With Carl Stalling and Ennio Morricone as major influences, John Zorn's music has always had a cinematic quality. Stalling's cartoon themes inspired him to work in blocks — brief musical passages that can be laid out in sequence, mixed up, and repeated.

Morricone's career is a blueprint for an ambitious composer: He's written music for every kind of movie, his soundtracks are complete albums, and he can work with small ensembles. (He doesn't need an orchestra.)

So when Zorn was hired to make a few soundtracks for low-budget movies, he was ready. He had the right composition method, the musicians, and the determination to do something special for every project.

He also had a record company to release the music. Without Tzadik, nearly all of this music would go unheard by Zorn fans. Independent filmmakers can't release this stuff on their own. At a major label, it would go out of print overnight. Somehow, he has been able to cut a deal with every producer — they use the music in their films, but he gets to release the soundtrack himself. The result is an unusual set of albums: music for dozens of films you'll probably never see.

Zorn: The most important thing for me in doing soundtrack work is creative freedom. I'd rather not do the project than have to do what a director wants, and I couldn't care less about the money (relatively speaking that is).

Knowing that I can retain all rights and eventually release the recording on one of my filmworks compilations gives me a certain amount of economic security and independence that many young filmmakers love since they usually don't have any money left for scoring music at the end of their production anyway.

Filmworks V: Tears of Ecstasy

recorded October 1, 1995
released November 1996

In 1995, John Zorn recorded this soundtrack for an erotic film by Japanese director Oki Hiroyuki. The album is a collection of 48 one-minute songs. Most of the songs are a combination of guitar and percussion, played by Marc Ribot and Cyro Baptista.

This album is usually described as a collection of different genres — the musicians play a one-minute jazz song, then a one-minute rock song, then one minute of synthesizer music, then one minute of ambient, etc., etc.

But that's not quite right. Zorn created his own genres of music for this album. You might hear some familiar styles, but (for the most part) he's created all kinds of weird and subtle hybrids of drone music, eerie feedback, minimalist jazz, and sound effects. None of the songs develop in any substantial way — they start and end with the same sound.

After listening to Tears of Ecstasy over and over, I figured out that some of the songs are repeated. Zorn seems to have recorded half a dozen two-minute songs which he then cut in half. He scattered them around in the CD sequence to keep the different halves far apart. You can't figure it out until you listen to the album on random and you accidentally hear the same song twice.

(If you buy this CD and you want to find the duplicated tracks, I've written a list of all 48 songs on the footnotes page, grouped by their genre. If you don't own the CD, the list is extremely useless.)

About two-thirds of this album is good. A few of the abstract songs are a little dull, and there are five tracks of high-pitched squealing that are easy to skip. At one minute, you can get through them — except for Mean Difference, a two-minute track composed of nothing more than a continuous, high-pitched tone. You'd think that if Zorn was going break the one-minute rule, it would be for something worthwhile. But Mean Difference is a big chunk of filler.

Filmworks VI

recorded March and July 1996
released November 19, 1996

    Anton, Mailman, directed by Dina Waxman
    Mechanics of the Brain, by Henry Hills
    The Black Glove, an S/M film by Maria Beatty

The four Anton, Mailman tracks are low-key, easy-listening tunes. Marc Ribot plays "twangy" guitar over a bouncing rhythm section. Stills from the film appear in the CD booklet. They show a balding mailman and a woman in her apartment. I don't know what the story is, but it looks a little creepy. Those images make the music more atmospheric.

The ten tracks for Mechanics of the Brain are all over the place. There's pure noise (Brain Scan), ambient droning (Witches' Cauldron), twangy guitar over complex drum machine percussion (Houdini and Surgery Montage), gurgling and howling over a metronome (Pendulum), and lots of improvised violin and cello.

The last two tracks (for The Black Glove) are all sound effects. The first, a 20-minute piece called Hot, combines sounds for striking matches, a flame-thrower, crackling flame, and sizzling. The second is Cool: 8 minutes of ice breaking, water, and chilled wind.

With Mechanics of the Brain in the middle, the CD steadily progresses from music to sound effects. This seems to match the content of the short films, from an off-beat story about a mailman to S/M erotica.

For some reason, this album never gets old. Maybe I like it so much because it was one of my first Zorn albums. But there's more to it than that. This album has a weird effect on you when you look through the CD booklet as you listen. The pictures and the music combine, giving you all kinds of ideas about what's happening in the short films. Maybe it's better to imagine these three movies than to actually see them.

Filmworks VII: Cynical Hysterie Hour

recorded 1988 and 1989
released 1990
re-issued 1997

In 1988 and 1989, John Zorn recorded this music for four episodes of The Cynical Hysterie Hour, an animated TV show in Japan. The show is written and drawn by Kiriko Kubo.

It was released in 1990 by CBS Sony, but it was out of print six months later. In 1996, when Sony needed to use the Knitting Factory for a private party on a night that Zorn had already reserved, he struck a deal — he'd give them their night if they gave him the rights to this music. He got it.

The music on this album is colorful and fun. A long list of instruments are used, but Bill Frisell's banjo stands out. I'm glad I bought this one, but it's not something I listen to for pleasure. The brief running time and the total disconnection from the cartoons makes it a little bit impersonal.

On the other hand, few Zorn albums benefit more from context: If you have no idea what these tracks were written for, you might be annoyed or confused. Once you find out this is the soundtrack for an animated TV show, it all makes sense.

Filmworks VIII

recorded July and November 1997
released 1998

"The Port of Last Resort is a remarkable documentary about the Jewish refugees who emigrated to Shanghai from Nazi Germany in the 1930s" (according to the CD booklet). The first eleven tracks come from this film. One of them, Ruan, appears in three different versions — one for guitar, one for solo piano, and the third for pipa.

The other ten tracks come from an erotic film called Latin Boys Go to Hell. "The story behind the making of this music is a long, twisted and painful one," Zorn says. He saw the film and decided to do an all-percussion score. This idea was rejected by the filmmaker, so Zorn dropped the project. A month later, he found out no one had written the score, so he said "If you still want me to do the music, I will deliver the percussion score on one condition: that no one contact me until it is completely recorded." With Cyro Baptista and Kenny Wollesen, he completed the tracks. But "the score was barely used in the final cut."

So let this be a lesson to you kids. If you're going to make a porno soundtrack, just get out your wah-wah pedal. Don't be artsy-fartsy like John Zorn.

Every track on this album is great. The Port of Last Resort songs sound like anything from Bar Kokhba. They are spare, disciplined, and usually very quiet. Zorn's compositions combine Jewish folk music with Asian instruments — the perfect musical complement to the documentary.

The percussion tracks at the end are just as good. Instead of rock drums or tribal rhythms, the two musicians play a series of melodies on vibes and bongos. The melodies are decorated with rhythmic breathing, handclaps, deep bass drums, and a rattlesnake or two.

Filmworks IX: Trembling Before G-d

recorded 2000?
released December 2000

Trembling Before G-d is a feature-length documentary about Hasidim and Orthodox Jews who "come out" as gays and lesbians and the ways in which they negotiate their sexuality and identity in religious communities. It was shot over five years in Israel, Brooklyn, London, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco.

The music needed to stem from Orthodox and Hasidic life. It needed to breathe across a range of styles and emotion — often from a lonely, barren place; sometimes from a table-banging, exuberant, G-d intoxicated one.

This is one of John Zorn's most sympathetic, heartfelt soundtracks. It's a minimalist album that employs one musical theme and two musicians (Chris Speed on clarinet and Jamie Saft on organ). Zorn makes the most of it, building up and breaking down the central melody, getting the two players to improvise, and changing the tempo to make each track unique.

The repeated musical theme unifies the album. The end result will please everyone except the hard-core Zorn fans, who will get a little bored halfway through. Personally, I love this soundtrack. It is boring, but that's okay.

Three tracks add other musicians. The first (track #6) is a joke: Zorn himself yelping "Mazel Tov!" over a drum machine and bouncy clarinet melody. The other two tracks feature Cyro Baptista on percussion. On Desert Montage, he changes the mood with hypnotic drums and chimes. On End Titles, he adds loud handclaps.

Filmworks X: In the Mirror of Maya Deren

recorded 2001?
released August 2001

Like all of the best albums in the Filmworks series, these songs are complete instrumentals. With or without the context, the music is very satisfying.

Zorn's soundtrack work tends to be smoother than the rest of his music, with an emphasis on sustained sounds. Few Filmworks tracks are jarring like Naked City, or take off in wild solo flights like Masada. On his soundtracks, he creates audible moods.

This is easy to explain when you look at the song titles on this album. Drifting, Dancing, and Filming are creative interpretations of each of these activities. It's as if Zorn came up with the titles first, then filled in the appropriate music.

There are fifteen tracks, but only nine songs. The songs on the second half of the album are new arrangements of the songs on the first half. If you listen to them in sequence, you'll hear familiar musical themes, each stripped down a little or augmented for a slightly different effect. Haiti, for example, is an update of Dancing. On Dancing, Jamie Saft plays a simple melody on an organ over a repetitive rhythm. On Haiti, the organ is replaced by Cyro Baptista playing percussion.

The music is steady and atmospheric. The only track that will bother your grandmother is Voudoun, a three-and-a-half minute exercise in tribal rhythm. It's recorded a little bit louder than the rest of the album.

Filmworks 11: Secret Lives

recorded 2002 ?
released July 2002

Aviva Slesin: Our film is about the rescue of Jewish children by non-Jews during the Second World War. We focus on children who were hidden without their parents, and rescuers who took them into their homes without payment and always at great risk to themselves and their own families. These rescuers were rare, but existed in every country under German occupation.

John's music felt right from the moment we heard it because it's rooted in his own Jewish identity, but ranges far and free beyond that. We imagined a lot of piano, thinking of all the lost children and the piano lessons they would never have. But John didn't take an intellectual approach. he heard strings in his mind's ear. They were warmer than percussion and had a yearning quality that felt right to him.

Our creative sessions with John were always short and spirited. They left us excited at the prospects, but just a little nervous. We knew he was brilliant, but also fiercely independent and true to his vision. In the end, it was a joyful collaboration.

This is one of John Zorn's few easy-listening albums. There is no chaotic improvisation, no noisy songs, and no sound effects. Every song is a beautiful piece of modern klezmer, played on violin, cello, and bass. On one track, Armistice Swing, Jamie Saft plays piano. Vanessa Saft adds vocals to two tracks, as well.

Filmworks 12: Three Documentaries

recorded 2002 ?
released August 2002

ZORN: For over twenty years, PS 122 has been an important East Village venue, and they've been supportive and enthusiastic about my work from the very beginning. For the soundtrack, I decided to create a wide variety of moods, textures, and rhythmic feels appropriate for dance. Three of them function almost like a set of etudes on early minimalism, a music I absorbed and even mimicked when I was a teenager in the late sixties/early seventies.

The six tracks are played by piano, organ, glass harmonica, and violin — except the first track, which is a wash of layered vocal harmonies. In an unusual twist, Zorn performs most of the music himself.

The second documentary is Shaolin Ulysses, directed by Mei-juin Chen and Martha Burr. It tells the story of Shaolin monks now living and teaching in the United States.

ZORN: My feelings were that the film would be best served if the music enhanced not what was already on the screen, but what was behind it — the emotions the monks felt as they were thrown into what was for them very alien environments.

To capture their very special spirit I kept the instrumentation very intimate, interweaving Min Xiao-fen's pipa with Marc Ribot's acoustic guitar. One of the big blasts was hearing these two master musicians going at it head to head. The end result was more successful that I could have imagined, blending two very different cultures in a remarkably organic whole.

Filmworks 13: Invitation to a Suicide

recorded June 2002
released September 2002

Invitation to a Suicide is an independent film written, directed, and produced by Loren Marsh. "In the tradition of absurdist black comedies like Fargo and Harold and Maude," it tells the story of Kaz Malek, a young guy who tries to tries to steal money from a mobster. He screws up and ends up owing the mobster $100,000. If he doesn't pay it back, his father will be killed.

Kaz comes up with a plan so crazy, it has to work (or entertain an audience as it backfires). He decides to sell tickets to his own suicide to raise the money to save his dad.

Zorn was hired to write the soundtrack. Loren Marsh wanted the music before editing began so he could cut the film to the score (instead fitting the score into a completed edit). Zorn was uncomfortable at first because the music didn't seem to go with the tone of the movie. But in the end, it worked as a counterpoint to the imagery — the Polish immigrant part of Brooklyn set to elegant, atmospheric jazz.

The result is one of John Zorn's best albums. After releasing over 80 albums since the early 1980s, you'd think his best work was behind him. But he's still perfecting his soundtrack style. On this CD, he re-arranges a handful of songs so carefully, you can't hear the repetition. Only after listening to the album over and over do you realize that he's taken the melody of a song, re-written it for a different instrument, changed the tempo, and given it a different name. This repetition pulls the songs closer together, making the album feel like a single piece of music.

ZORN: Conducting this music I experienced a special exhilaration reserved for what some might call "pivotal" moments. There have been quite a few in my life — finishing Lacrosse (one of my first game pieces) — the long week recording Spillane — writing the first hardcore piece for Naked City — in the studio with Kristallnacht — the first Masada concert — composing my violin concerto Contes de Fees.

These beautiful moments seem magical, perhaps divinely inspired. When we left the studio that night, everyone knew that something very special had happened. This music is not only one of my best film scores, it was one of those "moments."

Filmworks 14: Hiding and Seeking

recorded April 2003
released July 2003

If you're a big John Zorn fan, you can get jaded. You're used to buying his latest CD and hearing something that's unique, fast, crazy, and experimental. When Hiding and Seeking came out, I said, "Is that it? Is that all?"

The album is "only" beautiful, with a perfect blend of Jewish melodies and carefully-paced arrangements. Using four of his most reliable musicians (Marc Ribot, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, and Cyro Baptista), Zorn has created another soundtrack in the vein of Filmworks 13 — these songs stand up on their own, without any obvious reference to the documentary for which they were written.

There are eight songs. Four of them we re-recorded with vocals added. As you listen, each of these light, klezmer-influenced songs builds and connects with the rest of the album. The band plays perfectly, drawing each melody together using the same tempo. It feels like a single piece of music.

This album isn't part of the Radical Jewish Culture series, but it might as well be. The songs fit the experimental theme of the series, reworking traditional Jewish scales into new arrangements, combining an old style with a modern sensibility. The old style has a feeling of introspection and ceremony to it, but the modern method of playing is irreverent and slick. The only real drawback to this album is the fact that the musicians never cut loose and explore the songs recklessly.