Last September, John Zorn celebrated his 50th birthday with a month of concerts, held at his home base, Tonic in New York City. This disc, the first of Tzadik's new Birthday Series, documents one of his most beloved bands, the Masada String Trio, performing at the last Zorn-fest.

Nineteen concerts over ten nights were dedicated to Zorn's Masada book of songs, his longest and still ongoing project, now past a decade of performance in different settings. The book contains about 200 tunes, with the Masada String Trio, Bar Kokhba Sextet (the trio augmented by guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Joey Baron and percussion player Cyro Baptista), Masada Guitars, the Masada quartet and Electric Masada, all playing Zorn's Jewish-inspired tunes.

The trio - Mark Feldman on violin, Erik Friedlander on cello and Greg Cohen on bass with Zorn conducting - was first featured with eight tracks on Zorn's Bar Kokhba, Masada Chamber Ensembles (Tzadik, 1996) and a ninth with clarinet player David Krakuer. Later they recorded 18 more of the Masada tunes on The Circle Maker (Tzadik, 1998). They were also the first of the Masada bands to play during 50th birthday month. By now, most of Zorn's admirers are familiar with the songbook, so listening to the 11 tunes on this disc is like experiencing an intimate meeting. Needless to say, Feldman, Friedlander and Cohen are improvisers at the top of their game, demonstrating graceful command of the material and interpreting the tunes with rich imagination and passion.

But even an avid collector of all the Masada incarnations would be overwhelmed by the trio's virtuosic interpretations of some of some of the most familiar tunes. "Abidan" was recorded by the Masada quartet (Baron, Cohen, Zorn and trumpeter Dave Douglas) on Gimel (DIW, 1994) and on Live In Jerusalem 1994 (Tzadik, 1999). It was interpreted twice on Bar Kokhba, one as a duet by Chris Speed with John Medeski and then by the string trio, and lately was interpreted quite radically by Jewlia Eisenberg, who added lyrics by the late Israeli poet David Avidan. Even with such a history, the trio's live version of the lyrical tune comes off as brilliant and beautiful. All three players begin the piece pizzicato, keeping the tension, alternating mid-tune to arco and releasing the tension, and returning to pizzicato playing for the end, retaining the tension. An exciting performance!

The Masada String Trio's sound is so big, so cohesive, that the trio is best as is, without additional players and keeping their own sense of harmony, rhythm, improvisation and freedom. All three players are here at peak form, especially Friedlander, who is at his best performing Zorn's material. Their versions of the Masada songbook are another testimony to Zorn's artistic vision, creating a rich and long standing work. The disc is beautifully recorded by Daniel Goldaracena with a beautiful minimal digipack designed, as with many Tzadik releases by Chippy (Heung-Heung Chin).