John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression By John Brackett

Kindle John zorn

John Zorn is one of the most prolific and active American composers performers working today He has been a fixture of New York s Downtown Scene since the mid 70s as a tireless proponent of avant garde and experimental music Despite the acclaim and respect he has achieved in America and abroad very little attention has been paid to Zorn by musicologists or music theorists Author John Brackett suggests that the reason for the relative paucity of writing on Zorn s music and musical thought has to do with the difficulties and challenges they present both for listeners and scholars Zorn s musical language an amalgam of seemingly incongruous techniques sounds styles and genres creates complex and sometimes confusing listening experiences that are difficult to categorize in terms of overarching thematic or narrative design Brackett offers a number of perspectives for understanding Zorn s music and musical practices while challenging certain assumptions that limit the ways in which contemporary music is typically addressed John Zorn Tradition and TransgressionI ve been kind of obsessed with this man recently Anyhow the book gives some good philosophy of Zorn s music and an overview of the legacies he follows but gets bogged down trying to explain really specific pitch class sets sometimes English