A fierce interpretation of John Zorn's Bagatelles by the organ trio of John Medeski with guitarist David Fiuczynski and drummer Grant Calvin Weston, this release channels funk, jazz, and psychedelic rock into explosive, high-energy performances, transforming Zorn's concise compositions into a dynamic, groove-driven and sonically adventurous set.
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Sample The Album:
John Zorn-composer
John Medeski-organ
David Fiuczynski-guitar
Grant Calvin Weston-drums
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UPC: 702397522423
Label: Tzadik
Catalog ID: CD-TZA-5224
Squidco Product Code: 37300
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2026
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack - 3 panel
Recorded at Applehead Studios, in Woodstock, New York, on November 14th and 15th, 2020, by Chris Bittner.
"From March to May 2015, John Zorn composed 300 new tunes that were eventually collected into a book of music he called The Bagatelles. Volume 8 presents the long-awaited premiere recording of John Medeski's psychedelic organ trio. Featuring David Fiuczynski (Screaming Headless Torsos) in a striking Hendrix/Blood Ulmer mood and the powerhouse drummer G. Calvin Weston (Ornette Coleman, Lounge Lizards), the music is fierce, imaginative and endlessly creative. Touching on funk, jazz, psychedelic rock, metal and more-this is one of the most intense interpretations of the Bagatelles ever conceived. This music will sear your brain!! Essential."-Tzadik
A striking entry in The Bagatelles series, this volume features a powerhouse organ trio led by John Medeski, interpreting the concise compositional forms of John Zorn with an intensity that pushes the material into new and electrifying territory. Originally composed in 2015 as part of Zorn's monumental set of 300 short pieces, these works function as modular frameworks—compact yet open structures that invite performers to shape them through improvisation, texture, and interaction.
Here, Medeski's organ becomes the central engine, delivering thick harmonic clusters, swirling psychedelic colors, and deeply rooted grooves, while guitarist David Fiuczynski brings a distinctive voice that blends microtonal inflection with the raw energy of Hendrix-inspired rock and the harmolodic language of James "Blood" Ulmer. Drummer Grant Calvin Weston anchors the trio with a powerful, flexible approach, moving effortlessly between driving funk, fractured rhythmic patterns, and open improvisational space.
What distinguishes this interpretation is its physicality and edge: the music leans heavily into groove and distortion, transforming Zorn's often intricate, rapidly shifting motifs into a visceral, almost tactile experience. The trio navigates abrupt changes in mood and tempo with cohesion and urgency, creating performances that feel both tightly focused and explosively free.
Touching on funk, jazz, psychedelic rock, and heavier electric idioms, this recording stands as one of the most aggressive and sonically expansive readings of the Bagatelles, revealing the adaptability of Zorn's compositions while showcasing the trio's ability to fuse structure and improvisation into a compelling, high-voltage whole.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for John Zorn "John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, klezmer, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers". Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music. After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and received wide acclaim with the release of The Big Gundown, an album reworking the compositions of Ennio Morricone. He attracted further attention worldwide with the release of Spillane in 1987, and Naked City in 1989. After spending almost a decade travelling between Japan and the US he made New York his permanent base and established his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s. Tzadik enabled Zorn to maintain independence from the mainstream music industry and ensured the continued availability of his growing catalog of recordings, allowing him to prolifically record and release new material, issuing several new albums each year, as well as promoting the work of many other musicians. Zorn has led the hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the klezmer/free jazz-influenced quartet Masada, composed over 600 pieces as part of the Masada Songbooks that have been performed by an array of groups, composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often performing at festivals with many other musicians and ensembles that perform his diverse output. Zorn's compositions cross many genres and he has stated "All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I'm an additive person-the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can't see the connections, but they are there." For Zorn "Composing is more than just imagining music-it's knowing how to communicate it to musicians. And you don't give an improviser music that's completely written out, or ask a classical musician to improvise. I'm interested in speaking to musicians in their own languages, on their own terms, and in bringing out the best in what they do. To challenge them and excite them." " ^ Hide Bio for John Zorn • Show Bio for John Medeski "Anthony John Medeski (born June 28, 1965) is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano and an eclectic array of keyboards, including the Hammond B3 organ, melodica, mellotron, clavinet, ARP String Ensemble, Wurlitzer electric piano, Moog Voyager Synthesizer, Wurlitzer 7300 Combo Organ, Vox Continental Baroque organ, and Yamaha CS-1 Synthesizer (a "kids' toy"), among others. When playing acoustic piano, Medeski usually plays the Steinway piano and is listed as a Steinway Artist. Medeski was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in Florida. After studying piano as a child (starting when he was five years old), he began as a teenager to perform with musicians such as Mark Murphy and Jaco Pastorius. He attended Pine Crest School. In 1983, after graduating from high school, he began studying piano at the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he performed as a sideman with Dewey Redman, Billy Higgins, Bob Mintzer, Alan Dawson and Mr. Jellybelly. Medeski attributes his early interest in playing improvised music and jazz to listening to Oscar Peterson." ^ Hide Bio for John Medeski • Show Bio for David Fiuczynski "David "Fuze" Fiuczynski is an iconoclastic innovator and a rebel with a guitar. Fluent in funk, rock, fusion, wicked fretless blues slides, Eastern melodicism, Western microtonalism and everything in-between, his remarkably open-minded and versatile approach to his instrument and music in general has made him a "first call" player, and lead to tours and recording projects with a remarkably diverse cast of characters, including Stewart Copeland (The Police), Jack DeJohnette (Miles Davis, John Coltrane), John Zorn, Hiromi, JoJo Mayer, Marc Guiliana (David Bowie), Bernie Worrell (P-Funk), Dennis Chambers, Me'shell NdegeOcello, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Marcus Miller, Billy Hart, John Medeski, Cuong Vu, Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society and countless others. He has played on nearly 100 recordings as a session musician, band leader or band member, won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 and is a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Best known as the leader of the Screaming Headless Torsos, KiF and as a member of Hasidic New Wave, Fuze launched Planet MicroJam, an institute that explores the use of microtones in groove, jazz, ethnic, folk and other contexts, in 2012. With this impressive resume under his belt, the mad-scientist guitar hero is now seeking to bring his music to new audiences." ^ Hide Bio for David Fiuczynski • Show Bio for Grant Calvin Weston "G Calvin Weston was born June 6, 1959 in Philadelphia, PA. He became interested in drums at the age of 6, when he (and his neighbors) discovered his talent for rhythm as he beat on every car on the block. He lived in North Philadelphia where he saw musicians like Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five and James Brown at the Uptown Theatre. Seeing his attention focused on the drummers, his Father bought him a small set. In high school Calvin learned to read music and played second snare in the drum ensemble. He co-founded the group Bad Influence which played in cabarets and clubs around Philadelphia. At 17, Calvin joined Ornette Colemans Prime Time Band,with bass player jamalaadean tacuma.his close friend from philly, which toured extensively in North America and Europe. Grant Calvin Weston has blazed a harmolodic, funkadelic trail through modern jazz. This record is a culmination of recordings made on the West Coast and his hometown of Philadelphia. Weston puts his Midas touch on electronics and acoustic instruments that blow the socks off any jazz-rock poser out there. Listen to the man who funked-up Ornette Coleman in the 1970s." ^ Hide Bio for Grant Calvin Weston
4/20/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
4/20/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
4/20/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
4/20/2026
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Bagatelle #223 4:50
2. Bagatelle #64 5:24
3. Bagatelle #21 4:51
4. Bagatelle #28 5:19
5. Bagatelle #23 5:22
6. Bagatelle #8 4:40
7. Bagatelle #34 3:56
8. Bagatelle #6 3:12
9.Bagatelle #157 3:37
April 2026
Tzadik
Improvised Music
Jazz
Jazz & Improvisation Based on Compositions
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Trio Recordings
Zorn. John
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