“A Vision in Blakelight” is also part of series of
the 21st century mystical works, this one apparently inspired by the
works and ideas of the British poet William Blake - and there are obvious
similarities between him and Zorn. Until today Blake is admired for
his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical
undercurrents within his work - something that could easily be said about Zorn
as well. Although both are apparently interested in
spirituality they have been skeptical to any form of organized religion. For
Blake the artist – not the priest - was the actual connection to God. As to their art both are hard to classify.
On this album Zorn juxtaposes the Nova Express quartet – which is John
Medeski (p), Kenny Wollesen (vib), Trevor Dunn (b), Joey Baron (dr) - to Carol
Emanuel on harp, Cyro Baptista on percussion and the British actor Jack Huston reading
from Blake’s works.
The pieces are short compared to the tracks
on the other albums. The first track “When the Morning Stars Sang together” is
the motto of the album because the musicians are obviously the morning
stars. On the one hand the songs are
light and breezy, sometimes even crispy like “The Hammer of Los” with its
minimalist theme and its piano arpeggios, on the other hand they are absorbing
and seductive like “Night thoughts” or “Jerusalem”, sometimes there is even a
psychedelic and prog rock approach. But you can also find Keith Jarrett
allusions (“An Island in the Moon”) or Naked City and Masada structures
augmented with heavy free jazz piano chords (“Marriage of Heaven and Hell”).
The album is a wonderfully varied suite
reflecting Blake’s vision and eventually one of his most famous quotations (“if
the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is,
infinite“) is turned into music by the works
of John Zorn.
Listen to “Night Thoughts” here:
1 comments:
Is this lost track from Philip Glass "Solo Piano" album? Smile.
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