Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 01/23/2000, uploaded on 01/23/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Zorn: Carny

From William Duckworth's book Talking Music:

John Zorn once told Option Magazine: "I'm not afraid of styles; I like them all." He also said that he has an extremely short attention span.  Put these two ideas together, and you have a good idea how his music sounds.  To may people, the most startling thing about Zorn's pieces is how fast they crosscut styles, one movement sounding like jazz; the next, noise; and thirty seconds later like twelve-tone, honky-tonk, Bartók, or perhaps the blues.  Zorn's music--whether his own, or his arrangements in tribute to other people--is a crazy-quilt collection of sounds, held together more by form and structure than by content."

Zorn was born and raised in New York city.  During his youth, he cultivated an enthusiasm for film, television (especially cartoons) and recorded music of every kind which would become inextricably linked to his composition and saxophone playing.  After studies with Leonardo Balada, Zorn attended Webster college in St. Louis.  Zorn's brief stint in the midwest exposed him to jazz musicians such as the Black Artists Group and Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.  Upon returning to New York, he became associated with variously radical and diverse musicians, creating a unique style of highly structured improvised music.  Zorn became an overnight sensation in the mid-eighties with several recordings on the Elektra Nonesuch label.

Carny, a "concert" (non-improvised) work, is a typical example of the "crazy-quilt collection of sounds" mentioned by Duckworth.  It begins with a "hammering" theme in the highest register of the piano followed by a soft, upward octatonic scale, followed by loud, "jumpy" chords.  The ensuing material consists of snippets of varying styles of music, from Beethoven and Stockhausen to Boogie-woogie, "lounge" piano, and New Orleans funk.  While seemingly random, the parts add up to a very convincing whole.  Carny is dedicated to Stephen Drury, to whom I am grateful for giving me several valuable coachings on the piece.