In Search of the Miraculous (John Zorn album)
In Search of the Miraculous | ||||
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Studio album by John Zorn | ||||
Released | February 2010 | |||
Recorded | September – October 2009 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 51:25 | |||
Label | Tzadik TZ 7379 | |||
Producer | John Zorn | |||
John Zorn chronology | ||||
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In Search of the Miraculous is an album by composer John Zorn released as a part of Tzadik's Archival series in 2010.[1]
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
All About Jazz | favorable[3] |
Free Jazz Collective | [4] |
PopMatters | [5] |
Allmusic awarded the album 4 stars.[2] Writing for All About Jazz, Warren Allen stated "Some may find it difficult to embrace the mystical/minimalist aesthetic captured here, but there is so much art present. For Zorn as a composer, the writing is an important step in the development of his file card music. For the musicians, the songs contain deeply passionate performances that sound effortless, even where they are certainly not. And for the listener, there are pleasures to be found either just in listening or in trying to unwind some of the layers within this suite of music. This is simply an album to lose oneself within".[3]
The Free Jazz Collective called it "A typical atmospheric piece of music, with quite repetitive piano phrases based on klezmer scales. Very lyrical and nice, sometimes with odd rhyhms... Despite this stellar list of Tzadik musicians, the music itself has a kind of déjà-vu effect, even if some of the playing is more emphatic than on other albums".[4] PopMatters correspondent Benjamin Aspray was also unimpressed noting "his new record features many of the virtues that set even his lesser works above the vast majority of experimental music. The compositions are balanced just right between being intricate and hanging loose, and the piano-led ensemble assembled here plays through them with precision and restraint. The production is crisp and clear; the vibes shimmer on top of sinewy basslines, and no one overtakes anyone else. In other words, the whole thing is very, very professional. And that’s, unfortunately, all it really is... knowing John Zorn, he wanted the opportunity to force himself into even less expected musical territory. He’s succeeded, and shown the world that he can make faceless, functional music with the best of the world’s shopping network jingle-writers. Now, hopefully, he realizes that being boring is, well, boring, and goes back to what he does best: being awesome".[5]
Track listing
All compositions by John Zorn.
- "Prelude: From a Great Temple" – 4:15
- "Sacred Dance (Invocation)" – 4:47
- "The Book of Shadows" – 5:13
- "Affirmation" – 5:04
- "The Magus" – 9:08
- "Hymn for a New Millennium" – 5:31
- "Journey of the Magicians" – 4:02
- "Mythic Etude" – 7:27
- "Postlude: Prayers and Enchantment" – 5:58
Personnel
- Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz – electric bass
- Rob Burger – piano, organ
- Greg Cohen – acoustic bass
- Ben Perowsky – drums
- Kenny Wollesen – vibraphone
References
- ^ Tzadik catalogue
- ^ a b Allmusic Review accessed October 31, 2013.
- ^ a b Allen, W. All About Jazz review January 19, 2011
- ^ a b Stef, The Free Jazz Collective Review, Free Jazz Collective, April 21, 2010
- ^ a b Asprey, B. PopMatters review, April 25, 2010
- v
- t
- e
- Lacrosse
- Pool
- Hockey
- Archery
- Cobra
- John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory
- John Zorn's Cobra: Tokyo Operations '94
- New Traditions in East Asian Bar Bands
- Xu Feng
- Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2
Pieces
- Spillane
- The Bribe
- Elegy
- Kristallnacht
- Godard/Spillane
- Femina
- Dictée/Liber Novus
- Interzone
- Mount Analogue
- Voodoo
- The Big Gundown
- News for Lulu
- More News for Lulu
- Spy vs Spy
- Redbird
- The Book of Heads
- Duras: Duchamp
- Angelus Novus
- Aporias: Requia for Piano and Orchestra
- The String Quartets
- Cartoon S/M
- Madness, Love and Mysticism
- Songs from the Hermetic Theatre
- Chimeras
- Magick
- Mysterium
- Rituals
- From Silence to Sorcery
- The Satyr's Play / Cerberus
- What Thou Wilt
- Lemma
- On the Torment of Saints, the Casting of Spells and the Evocation of Spirits
- The Alchemist
- Fragmentations, Prayers and Interjections
- In the Hall of Mirrors
- Myth and Mythopoeia
- 1986-1990
- Music for an Untitled Film by Walter Hill
- 1990–1995
- S&M + More
- Tears of Ecstasy
- 1996
- Cynical Hysterie Hour
- 1997
- Trembling Before G-d
- In the Mirror of Maya Deren
- Secret Lives
- Three Documentaries
- Invitation to a Suicide
- Hiding and Seeking
- Protocols of Zion
- Workingman's Death
- Notes on Marie Menken/Ray Bandar: A Life with Skulls
- The Treatment
- The Rain Horse
- Sholem Aleichem
- Belle de Nature/The New Rijksmuseum
- The Last Supper
- El General
- The Nobel Prizewinner
- City of Slaughter/Schmatta/Beyond the Infinite
- Bar Kokhba
- The Circle Maker
- 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 11
- Lucifer: Book of Angels Volume 10
String Trio
- The Circle Maker
- 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1
- Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2
- Haborym: Book of Angels Volume 16
- Music for Children
- Taboo & Exile
- The Gift
- Hemophiliac
- 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 6
Anniversary
Celebration
- Astaroth
- Azazel
- Malphas
- Orobas
- Balan
- Moloch
- Asmodeus
- Volac
- Xaphan
- Lucifer
- Zaebos
- Stolas
- Mycale
- Ipos
- Baal
- Haborym
- Caym
- Pruflas
- Abraxas
- Tap
- Alastor
- Adramelech
- Aguares
- Moonchild: Songs Without Words
- Astronome
- Six Litanies for Heliogabalus
- The Crucible
- Ipsissimus
- Templars: In Sacred Blood
- The Lost Judgment
- The Dreamers
- O'o
- Ipos: Book of Angels Volume 14
- A Dreamers Christmas
- Pellucidar: A Dreamers Fantabula
- Alhambra Love Songs
- In Search of the Miraculous
- The Goddess – Music for the Ancient of Days
- Simulacrum
- The True Discoveries of Witches and Demons
- Inferno
- The Painted Bird
- 49 Acts Of Unspeakable Depravity In The Abominable Life And Times Of Gilles De Rais
- The Garden Of Earthly Delights
- Baphomet
- Chaos Magick
- Nostradamus: The Death of Satan
Inspirations
- IAO
- Enigmata
- Nova Express
- At the Gates of Paradise
- Nosferatu
- Rimbaud
- A Vision in Blakelight
- The Concealed
- Dreamachines
- Shir Hashirim
- Psychomagia
- On Leaves of Grass
- The Gnostic Preludes
- The Mysteries
- In Lambeth
- In Memory of Nikki Arane with Eugene Chadbourne
- Locus Solus
- Yankees with Derek Bailey & George E. Lewis
- Deadly Weapons with Steve Beresford, Tonie Marshall & David Toop
- Ganryu Island with Sato Michihiro
- The Art of Memory with Fred Frith
- Zohar with Yamantaka Eye
- Nani Nani with Yamantaka Eye
- Harras with Derek Bailey & William Parker
- Euclid's Nightmare with Bobby Previte
- Weird Little Boy with Trey Spruance, Mike Patton, William Winant & Chris Cochrane
- Downtown Lullaby with Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp and Bobby Previte
- Prelapse with Prelapse
- Buck Jam Tonic with Bill Laswell & Tatsuya Nakamura
- Naninani II with Yamantaka Eye
- The Stone: Issue One with Dave Douglas, Rob Burger, Bill Laswell, Mike Patton & Ben Perowsky
- The Stone: Issue Three with Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson
- The Art of Memory II with Fred Frith
- Late Works with Fred Frith
- @ with Thurston Moore
- Sonic Rivers with George E. Lewis & Wadada Leo Smith