John Zorn: Ballades

TZADIK 9310 (RELEASED JULY 2024)

Many of the ballads we cherish from the Great American Songbook were written by Jewish composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and others. So, it is no surprise that John Zorn, who introduced us to “Radical Jewish Music,” has turned his attention to this song form. And there is no better trio to interpret his ideas than pianist Brian Marsella, bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Ches Smith. The eleven tunes featured on Ballade run the gamut from the rhapsodic “Ballade 1” to the dark and mysterious “Ballade 2.” There are joyful ballads such as “Ballade 3,” tender ballads such as “Ballade 10.” There are even classic ballads such as “Ballade 5,” which is reminiscent of Ellington’s “Solitude.” Given Zorn’s appreciation for going “outside,” there are ballads such as “Ballade 9” with its angular melody and surprising mood changes and the free flowing nature of “Ballade 4.” Regardless of the mood, the under-rated trio of Marsella, Roeder and Smith delivers them all with the passion and perfection of the classic Bill Evans Trio. Ballade clearly establishes Zorn as a formidable ballad composer, in the tradition of the great Jewish songwriters that preceded him, as well as giving the Marsella, Roeder and Smith trio their third and finest recording to date. To borrow a title from a Gerswhin ballad, Zorn’s Ballade is simply “S’wonderful!”

BOTTOM LINE: Dispelling the classic definition that ballads are slow and sentimental, John Zorn has stretched the ballad format to the max — a maximum of interesting moods, a maximum of ways in which the outstanding trio of Brian Marsella (piano), Jorge Roeder (bass) and Ches Smith (drums) can interpret his writing and maximum enjoyment for fans of the ballad and one of today’s finest piano trios.