Film and film music has had a tremendous impact on the life and work of composer John Zorn, and his own soundtrack work reflects his affinity, love for and deep knowledge of the medium. As of this writing he has released sixteen volumes of film music-twenty years of work on over twenty-seven films, and dozens of commercials. Drawing upon his talented downtown musical community, the players on these recordings reads like a “who's who” of modern music: guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Arto Lindsay; keyboardists Jamie Saft, Wayne Horvitz, Peter Scherer and Anthony Coleman; string players Mark Feldman and Erik Friedlander; bassists Bill Laswell, Greg Cohen and Trevor Dunn; percussionists Joey Baron, Bobby Previte, Kenny Wollesen and Cyro Baptista-the list goes on and on. As one would expect, Zorn's methods in the soundtrack world are remarkably unique, and have resulted in some of the most unusual and creative music for films in the past several decades. This CD is an excellent introduction to the burgeoning sixteen volume series and features twenty-seven tracks handpicked by Zorn for this rare “best of” compilation. As a bonus is an unissued track from Zorn's most recent soundtrack release Workingman's Death.
