Search - John Zorn, Jennifer Charles :: Film Works XII: 2002 Volume Two; 3 Documentaries

My favorite zorn

03/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this album touched me more deeply than almost any zorn album i own, aside from "duras:duchamp" and "aporias." surprisingly the only pieces i wasn't particularly fond of were the minimalist pieces (i am a great fan of minimalism, aside from the vocal phase, performed by jennifer charles. dance piece, with mark feldman on violin, is also enjoyable, even though it is one of the noisiest tracks on the album (aside from "kung fu percussion). the "shaolin ulysses" soundtrack is actually quite lovely; a collection of eastern-tinged bossa and jazz tunes. the highlights of these (in my opinion) are: shaolin mambo, shaolin spirit, and shaolin bossa (in all its permutations). the last film score on the album, "family found," is mesmerizing and beautiful. although there is essentially only one song here, the rhythm and melody are lovely, and complement each other...well, in my opinion, aside from the opening moments of duras, this is the most beautiful and mellifluous piece of music zorn has ever written. it bears similarities in mood to zorn's "untitled"(a tribute to joseph cornell), however the tonality of the piece here is much more straightforward. lovely, and jennifer charles' giggling voice is absolutely haunting."