Naked City - Grand Guignol (1992)

"Grand Guignol is the second full-length studio album released by John Zorn's band Naked City in 1992 on the Japanese Avant label. The album followed Torture Garden which was a compilation of "hardcore miniatures" from Naked City and Grand Guignol. The album notable for the inclusion of cover versions of pieces written by classical composers, the guest vocal of Bob Dorough, and also features a selection of "hardcore miniatures" (tracks 9-41) which are intense, fast, brief compositions, complete with the wailing of Zorn's alto sax, and the sometimes tortured, sometimes hilarious screams of Yamatsuka Eye.
Recorded between 1989 and 1992, released in 1992" [in wiki..]


An intense and extremely well played recording, N_joy it as it was an original soundtrack of a horror performance at old Grand Guignol Theater in Paris ~ Ludwig Vanessa.


1. "Grand Guignol" – 17:41
2. "La Cathédrale Engloutie" – 6:24 (Claude Debussy)
3. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Douloureux, Déchirant" – 1:17 (Alexander Scriabin)
4. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Très Lent, Contemplatif" – 1:43 (Scriabin)
5. "Three Preludes Op. 74: Allegro Drammatico" – 0:49 (Scriabin)
6. "Prophetiae Sybillarum" – 1:46 (Orlande de Lassus)
7. "The Cage" – 2:01 (Charles Ives) - Featuring Bob Dorough
8. "Louange à l'éternité de Jésus" – 7:08 (Olivier Messiaen)
9. "Blood Is Thin" – 1:02
10. "Thrash Jazz Assassin" – 0:47
11. "Dead Spot" – 0:33
12. "Bonehead" – 0:54
13. "Piledriver" – 0:36
14. "Shangkuan Ling-Feng" – 1:16
15. "Numbskull" – 0:31
16. "Perfume of A Critic's Burning Flesh" – 0:26
17. "Jazz Snob: Eat Shit" – 0:26
18. "The Prestidigitator" – 0:46
19. "No Reason To Believe" – 0:28
20. "Hellraiser" – 0:41
21. "Torture Garden" – 0:37
22. "Slan" – 0:24
23. "The Ways of Pain" – 0:33
24. "The Noose" – 0:13
25. "Sack of Shit" – 0:46
26. "Blunt Instrument" – 0:56
27. "Osaka Bondage" – 1:17
28. "Shallow Grave" – 0:42
29. "Kaoru" – 0:53
30. "Dead Dread" – 0:48
31. "Billy Liar" – 0:13
32. "Victims of Torture" – 0:24
33. "Speedfreaks" – 0:50
34. "New Jersey Scum Swamp" – 0:44
35. "S/M Sniper" – 0:17
36. "Pigfucker" – 0:24
37. "Cairo Chop Shop" – 0:25
38. "Facelifter" – 0:57
39. "Whiplash" – 0:22
40. "The Blade" – 0:30
41. "Gob of Spit" – 0:21

Fred Frith - bass
Joey Baron - drums
Bill Frisell - guitar
Wayne Horvitz - keyboards
John Zorn - alto sax, vocals
Yamatsuka Eye - vocals

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John Zorn - New Traditions in East Asian Bar Bands (1997)

1. Hu Die (25:09)
Fred Frith - guitar
Bill Frisell - guitar
Zhang Jinglin - narration
Text - Arto Lindsay
Recorded by Karmer in 1986

2. Hwang Chin-ee (16:41)
Joey Baron - drums
Samm Bennett - drums
Jung Hee Shin - narration
Text - Myung Mi Kim
Recorded by Oz Fritz in 1988

3. Quế Trân (30:46)
Wayne Horvitz - keyboards
Anthony Coleman - keyboards
Ánh Trần - narration
Text - Lyn Hejinian
Recorded by Steve Rosenthal in 1990

Artwork by Kim Su Theiler
Released by Tzadik in 1997

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John Zorn, George Lewis, Bill Frisell - News For Lulu (1988)

"On news for Lulu, Zorn, Lewis and Frisell have arranged the works of Dorham, Mobley, Clark, and Redd... In unleashing his obsession with the hard-bop masterpieces, Zorn shows us that it is possible to make coherent statements without being limited by genre. And by focusing on a narrow bit of musical history - the Blue Note sound of the late '50s - and placing emphasis on the compositions of musicians most often thought of as improvisers, Zorn begins the process of restoring Dorham, Mobley, Clark, and Redd to their rightful positions. Zorn has heard the truth: the hard-bop sessions on Blue Note produced a brilliant combination of contrasting meters, ostinatos, and blues feeling mediated by the sophistication of bebop. They produced an extraordinary variety of emotions, and continue to define small group dynamics to this day.

Without a rhythm section, [the trio] exposes the way the tunes work, making them even more intense, and taking the project immediately out of the constraints of the jazz tradition... The short tunes, reflecting Zorn's current obsession with hardcore, help make this an endlessly listenable record." Peter Watrous

John Zorn - alto sax
George Lewis - trombone
Bill Frisell - guitar

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