Godard/Spillane

Godard/Spillane
Compilation album by John Zorn
Released July 1999
Recorded 1985, 1986, 1987
Genre Avant-garde
Length 50:07
Label Tzadik TZ 7324
Producer John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
Live in Jerusalem 1994
(1999)		 Godard/Spillane
(1999)		 The String Quartets
(1999)

Godard/Spillane is a compilation album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn consisting of music created through Zorn's file-card compositional process.[1] He first released the composition "Godard", a tribute to French film-maker Jean-Luc Godard whose jump-cut technique inspired Zorn's compositional approach, on the French tribute album The Godard Fans: Godard Ca Vous Chante? in 1986, "Spillane was first released on Zorn's Nonesuch Records album Spillane in 1987 and "Blues Noel" was first released on the compilation album Joyeux Noel - Merry Christmas Everybody! on the French Nato label in 1987.[2]

Reception

The Allmusic review by Stacia Proefrock awarded the album 5 stars stating "Ironically, "Godard" and "Spillane" both work as unified compositions because they are made of fragments. The ideas of the filmmaker and the writer would have been too complex to be tackled by an overblown, operatic score; such a work could only scratch the surface of a few of their ideas without seeming disjointed. But Zorn's file card snippets bounce around like thoughts, overlapping and intruding on each other, reversing direction like a changed mind. Careful selection and arrangement make all the snippets seem essential and irreplaceable, despite their remarkable diversity. This album's execution is aided by a truly impressive cast of supporting musicians, whose close relationships with Zorn made it possible for the musical nuances to be communicated through interpersonal interaction. As a result, every piece sounds like a pure fragment of its genre instead of mere imitation".[3]

In a review of a 1993 live performance of both compositions New York Times correspondent Peter Watrous stated "Although they seemed radical when they first appeared, they don't now: Mr. Zorn's practice is now part of the common vocabulary. The compositions just sound good, and it is easier with hindsight to see why the works radiate pleasure".[4]

Track listing

All compositions by John Zorn

  1. "Godard" - 18:48
  2. "Spillane" - 25:24
  3. "Blues Nöel" - 5:53

Personnel

On "Godard"

On "Spillane"'

On "Blues Nöel"

References

  1. ↑ Tzadik catalogue
  2. ↑ Roussel, P (2013) John Zorn Discography, accessed November 1, 2013
  3. ↑ Proefrock, S. Allmusic Review accessed July 29, 2011.
  4. ↑ Watrous, P. John Zorn Makes Radical Turn Chic, NY Times, September 16, 1993.
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