Ganryu Island (1984)
Improvisation between Zorn and Sato Michihiro.

The Big Gundown (1985, updated version in 2000)
Zorn rearranges the music of Ennio Morricone. And it is good.

Spillane (1987)
Musical tribute to Mickey Spillane's books, plus two more songs.

Spy vs. Spy (1989)
Hardcore jazz-punk versions of Ornette Coleman's songs. Very loud.

Elegy (1991)
Tribute to Jean Genet. Creepy and beautiful.

Kristallnacht (1993)
The story of Jews in the middle of the 20th century, told in music.

Nani Nani (1995)
Zorn and Yamatsuka Eye.

First Recordings (1995)
Experimental music from a wee lad.

Classic Guide to Strategy (1996)
Zorn on duck calls.

New Traditions in East Asian Bar Bands (1997)
An Asian version of beat poetry.

The Bribe (1998)
The soundtrack for an imaginary noir movie. My favorite.

Music for Children (1998)
Very strange album. Covers a lot of musical styles.

Godard/Spillane (1999)
Re-issue of Spillane with a musical tribute to Godard added.

Taboo & Exile (1999)
String trios, tiki music, and a whole lotta heavy art-rock.

The Gift (2001)
Easy-listening world music. Fun and sometimes hypnotic.

I.A.O. (2002)
Devil music. Sexy and spooky.

Number One: Alef (1994)
Zorn blends free jazz with klezmer.

Number Two: Beit (1995)
More free jazz and klezmer, recorded on the same day as the first album.

Number Three: Gimel (1995)
Everyone's favorite of the original ten Masada albums.

Number Four: Dalet (1995)
A 3-song EP. Pretty damn good, too.

Number Five: Hei (1995)
More crazy solos and Jewish scales.

Number Six: Vav (1996)
More klezmer jazz.

Bar Kokhba (1996)
The first "new arrangement" album. Two CDs of great music.

Number Seven: Zayin (1998)
More klezmer jazz.

Number Eight: Het (1998)
A change of pace? No! More klezmer free jazz.

The Circle Maker (1998)
Two discs of new arrangements. Less diverse than Bar Kokhba, but better.

Number Nine: Tet (1998)
One of the last and one of the best of the original ten studio albums.

Number Ten: Yod (1998)
The final Masada studio album. More of the same. Pretty good, too.

Live in Jerusalem (1999)
Two CDs of bad music. Seriously.

Live in Middelheim (1999)
A single-disc live album. Not bad.

Live in Taipei (1999)
I haven't heard this album yet.

Live in Sevilla (2000)
A single disc, packed with music. Not as crazy than the other live albums.

Live at Tonic (2001)
Two CDs. Everyone's favorite live Masada.

First Live 1993 (2002)
Recorded before the ten studio albums.

Masada Guitars (2003)
Three guitarists play Masada songs (Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Tim Sparks).

Voices in the Wilderness (2003)
A double-disc new arrangement album. Over 80 musicians involved.

The Unknown Masada (2003)
Creative arrangements of previously-unheard Masada songs..

Masada String Trio Live (2004)
The first 50th birthday album..

Electric Masada (2004)
One of the best Masada albums.

Naked City (1989)
Soundtrack music, insane hardcore, jazz, and everything in between.

Black Box (1989, 1990)
Contains two albums, Torture Garden and Leng Tch'e. Intense and evil.

Grand Guignol (1992)
A wide range of musical styles, but it's all aggressive. A great album.

Heretic (1992)
The band members in pairs and trios making noise. Not that good.

Radio (1993)
Naked City covers every musical style in quick jump-cuts.

Absinthe (1993)
The ambient album. Very spooky and creative. One of their best CDs.

Naked City Live #1 — At the Knitting Factory (2002)
A live version of the self-titled debut. No Eye on this one.

Filmworks 1: 1986-1990 (1992)
Music for three low-budget films.

Filmworks 2: For An Untitled Film by Walter Hill (1996)
Didjeridu sounds and abstract chase music. Somehow, it works.

Filmworks 3: 1990-1995 (1997)
TV commercials and the first recorded work by Masada. A boring album.

Filmworks 4: S/M and More (1997)
Each track is from a different low-budget video or film. Strange but good.

Filmworks 5: Tears of Ecstasy (1996)
48 one-minute songs, mostly on guitar and percussion.

Filmworks 6 (1996)
Music for three film projects. Like Filmworks 4, this is weird but it works.

Filmworks 7: The Cynical Hysterie Hour (1997)
Short pieces for a Japanese cartoon TV show.

Filmworks 8 (1998)
Music for a documentary and an erotic film. A great album.

Filmworks 9: Trembling Before G-d (2000)
A klezmer soundtrack for a documentary. Lots of clarinet. Classy and dull.

Filmworks 10: In the Mirror of Maya Deren (2001)
Beautiful minimalist music, mostly keyboards and cello.

Filmworks 11: Secret Lives (2002)
The Masada string trio plays atmospheric and tense music for a documentary.

Filmworks 12: Three Documentaries (2002)
Diverse, but it doesn't come together.

Filmworks 13: Invitation to a Suicide (2002)
The soundtrack to an independent film. One of Zorn's best albums.

Filmworks 14: Hiding and Seeking (2003)
Jewish-tinged lounge music for a documentary.

Locus Solus (1983)
Improvised hard-core jazz/rock. Very weird and fun.

Cobra (1985)
One of the earliest Cobra albums. Very complex improvisation.

Cobra Live at the Knitting Factory (1992)
I haven't heard this album yet.

Cobra: Tokyo Operations (1994)
A Japanese version of Cobra. Fast and fun and chaotic.

Lacrosse (1997)
An early game piece, recorded in the late 1970s. Not good.

Archery (1997)
I haven't heard this album yet.

Pool (1997)
I haven't heard this album yet.

Hockey (1997)
I have heard this album, but I have no idea what to make of it.

Xu Feng (2000)
Great heavy metal improvisation.

Cobra (2002)
Lots of musicians on this version of Cobra. Slick and annoying.

Locus Solus live (2004)
Live improvisation from the 2003 Zornfest.

The Book of Heads (1995)
35 one-minute excursions on guitar, played by Marc Ribot.

Redbird (1995)
Solo bass drums, then a 40-minute Morton Feldman-like song.

Duras, Duchamp (1997)
Beautiful tribute to Duras, plus a track of "percussion" on household objects.

Aporias (1998)
Complex piece for small orchestra. Hard to get into, but interesting.

Angelus Novus (1999)
Cartoon music and atmospheric movements for wind instruments.

The String Quartets (1999)
Cat o' Nine Tails, The Dead Man, Memento Mori, and Kol Nidre.

Cartoon S/M (2000)
A double-disc album of classical music. Cartoon themes and S/M music.

Madness, Love and Mysticism (2001)
Three songs for piano, violin, and cello. Cinematic and intense.

Songs from the Hermetic Theater (2001)
Computer-generated static, then Zorn smacks household objects together.

Chimeras (2003)
Twelve short movements for voice and small orchestra. Similar to Aporias?

Voodoo (1985)
By the Sonny Clark Memorial Quintet.

News for Lulu (1989)
Zorn, George Lewis, and Bill Frisell.

More News for Lulu (1989)
Like News for Lulu, but all live.

Guts of a Virgin (1991)
Loud, noisy, shrill, crazed hardcore: Bill Laswell, Zorn, Mick Harris.

Buried Secrets (1991)
Like Guts of a Virgin, but more intense.

Yankees (1992)
Derek Bailey, George Lewis, and Zorn improvise.

Execution Ground (1994)
Noise mixed with ambient.

Live in Osaka (1994)
Available in the Collected Works box set. Boring.

Zohar (1995)
Mystic Fugu Orchestra (Zorn and Yamatsuka Eye.)

Harras (1996)
William Parker, John Zorn, and Derek Bailey.

Downtown Lullaby (1997)
Improvisations by Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Elliott Sharp, and Bobby Previte.

Art of Memory (1999)
Fred Frith and Zorn improvise.

Talisman: Painkiller Live (2002)
Live in Nagoya in 1994.

Hemophiliac (2002)
Limited edition. Zorn, Mike Patton, and Ikue Mori.

Milford Graves and John Zorn (2004)
Live improvisation from the 2003 Zornfest.