JOHN ZORN 'S MASADA CELEBRATION!
Sunday, Sept. 10 at 8pm

92nd Street Y (Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, NYC,NY)

Opening Concert: An Evening with John Zorn and the Book of Angels

This year's New York Jewish Music & Heritage Festival line-up is
becoming overwhelming with so many tremendous shows. The opening night of the
Festival is a very special evening of John Zorn and the Book of Angels
featuring an unprecedented combination of 4 different configurations of
Masada on the stage at the 92nd Street Y.

Masada Quartet with John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen and Joey Baron

Electric Masada with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Ikue Mori,
Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron, Kenny Wollesen and Cyro Baptista.

Masada String Trio with Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander and Greg Cohen

Kol Nidre featuring the Masada String Orchestra conducted by John Zorn

A remarkable and special evening that is sure to sell-out in advance -
so buy your tickets now! Tickets are $118, $75, $45, and $25.

Website info at www.oyhoo.com/festival2006/zorn.html

"This amazing concert celebrates the 13th anniversary of John
Zorn's Book of Masada songs and the wonderful bands that perform them. Who
knew that when John Zorn unveiled his band Masada, the acoustic quartet
version, at the old Knitting Factory, during his 40th Birthday
celebration in September of 1993, that they would go on to become one of the
greatest, most popular, most loved and most enduring of all jazz/klez
bands of all time?!? The original quartet continues to feature these four
strong spirits: John Zorn (alto sax), Dave Douglas (trumpet), Greg
Cohen (contrabass) and Joey Baron (drums). After releasing 10 studio CDs
and 7 live CDs, they broke as far as being a recording band. They play in
New York on rare occasion and when they do play it is mostly at big
jazz festivals in Europe and Canada. Their recent performance at the
Montreal Jazz Festival was considered astonishing by many and might just be
released on CD. Zorn mentioned that he is planning to record their
first new studio disc in more than a decade.

The original Masada songbook included about 200 songs, only half
of which have been recorded by the original quartet. A couple of years
back, Mr. Zorn had an explosion of inspiration and composed another
300+ Masada songs for his second big book, The Book of Angels. So far five
volumes of Masada Book Two CDs have been released on Tzadik, with more
to come. Each one features a different group playing these songs. There
has been a number Masada cover compilations on Tzadik as well.

Now existing parallel to the original quartet is Mr. Zorn's
Electric Masada, which has always included his favorite guitar
collaborator Marc Ribot with an evolving personnel of luminaries that now includes
Ikue Mori, as well as two other longtime musical partners on drum kits,
Kenny Wollesen AND Joey Baron. The current version of Electric Masada
is sensational, certainly one of the greatest jazz/rock bands ever. Both
of their Tzadik CDs are highly acclaimed and everyone who has seen them
live knows how powerful can be! Electric Masada shows are also quite
rare, just playing on New Years in NY and at a few festivals worldwide.

The Masada String Trio feature Mark Feldman on violin, Erik
Friedlander on cello and Greg Cohen on contrabass. They are also one of the
beloved on Zorn's many bands and their performances are often stunning.
Their versions of Masada songs are completely different that any other
versions of the same songs.
"Kol Nidre" is one of the heart-achingly beautiful songs that
Zorn has written and folks have been known to weep when it is heard live.
It was played in the background for the memorial of the victims of
September 11th, during the radio broadcast when the names of fallen were
read aloud. For this version of "Kol Nidre", Zorn has put together a
special Masada String Orchestra to play this gem.
This is a concert not to be missed, so plan your vacations
accordingly." - BLG