John Zorn (born September 2, 1953 in New York City, United States) is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn has hundreds of credits on his albums as a performer or composer. Although his work covers a broad range of musical styles, many of his compositions are from the same song, Zorn is most well-known for his avantgarde, jazz, improvised, and contemporary classical music. Zorn was the leader of the punk-jazz band Naked City and the klezmer-influenced quartet Masada. He also composed the ‘Masada Songbooks, concert music for classical ensembles, as well as music for documentary and film. Zorn stated that he has a very short attention span. My music is jam-packed full of information, which is constantly changing… All styles are organically connected. I am an additive person. My entire knowledge base informs everything I do. People become so focused on the surface that they don’t see the connections. But they are. Zorn released albums on several independent labels in the US and Europe. In 1985, he signed with Elektra Nonesuch. His interpretations of Ennio Moricone’s music received wide acclaim. The album Spillane was released in 1987 and Naked City’s first album in 1989. All of these albums attracted more attention worldwide. Zorn recorded then on the Japanese DIW record label. He also curated Avant’s subsidiary label. In 1995 Zorn founded Tzadik, which has been prolific in releasing many new recordings every year as well as works by many musicians. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
