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Masada: Jazz brilliance

I was going to write something about friends in Portsmouth and Gloucester and how my last week was awesome, but then I ran most of the way home from the pub and my chest decided to hate me. THEN I turned on Masada’s Live in Sevilla and was completely caught out by the utter brilliance of the music and got completely excited.

The quality of support and jousting and play between John Zorn on sax and Dave Douglas on trumpet is entirely ridiculous and each member of the quartet seems to know exactly what the others might do, any given moment, even at 90mph. Zorn’s solos squeak and squeal and wail everywhere, always getting ever more intense, never once faltering. Douglas’ counterpoints to Zorn work brilliantly. The rhythms supporting are tense and pumping with energy. It’s how jazz should be. I’d really love to see them live - it seems almost bizarre I’ve never heard of the group before.

Ne’eman and Nashon are particular highlights, scarily fast and complex.

I have this down under silly because it’s so, SO fucking good it’s unreal.

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