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Binding: Audio CDEAN: 0702397732822 Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered Label: Tzadik Manufacturer: Tzadik MPN: 7328 Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Tzadik Release Date: August 22, 2000 Studio: Tzadik Editorial Review: Amazon.com: As if John Zorn's super-creative take on film composer Ennio Morricone weren't essential in its first iteration on Nonesuch Records, Zorn is celebrating the album's 15th anniversary with an updated, remastered version. The darker lows and brighter highs make this Gundown clearly superior--with its original cast of characters (Bill Frisell, Arto Lindsay, Diamanda Galas, and many more) sounding alternately darker, sultrier, and more cinematic than ever. Zorn's reticence to record the original album's 10 pieces looks altogether unreasonable, as his genius for adding color and dimension to Morricone's tunes shows profusely. To make this an even better deal, there are six new bonus tracks that feature Marc Ribot as part of an ad hoc string quartet on "The Sicilian Clan" and "Chi Mai," and as sparring partner with British avant guitar god Derek Bailey on the roaring "Svegliatti and Uccidi." This one's magnificently important. --Andrew Bartlett Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Obviously, works for some people, but not meI bought this to fill out my "jazz core collection" as noted in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Eighth Edition (Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings) (I'm working from both ends now), and I expected jazz. This is some kind of avant garde, fancy jazz, but not what I was hoping for, and not what I will listen to on a regular basis. This is a very musically, sonically, and tonically challenging work, and I consider the performances excellent, but simply put, this album will not bear up to repeated ... Read More Rating: - Short of excellent, but certainly put this rampant experimenter on the map3 1/2 Marking a noticeable evolution in this radical composer's one-of-a-kind-career, 1984's early breakthrough interpretations of the spaghetti western king proved a worthy and memorable endeavor. Through Zorn's typically cracked lens Morricone's dusty constructs are given a whole new, usually quite darkened reworking. More traditional fans of these original compositions may initially be turned off with the expansive and distorted liberties taken to resurrect these themes (as compositionally ... Read More Rating: - Lots of varietyJohn Zorn stepped away from his game piece albums and began to get into more conventional songs with "The Big Gundown". A set of 15 Ennio Morricone songs, and one Zorn-penned homage to a Morricone song, it's a difficult album to classify. Zorn is usually characterized as jazz, but this is a long long way from Louis Armstrong, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of improvisation. Zorn himself performs only on a minority of the songs. He's more of a producer-arranger. But, even if he isn't playing the alto ... Read More Rating:  - Zorn's first masterpieceOne of the best albums in Zorn's catalog, "The Big Gundown" is a masterpiece augmented in this 15th anniversary edition with a number of new recordings. These are reinterpretations of Mooricone pieces (with one Zorn original) for various groups. The entire record is powerful and energetic, with breathtaking arrangements, brilliant performances, and a fire that had not been captured in Zorn's previous recordings. It is also probably his first true masterpiece. I think in many ways, the opener and ... Read More Rating: - Definitely a must-have Zorn album!I've got about 30 Zorn albums, and this was the first I heard, back in college late during an all-nighter. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Fantastic stuff, and very weird. This is more listenable than some, but definitely not the most easy of Zorn's albums. Great treatments of some familiar pieces if you're into spaghetti westerns. This is on my must-have list for Zorn albums. |
