels Volume 32'' by

Mary Halvorson Mary Halvorson (born October 16, 1980) is an American avant-garde jazz composer and guitarist from Brookline, Massachusetts. Among her many collaborations, she has: led a trio with and Ches Smith, and a quintet with the addition of Jon Iraba ...

(Tzadik, 2017)

References

External links

Masada World
a guide to John Zorn's Masada project {{DEFAULTSORT:Masada American jazz ensembles Jewish musical groups Chamber jazz ensembles Klezmer groups John Zorn Jewish jazz musicians