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Adelaide Festival Review: Zorn in Oz: Zorn@60

By Gordon Forester

Posted on March 15, 2014

John Zorn and friends delivered everything from A(SO) to Z(orn) over four mammoth and unforgettable shows, cultimating in this final show, Zorn@60.

Presented by Adelaide Festival
Reviewed 14 March 2014

Song Project opened the final show of the four-night John Zorn extravaganza, with the vocals of Mike Patton, Jesse Harris, and Sofia Rei set against Zorn’s sextet. The extraordinary Patton opened with an exuberant Batman and, like night to day, the sparkling Rei contrasted with the beautiful Besos de Sangre, complimented by the magic of Marc Ribot’s acoustic guitar and Kenny Wollesen’s vibes.

John Medeski’s flawless piano introduced the superb Jesse Harris for Tamalpais, following which various combinations of the singers delivered diverse and spellbinding songs from Zorn’s tomes. Highlights include Harris and Rei performing the wonderful Towards Kafiristan and Patton delivering the enjoyable slap-in-the-face that is Osaka Bondage. Referencing the latter, Zorn explained, “that’s where my mind was at in 1988”, to which someone yelled “works for me!”, and to which Zorn replied “it’s still working for me!” Patton then sang Of Wonder and Certainty, a poignant tribute dedicated to Zorn’s friend, the late Lou Reed, and closed the set with the mighty Assassins’s Bay (Dostoevsky).

Next, Illuminations saw Stephen Gosling, Trevor Dunn, and Wollesen deliver a master class in free-form jazz, delighting the hard-core jazz fans.

The Holy Visions followed, with dazzling a Capella vocalists, sopranos Lisa Bielawa, Mellissa Hughes, Jane Sheldon, mezzo Abby Fischer, and contralto Kirsten Sollek. The quintet delivered a stunning performance of the extraordinary Zorn composition, concerning the life, work and philosophy of Hildegard von Bingen. The Holy Visions, a “mystery play in eleven strophes”, was performed flawlessly to an audience captivated.

Last seen at Zorn’s Classical Marathon, the Elision Ensemble returned as violinists Graeme Jennings and Elizabeth Welsh, cellist Judith Hamann, and violist Erkki Veltheim, to deliver an exceptional The Alchemist.

Patton, Medeski, Dunn and drummer Joey Baron performing as Moonchild, opened with Templi Secretum. Baron, never one to let a mere technical hitch stop the show, drummed stick-less with only his hands, until Wollesen ran on stage to save the day by delivering some mallets. Dramatics aside, nothing detracted from the awesome set, which received a standing ovation.

The Dreamers returned for a smashing set before Electric Masada took to the stage for the last time. Shout out to the dude who yelled to Zorn “it must be saxophone time” and got ‘the bird’ (surreptitiously) for his troubles. Zorn, the master controller announced later, “now it’s saxophone time.” With Zorn back on alto saxophone, the group finished spectacularly with Idalah-Abal; the second performance this series not wearing out any of its massive appeal.

Thank you John Zorn and friends for delivering everything from A(SO) to Z(orn) over four mammoth and unforgettable shows.

Reviewed by Gordon Forester

Venue: Adelaide Festival Centre
Season: 11-14 March 2014
Duration: 4 ½ hours
Tickets: $30 – $450