Radical Jewish Culture

What is Jewish music? Since its inception in 1992, the artists who created work under the banner of Radical Jewish Culture have asked this question, pushing the boundaries of how we think about and engage with Jewish cultural expression. To date, that questioning has grown into a body of work spanning over 200 CDs under John Zorn’s Tzadik label, redefining the role of Jewishness in music within contemporary culture.

In this three part series, join John Zorn and Anthony Coleman as they explore and reflect upon the origins, development, present, and future of Radical Jewish Music. Featuring live performances from Zorn, Coleman, and guest performers Steve Bernstein, Uri Caine, Jon Madof and others, the sessions will include listening and analysis of groundbreaking recordings, open-ended discussions, and Q&A. Participants will also be provided with supplementary listening and reading lists, compiled by Coleman and Zorn, to enhance the experience and facilitate the exploration of each week’s material.

What will be the future of Jewish music in the 21st century and beyond? How do we respond to the challenge of Gershom Scholem’s “treasure hunt within tradition,” that search for the New as we pull from the depths of culture and history?  This series will go to the heart of these questions, exploring Jewish music as an art-form in a constant process of becoming.

1/11 Featured special guests: Jewlia Eisenberg, Ben Goldberg, Jon Madof
1/25 Featured special guest: Uri Caine

Drawing upon his experience in classical, jazz, rock, hardcore punk, klezmer, film, cartoon, popular, world and improvised music, John Zorn has created an influential body of work that has defied academic categories. Born and raised in New York City, he is a central figure in the Downtown Scene, incorporating a wide variety of creative musicians into various compositional formats. His work is remarkably diverse and draws inspiration from Art, Literature, Film, Theatre, Philosophy, Alchemy and Mysticism as well as Music. He founded the Tzadik label in 1995, runs the East Village performance space The Stone and has edited/published six volumes of musician's writings under the title ARCANA. Honors include the Cultural Achievement Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture and the William Schuman Prize for composition from Columbia University. He was inducted into the Long Island Hall of Fame by Lou Reed in 2010 and is a MacArthur Fellow. In 2012 he was honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and given three honorary doctorates from SUNY Purchase, New England Conservatory and the University of Ghent.

Anthony Coleman is a composer, improvising keyboardist and teacher, born in New York City. His ensembles have included the trio Sephardic Tinge (three CD’s: Sephardic Tinge (1995), Morenica (1998), and Our Beautiful Garden is Open (2002) – all on Tzadik) and Selfhaters Orchestra (two CD’s: Selfhaters (1996) and The Abysmal Richness of the Infinite Proximity of the Same (1998), both on Tzadik). Other CD’s include the cycle by Night (1987 – 1992), a series of works inspired by Coleman’s experiences in (the ex-) Yugoslavia (Disco by Night, Avant 1993). Coleman has toured and recorded with John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Marc Ribot, Shelley Hirsch, Roy Nathanson and many others. Coleman is currently on faculty at Mannes College the New School for Music and the New England Conservatory.

Coleman has recorded 14 CDs under his own name, and he has played on more than 100 others. His most recent CDs are The End of Summer (Tzadik), which features his NEC Ensemble Survivors Breakfast, Shmutsige Magnaten (Tzadik), a live solo performance from the 2005 Krakow Jewish Culture Festival that features interpretations of the songs of Mordechai Gebirtig; Pushy Blueness (Tzadik) and Lapidation (New World), both recordings of his chamber music, and Freakish: Anthony Coleman Plays Jelly Roll Morton (Tzadik, 2009). His Damaged by Sunlight (2010) was issued on DVD by the French label La Huit.

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