Cobra (Zorn)
Cobra is an unpublishedTSR.[5]
As was commented upon in some length in a 2004 interview, Zorn has, with his own words, "deliberately chosen not to publish (or even write down) the rules" to his
downtown scene musicians in a semi-structured way, but "without hindering" their performances; he was interested in telling the musicians when to play, and with whom, but without telling them what to play. Plus-Minus (1963, 1974) by German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen was a key inspiration for Zorn, inspiring him to develop methods play with or against each other and in response to his cues but without dictating specific notes, sounds, or other formal structures. Though Cobra can be performed by any number of musicians plus a prompter who handles the cards, Zorn has stated that at least ten musicians are ideal, with care taken in selecting the musicians based on their improvisational skills and personalities.[7]
Cobra was first performed at the original TriBeCa location of Roulette Intermedium in 1984.[9]
Notes
- ^ See, however, the article by David Slusser below under "External Links"
- ^ Kozinn, A "John Zorn and 'Cobra'", The New York Times, September 3, 1989
- ^ Ross, A Music and Plenty of It: 12 Hours' Worth In Fact The New York Times March 15, 1993
- ^ Ratliff, B Stretching the Boundaries of the Things Musicians Do The New York Times, August 5, 1996
- ^ John Bracket. Some notes on John Zorn's Cobra. American Music, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Spring 2010), pp. 44–75
- ^ Zorn, John (2004), "The Game Pieces", in C. Cox, D. Warner (ed.), Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, New York: Continuum, pp. 196f
- ^ a b c Bracket, 2010
- ^ John Zorn - Cobra - On Improvisation (1992) - YouTube
- ^ "John Zorn's Cobra (30th Anniversary!), Roulette's Upcoming Events".(retrieved May 6, 2016)
Recordings
- Radio City Studios, NYC (1986) and WRPI (1985), released as a double CD entitled "John Zorn - Cobra" on the Hatology Label of Basel, Switzerland (2nd ed, 2002)
- Cobra (1987)- includes a large table of the cues in color.
- John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory (1992)
- John Zorn's Cobra: Tokyo Operations '94 (1994)
- Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces Volume 2 (2002) — includes a copy of the cues
External links
- Article by David Slusser quoting Cobra in its entirety. With additional links. (Broken link. Internet archive version)
- "Zorn biography and discography". by Scott Maykrantz. Archived from the original on 2007-08-18. Retrieved 2006-05-12.
