The Big Gundown: John Zorn Plays the Music of Ennio Morricone

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 Amazon.com

Obviously, works for some people, but not me

I 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 listening. When it comes to jazz, I know when I'm in the mood for Bill Evans, and when I'm in the mood for Duke Ellington, and in the mood for Billie Holiday, or in the mood for Miles Davis, etc. I will never be "in the mood" for John Zorn. This album sounds like what happens when a toy truck crashes into a music studio while the producers were taking a break watching a Clint Eastwood movie: hollow, tinny pianos, plastic snare drums, gunshot effects, and screaming. If you want a musically interesting CD, this is for you. If you want jazz music, you can take a pass on this. March 6, 2008

Short of excellent, but certainly put this rampant experimenter on the map

3 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 sound as much of the recording is, of course this long album comes with quite a few unsettling, anti-musical audio adventures) but any Zorn fan would be remiss not to own what would start out a long tradition of these fractured, often rewarding tributes. December 23, 2007

Lots of variety

John 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 sax, these songs bear Zorn's unmistakeable imprint. There's an original 1985 section, and Zorn added some bonus songs in 2000.

Let's describe all the songs since the music sample is often deceptive for this CD. "The Big Gundown" aims for creepy. There are ominous piano chords, dissonant noises, and screams. The music resolves somewhat when a Brazilian percussion section begins, and ends with some Rawhide-esque "ha"'s. "Peur Sur La Ville" is built around an unsettling piano figure and noises. It has a unconventional free-jazz aura to it. "Poverty" is a quiet song based on Toots Thielman's whistling. "Milano Odeo" is a catchy, almost rock-n-roll song taken at a brisk pace. As the song goes on, the keyboards get more unsettling and the guitar gets noisier. "Erotico" has bluesy organ, and Bill Frisell's most romantic electric guitar (in an '80's way) paired with female vocalizations. "Battle Of Algiers" might be my favorite (maybe just because of the represented movies I've seen it's my favorite). Wayne Horvitz pounds out the tense piano line while sounds effects explode in the background. "Giu La Testa" has a slow build for about four minutes, then there's a plucking, walking part to take the song out. "Metamorfosi" is a good song to play when you want guests to leave, Diamanda Galas screams on top of tribal drums. "Tre Nel 5000" is credited to Zorn as a composer. To me, it sounds like a 4 1/2 minute dose of ambient noise. "Once Upon A Time In The West" starts quietly and deliberately, with feedback swelling and decaying. Robert Quine and Jody Harris play their guitars otherwise very minimalistically (not minimally, the feedback is constant). That ends the 1985 section of the CD.

The 2000 section uses an updated cast of players. "The Sicilian Clan" is familiar from the "Naked City" CD, though the instrumentation is more acoustic, and Cyro Baptista adds "western movie" percussion. "Macchie Solari" is another unsettling song. It ends in a fit of crashing piano chords and screams. "The Ballad Of Hank McCain" teams Mike Patton's heroic baritone with Jamie Saft's organ and Baptista's background congas. It's one of the more accessible songs, I wonder what it would sound like with a fuller band. The later instrumental version sounds about the same except, of course, without singing. "Svegliatti And Uccidi", with Marc Ribot and Derek Bailey on guitar-mangling duties, is a skronky blow-out. "Chi Mai", with the same musicians as "The Sicilian Clan", has a pretty melody and gentle music.

Some of these songs are very cool and original, others I can go without. Since it's a mixed bag I give it three stars. Zorn is certainly an original, and fans will want to make sure they have this one.
June 10, 2007

Zorn's first masterpiece

One 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 title track best illustrates the aesthetic on the record, if you don't like that one, you'll probably not care for the rest of it-- it covers a number of moods, being dark, haunting, theatrical, explosive and esoteric, sometimes all at once. This sort of theatrical mood extends across a number of songs, the haunting circular piano and percussion workout "Peur Sur la Ville" (with a blazing alto sax solo from Tim Berne), an the dark electric guitar workout take of "Once Upon a Time in the West", reduced a funereal pace.

But there are also many moments of delicate beauty as well-- take for instance "Poverty (Once Upon a Time in America)", with an unusual instrumentation of whistling, harmonica (both handled by Toots Theilman), harp and accordian. Particularly when the harmonica takes the melody, the support swells and embraces and holds on, expressing pain and loss and fear for the future. Or consider the brooding and yet someone still light "Giu la Testa (Duck You Sucker!)", building anticipation through its dark motifs and bizarre instrumentation (among others, the Japanese shamisen, english horn, acoustic guitar, gamecalls and keyboards).

The bonus tracks are no less essential-- Zorn brought in about everyone he played with for the originals, these were a chance to catch up. The amazing thing about Zorn is that as an arranger, he's lost none of his flair in the intervening years, in fact, he may have even gotten better. Zorn uses his "Bar Kokhba" sextet (the Masada String Trio augmented by guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Joey Baron and percussionist Cyro Baptista) to great effect on breathtaking arrangements of "The Sicilian Clan" and "Chi Mai", and adds another great guitar workout feature with Ribot and Derek Bailey in a noisy, disjoint take of "Sveggliatti and Uccidi", but its Mike Patton's Tom growl on "The Ballad of Hank McCain" that is the gem of the material-- stunning delivery that really captures something special (and may be the best vocal Patton has ever done) over a delicate organ (Jamie Saft) and percussion (Baptista) backdrop that matches and perhaps outstrips the best of the original material.

This is essential music for Zorn fans, if you're not, this may well be a good place to start-- the music can be difficult, and it covers a ton of moods, but there is a lot to hear. Highly recommended. April 29, 2005

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. April 27, 2004

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