Monday, July 21, 2003

TODAY'S REVIEW IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER "Z"

A work colleague recently bragged about seeing Atomic Kitten and some other girlie band. I decided not to brag that I'd been to see avant-jazz composer John Zorn and the Cuban-Klezmer band led by Roberto Rodriguez at the Barbican last night.

You know that a guy called Zorn is not going to play pop. Zorn is not my usual cup of tea, but, heck it was worth a punt especially with New York cult guitarist, Marc Ribot, in tow. I've seen Ribot four times, each time in a different guise. When I first saw him, he was playing Cuban music in support of John Scofield (passim). Next, Ribot did a solo gig at the QEH complete with balloons popped at various intervals. His last London appearance was in Peruvian diva Susana Baca's band.

As a warm-up, Rodriguez teamed up with klezmer clarinet ace David Krakauer for an hour or so of latin-jewish fusion. Klezmer as the new Cuban: an exotic combination of 2/2 beats, dance rhythms and Central European soul.

Zorn's six piece kicked off with two monster slabs of thrash that shook the cobwebs out of your head. But, the intriguing part of Zorn's music is his weird assemblage of sounds and styles. So later on there was a piece which was for all intents and purposes lounge music. There were slices of 70s jazz fusion in the style of Chick Corea. But, always Zorn (as traffic cop for this high powered band) expanded the boundaries. I have to admit that I have to be in the right kind of mood for this kind of challenging music. It was always intriguing, not easy on the ear, but a thoroughly memorable experience.

:: Posted by pete @ 21:09