The Thrash Jazz Assassins

 

Naked City was an avant-garde music group led by saxophonist / composer John Zorn active primarily in New York City from 1988 to 1993. Naked City was Zorns idea of a "composition workshop" to test the limits of composition (& improvisation) in a traditional rock band lineup. Their music incorporated elements of jazz, surf, progressive rock, classical, heavy metal, grindcore, punk rock, & other genres. The band performed an aggressive mix of soundtrack themes, bluesy hard bop, speedy hardcore rock, squealing free jazz & metallic funk,  jump-cutting micro-collages of hardcore, country, sleazy jazz, covers of John Barry & Ornette Coleman, brief abstract tussles, the whole gamut of musical styles crammed into two or three minute bursts.

This is John Zorn's infamous "versatile" band, & although they could play most any style of music, the majority of their songs are noisy & complex.  They've taken everything aggressive about jazz & heavy metal, blended it together, tightened it.

They played live for several years before they recorded their first self-titled album under the Naked City name. After its 1990 release, Zorn wanted to release a full record of "hardcore miniatures" (a minute or less) but Nonesuch showed no interest in it. They did however bankroll the project allowing Zorn to license it to Shimmy Disc & Earache. 

 

John sez:
        "Basically, the first Naked City record (their first album on Nonesuch) came out, right. In the middle of it are about ten songs that are really short and hard. I said I wanted to do a record of 40 of those pieces, cause I was really interested in the compression and compactness of form that that music gets to. The guys at Nonesuch were not interested. If I wanted to do that, I better take it somewhere else. So what I managed to do was get them to bankroll the whole thing, and then I licensed it to Earache and Shimmy for basically no money and no royalties. So they are just putting this stuff out that Nonesuch bankrolled."  

 

Naked City is: John Zorn - alto saxophone, vocals; Yamatsuka Eye - guest vocals; Bill Frisell - guitar; Wayne Horvitz - keyboards; Fred Frith - bass; & Joey Baron - drums. 

 

Naked City - Torture Garden, Shimmy Disc SHIMMY039, 1990.
decryption code in comments

Blood is Thin
Demon Sanctuary    
Thrash Jazz Assassin    
Dead Spot    
Bonehead    
Speedball    
Blood Duster    
Pile Driver    
Shangkuan Ling-Feng    
Numbskull    
Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh    
Jazz Snob Eat Shit    
The Prestidigitator    
No Reason to Believe    
Hellraiser    
Torture Garden    
Slan    
Hammerhead    
The Ways of Pain    
The Noose    
Sack of Shit    
Blunt Instrument    
Osaka Bondage    
Igneous Ejaculation    
Shallow Grave    
Ujaku    
Kaoru    
Dead Dread    
Billy Liar    
Victims of Torture    
Speedfreaks    
New Jersey Scum Swamp    
S & M Sniper    
Pigfucker    
Cairo Chop Shop    
Fuck the Facts    
Obeah Man    
Facelifter    
N.Y. Flat Top Box    
Whiplash    
The Blade    
Gob of Spit

 

 

 

Enjoy (if you dare).
NØ