The Bagatelles Vol. 1

After completing his three books of Masada compositions, John Zorn set out to write a new book of tunes. He created 300 compositions. From 2021-2023 he released four, four-disc box sets of his songs recorded by numerous ensembles and soloists. Bagatelles, Vol. 1, the first entry in the project, was recorded by the Mary Halvorson Quartet; it also marks the first single title in the series to be released. Halvorsons group comprises Miles Okazaki on guitars, Drew Gress on bass, and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. The term "bagatelle" in classical music is considered a non-consequential tune written for fun. Zorn threw the rules out the window. He wrote these songs to encourage improvisation inside them, fully utilizing their creative potential organically. Bagatelles, Vol. 1 features nine selections between three- and six-minutes long. Zorn selected MHQ to kick off the first box because their spontaneity is wound through with collective discipline. Opener "Bagatelle #57" offers an excellent example as it plays with fusion, prog, and rock. The guitar players go right at one another, twinning on various aspects of the harmony; Fujiwara delivers passionate yet precise counterpoint as Gress becomes the hub of this wheel, making sure it flows despite some incendiary interactions. Despite being only five-and-a-half minutes long, "Bagatelle #284" is a mini-suite with structured harmonic and dissonant chordal elements bridged by angular improv. In one section, Fujiwara and Gress (the latter playing at bebop tempo) push Okazaki to travel farther afield in his solo. Halvorson plays angular vamps and fills. "Bagatelle 67" offers twinned lead guitars offering a syncopated stop-and-start intro before the guitarists, with Fujiwara driving hard between them, and Gress creating a third harmonic frame that acts as the ground for communication. By contrast, "Bagatelle #33" is a ballad, using repetition, striated guitars, subtle cymbal washes, and a languid bassline to journey into the subtleties of lyric harmony, meter, and space. "Bagatelle #162" uses a through-composed strategy, refracting jazz-rock through post-bop. Though the guitars play jagged arpeggios and ghostly chord shapes with slippery reverb, the bassist and drummer deliver a fluid circular rhythmic foundation. "Bagatelle #165" sounds a bit like Jimi Hendrixs Band of Gypsys group, offering a blues feel that travels through twinned guitars into the skronky unknown with long percussion interludes and an elastic bassline. Closer "Bagatelle #103" offers knotty, episodic, vanguard jazz fusion, descended from the early Tony Williams Lifetime and Last Exit. While there is no discounting the achievement of Zorns Bagatelles as a book of compositions, this debut volume is nothing short of magical and bracing in spirit, creativity, and musical savvy. ~ Thom Jurek