Biography
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as a performer, composer, and producer across genres such as jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. His compositions blend diverse styles, which he classifies as avant-garde or experimental. Down Beat has called him "one of our most important composers."
Emerging from the New York City downtown music scene in the mid-1970s, Zorn collaborated with a wide range of musicians and pioneered experimental composition techniques. After releasing albums on various independent US and European labels, he signed with Elektra Nonesuch and gained widespread recognition with The Big Gundown, an album reinterpreting Ennio Morricone's works. He drew further international attention with Spillane in 1987 and Naked City in 1990. Following nearly a decade of traveling between Japan and the US, he settled permanently in New York and founded his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s.
Tzadik allowed Zorn to operate independently from the mainstream music industry, ensuring his expanding catalog remained accessible while enabling him to record and release numerous new albums annually, as well as support the work of many other artists. Zorn has led hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the jazz quartet Masada inspired by Jewish music, and composed 613 pieces as part of three Masada songbooks performed by various groups. He has also created concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced compositions for opera, sound installations, film, and documentaries. Zorn has toured extensively across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, frequently appearing at festivals alongside numerous musicians and ensembles performing his broad range of work.
