Zorn, John
Zorn, John
Zorn, John, innovative American composer and instrumentalist; b. N.Y., Sept. 2,1953. After a brief college “stint” in St. Louis and world travels, he became an active contributor to the downtown music scene in N.Y.; performed with various avant-garde and rock musicians, including pianist Wayne Horvitz, drummer David Moss, and the Kronos Quartet. His The Big Gundown (1986) uses the music of film composer Ennio Morricone (b. 1928) as material to be freely distorted and reworked. His major works include Archery (1981), Cobra (group improvisation; 1986), A Classic Guide to Strategy, Vol. I (solo with tape), News for Lulu for Trio (1987), and Spillane (1988). He also composed Roadrun-ner for Accordion (1986), Cat O’Nine Tails for String Quartet (1988), and, For Your Eyes Only for Orch. (1989; rev. version, N.Y., Oct. 14, 1994), and The Deadman for String Quartet (1990). He plays saxophone, keyboards, duck calls, and other semi-demi-musical instruments in dense, loud aural canvases that have been compared to the works of Jackson Pollock (and also to an elephant trapped in barbed wire).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire