In the summer of 1993, John Zorn was writing the soundtrack for a low-budget move called Thieves Quartet.
Zorn: The movie was created in the mold of a modern film noir, and it seemed a perfect opportunity to put a band together for a jazz score in the tradition of Miles Davis' soundtrack Escalator to the Scaffold. Little did I realize that this band was to go on to become one of the most exciting musical groupings I've ever had the privilege of being associated with: Masada.
He called in Joey Baron (drums), Greg Cohen (bass), and Dave Douglas (trumpet). Zorn joined them on saxophone. They had an instant chemistry, so he gave them a name and started composing songs for a series of albums.
The songs comprise The Masada Book, a collection of over 200 songs that can be played straight, re-interpretted, or re-arranged. The new arrangements feature a wide range of instruments, including clarinet, guitar, piano, violin, and cello.
Zorn [in April 1994]: I am working on some pieces having to do with Jewish culture, and Masada continues what was begun in Kristallnacht. On Kristallnacht a different use was made of Jewish tradition and it had precise references to contemporary music. In Masada I'm using another set of references.
The band recorded ten albums, from February 1994 to September 1997. A series of live albums followed, starting with Taipei 1995, released in October 1998.
Masada lifted Zorn's reputation a little higher. Before Masada, he could have been accused of being a fringe player and a gimmicky composer — the guy who conducts chaotic "game pieces," or the guy who abuses his saxophone instead of actually playing it.
After Masada, it was obvious that he could play, compose, and lead a band just like a traditional jazz musician. He contributed to the development of jazz, as well, by combining ethnic music with small ensemble improvisation.
By the late 1990s, Masada was regarded as one of the most important jazz bands of the decade.
Zorn: The idea with Masada is to produce a sort of radical Jewish music, a new Jewish music which is not the traditional one in a different arrangement, but music for the Jews of today. The idea is to put Ornette Coleman and the Jewish scales together.
In 2003, Zorn celebrated the tenth anniversary of the band with a series of new albums, including Masada Guitars, Voices in the Wilderness, and The Unknown Masada.
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[ COMMENTS? ]
You can divide the albums into three groups. The 10 studio albums . . .
The new arrangements . . .
And the live albums . . .
Some of the albums pictured above are reviewed on this page. (Click on the cover.) As the months go by, I'll add more reviews.
Interview from The Bomb:
Michael Goldberg: I was really impressed with the Masada group's first recording of Alef, how you were involved with melody. I hadn't heard that in your music before.
Zorn: That was a major exploration of melody, to see if I could write a book of songs like Gershwin or Thelonious Monk.
MG: Exactly. You can whistle them.
Zorn: That was my challenge as a composer. Like with anything, to keep yourself interested in doing what you do, you set yourself challenges. So I said, Okay, I'll try to write a hundred tunes in a year.
I wrote 50 in a second year, 25 or 30 in a third year, and the fourth year another 25, and then I just stopped. It was basically a four-year project, I wrote about 200 tunes.
Masada is part of the Radical Jewish Culture project, a series of albums by dozens of artists exploring Jewish musical themes. 
The songs from The Masada Book have been used for a few of Zorn's soundtracks — Filmworks 8, 9, and 11. The Thieves Quartet music is on Filmworks 3.
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