Is it me or this list is less and less of a Zorn list? (But hey, I'm playing the game to) Do people still buy Zorn cd's out there? I have seen so little comments on his latest filmworks releases for example. Does anyone know if the guy is selling less and less cds? In this case, I think it would have more to do with the high quantity of releases than because we copy is cds. No?
It seems to me that even in the short time I've been on the list--3 years--there has been a marked decrease in zorn talk. This could be attributed to the "we've exhausted everything worthy of discussion" syndrome, but there seems to be growing discontentment with Zorn's present output. This goes far beyond complaints about volume. There probably have been enough Masada releases and people have become frustrated by their continued release. I really dig Invitation to a Suicide, btw. Though departures from that (notably Hermetic Theatre and IAO) have generated little interest; panned as not being "radical enough." I don't know if Zorn's fans are ready for his mature artist period where we see him honing his music relentlessly and documenting it with the same intensity. We should be lucky to have him documenting everything, even the missteps. It's tantamount to us enjoying the countless Coltrane or Miles live recordings that are very much the same tunes with not even different instrumentation. The release that stirred up the most excitement recently was the Naked City live album, which is interesting in that it is far from radical (at least to our ears). I'll end this with questions: Where do list members want Zorn to go? What should he be doing to stay relevant? What could top or expand upon his previous achievements? Do list members really seek radical music or do they just not want more Masada (ie they would be content with the man returning to Naked City and Painkiller type work)? Zach