''50th Birthday Celebration Volume 10'' is a
live album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
of
improvised music by
Yamataka Eye
(born , 13 February 1964) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himse ...
and
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
documenting their performance at
Tonic in September 2003 as part of John Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series.
Guitarist
Fred Frith
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser.
Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...
also appears on one track.
Reception
The
Allmusic listing rated the album 3½ stars.
[Allmusic listing](_blank)
accessed November 25, 2013. Pitchfork reviewer Cameron Macdonald gave the album 7.1 out of 10 stating "Listening to their new work was masochistic for me. High-pitched tones disturb me, and Zorn cleared my sinuses with one of the more horrific squeals caught live on tape in the 50th Birthday closer."
[Macdonald, C]
Pitchfork Review
''Pitchfork'', February 21, 2005
The authors of
The Penguin Guide to Jazz called the album "mysterious", and wrote: "credit should be given to technician Sawai Taeji, who does quite extraordinary things with Eye's electronics: we have never heard a performance quite like it, and it is nothing like the screamfest which might have been expected."
Track listing
Personnel
*
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of jaz ...
– alto saxophone
*
Yamataka Eye
(born , 13 February 1964) is a Japanese vocalist and visual artist, best known as a member of Boredoms and Naked City. He has changed his stage name three times, from Yamatsuka Eye, to Yamantaka Eye, to Yamataka Eye, and sometimes calls himse ...
– voice, electronics
*
Fred Frith
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser.
Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...
– guitar (track 5)
* Sawai Taeji – technician
References
{{Authority control
Albums produced by John Zorn
John Zorn live albums
2005 live albums
Tzadik Records live albums