Naked City

It's hard to find a contemporary musician more eclectic than alto saxophonist John Zorn. Whether investigating the affinity between traditional Jewish music and jazz with his band Masada, or performing soundtrack music for Japanese porno films, Zorn has consistently proven himself a fearless seeker of new frontiers. On Naked City, Zorn combines covers of such movie themes as Ennio Morricone's "The Sicilian Clan," Jerry Goldsmith's "Chinatown," John Barry's "James Bond Theme," and Johnny Mandel's "I Want to Live" with his own noir-inflected originals, and a "Peter Gunn"-like cover of Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman" is thrown in for good measure. The results are like a trip to the drive-in for a bad double-feature--if the drive-in is on Mars. The band, which features Zorn stalwarts Bill Frisell on guitar, Wayne Horvitz on keyboards, Fred Frith on bass, and Joey Baron on drums, is remarkably confident and wide-ranging. --Fred Goodman