Sam Eastmond — John Zorn's Bagatelles Vol. 16

Avant-garde jazz composer John Zorn continues his ongoing series "The Bagatelles", in which different ensembles play interpretations of pieces chosen from a book of 300 total compositions, the "Book of Bagatelles".  Despite being a Zorn fan, this 16th volume is my introduction to the series.  For this recording, the arrangements are handled by Sam Eastmond and his ensemble of twelve total players, resulting in a fuller, denser sound than is heard on most recordings to Zorn's name.  With eight tracks with running time between seven and eleven minutes in length, this is an epic affair.

Despite the large number of Zorn recordings, it is somewhat rare to hear his music played with a straight face and sincere emotional effect, as he is known for being a troll and subverting expectations.  Some of his greatest albums have a strangely cold, inhuman effect, almost murderous in nature, such as Naked City's "Absinthe".  As such, it's interesting and satisfying to hear Zorn's music played without Zorn himself present, in what I would describe as a more grounded fashion, absent such a veneer of disconnection.

Of all Zorn projects, the musical content of these pieces is perhaps most similar to Masada and his various odes to Morricone and film noir soundtracks, generally lacking the abruptness and absurdity of Naked City, and focusing on quasi-dissonant yet harmonically intelligent melodic material indebted to 60's and 70's hard bop jazz.  Though they hint and some of the same klezmer-derived tonalities, these pieces lack the repetitive melodic structure typically found in Masada, often engaging in meandering shifts throughout the long nine-ten minute durations without ever returning to a central chorus line.  The surf elements are significantly reduced compared to many Zorn-related projects, seemingly not an influence for Eastmond's group.

Chris Williams' alto saxophone takes the lead role, filling the spot typically taken by Zorn himself within the music of Masada, dazzling with rapid-fire melodic runs and solos, punctuated with just a hint of emphatic 'squawk'.  Filling Zorn's shoes is not easy, but he does it admirably, opting never to shriek or squeal as aggressively as Zorn often does.  The trumpet and piano take the lead at times as well.  The drumming is closer to progressive rock in style than traditional jazz, generally settling into halftime grooves.  Comparisons to Magma are apt, a group which began as fusion jazz and became of form of densely orchestrated rock without ever simplifying their style, focusing on melodic material that was often difficult to understand, with a kind of esoteric mood.

Rather than 'free jazz', a term which would do injustice to the mindblowing level of organization found in this ensemble, I propose this is the kind of 'out' jazz performed by Charles Mingus or Eric Dolphy, in which the blues scales at the heart of jazz still provide a foundational platform from which to build on, and yet all of the other strange and sickly nocturnal colors and haunted intervals have been fashioned into the structure as well, each placed in perfect poetic harmony with the most logical parts.  Particularly, Mingus' "Let my Children Hear Music"  comes to mind, with its raucous larger ensemble.  It similarly explored highly structured modern classical realms of composition.

Eastmond's contributions are not slight, as presumably, as the arranger, he is responsible for the dense and odd harmony found on the whole album, as well as the filmic drama and scale of the instrumental interplay.  Rarely, if ever, have I heard Zorn music sounding so rich and lively, and bursting with agile power, which says a lot considering his musicians have always been world-class.

The soundtrack to a classic noir movie that never was, "Bagatelles Vol. 16" is filled to the brim with challenging yet tuneful genius level jazz.  It is the deeply satisfying combination of Sam Eastmond's cinematic dynamism and timbral fullness with Zorn's tonal oddness and out-of-the-box approach.  The charisma and poise of the entire ensemble truly animates these compositions into a vivid spectacle.