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Jun. 3rd, 2015 11:19 amLast night, I went to see Zion 80 at Joe's Pub. And ran into some friends, which is really not that surprising, because of course I have friends who are excited about Shlomo Carlebach/Fela Kuti fusion.
The last time I saw Zion 80 play, they weren't exactly a band yet. Jon Madof, the band's leader, was in the process of developing the concept, so the band didn't have a name, but the music was spellbinding and shocking and yet incredibly familiar. Since then, they've released two albums- one the aforementioned Afrobeat Carlebach fusion, the second an application of their developing style to the klez-jazz of John Zorn's Masada songbook. They appear, from the new songs we heard last night, to be working on a third album of Madof originals, which seem to have a heavier, darker spirituality than the earlier material. But the music, regardless of which set of songs it was from, was ecstatic and wonderful, not to mention just plain fun.
Frank London plays horn with the group, and though all the musicians in the band are amazing, he seemed on his solos to outclass the rest of them pretty handily. I was reflecting during the show on the impact London's music has had on me. I'm pretty sure it's not much of an exaggeration to say that I've been listening to Frank London since the crib, on my parents' Klezmatics cassettes. His musical output has been and continues to be broad enough to grow with my growing musical curiosity. But it's not his virtuosity or his eclecticism that most draws me to London, it's the deep sense of inner knowledge that informs his playing. His music feels like it exists on some sort of higher plane.
The last time I saw Zion 80 play, they weren't exactly a band yet. Jon Madof, the band's leader, was in the process of developing the concept, so the band didn't have a name, but the music was spellbinding and shocking and yet incredibly familiar. Since then, they've released two albums- one the aforementioned Afrobeat Carlebach fusion, the second an application of their developing style to the klez-jazz of John Zorn's Masada songbook. They appear, from the new songs we heard last night, to be working on a third album of Madof originals, which seem to have a heavier, darker spirituality than the earlier material. But the music, regardless of which set of songs it was from, was ecstatic and wonderful, not to mention just plain fun.
Frank London plays horn with the group, and though all the musicians in the band are amazing, he seemed on his solos to outclass the rest of them pretty handily. I was reflecting during the show on the impact London's music has had on me. I'm pretty sure it's not much of an exaggeration to say that I've been listening to Frank London since the crib, on my parents' Klezmatics cassettes. His musical output has been and continues to be broad enough to grow with my growing musical curiosity. But it's not his virtuosity or his eclecticism that most draws me to London, it's the deep sense of inner knowledge that informs his playing. His music feels like it exists on some sort of higher plane.