John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression

by John Brackett

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.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Johan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by an academic, this book is not for the casual reader. A decent understanding of music theory is necessary.

The central point about Zorn NOT being the postmodernist he’s often portrayed as, is very interesting, and may be worth the read even for a non-musician. Just skip the very in-depth analysis of Aporias etc.

The chapter on the Naked City artwork is very interesting. I was however a bit surprised that the “disturbing” artwork of Naked City, and The Gift was analysed, but not the REALLY controversial artwork of Taboo and Exile.

[Peter Sims · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't fault a book for being something it never intended on being. So in that regard, I can't fault John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression for being limited in its scope when I thought it would be much more vast. The focus is on a handful of concepts such as his artwork and its connection to his music and the role of the occult in some of his composition. Zorn is someone I would unequivocally call a genius, and someone notorious for very rarely giving interviews, so any insight is very welcomed.

The most interesting point Brackett brings up is that the view of Zorn should not be as a stalwart post-modernist, but as someone that heavily relies on traditional ideas and forms. His analysis of the Naked City tune "Speedfreaks" was great, explaining and charting it out while showing that it fit into a very common 32-bar form (that is to say, he shows that one of the most challenging pieces stems from one of the most standard ideas).

So why three stars versus something higher for the chance to get into my favorite musician's mind? Well, the book is written like a thesis paper or was submitted to receive a master's in Music Theory. The flow of it is extremely academic and reads like it was written for a critical professor's eye. There is little style to the writing and it has little cohesive flow. However, the musical analysis is top notch and the work of someone extremely skilled at transcription.

I would only recommend this to a musician with at least an intermediate theory background, which is not something I can fault the author for (it should never be a rule that a book is written for everyone) but for the non-musician Zorn fan, there will hopefully be something else someday.

[Joe]

It's a great read but only if you are a HUGE fan of Zorn and/or have a masterful grasp of the technicalities of music theory. I fall into the first category but not the second, so it was very interesting but dauntingly dense.

[Miri Villerius]

I'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.