The Classic Guide to Strategy is a compilation album by

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 ...

featuring his two early solo records ''The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume One'' (1983), ''(tracks 1-2)'' and the ''Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two'' (1986),Discogs Page Vol 2
Retrieved October 19th, 2015 ''(tracks 3-8)''. The albums were first released on vinyl on Lumina Records in and later re-released on Tzadik Records in 1996 as a single CD. The second track is inspired by the work of

Carl Stalling Carl William Stalling (November 10, 1891 – November 29, 1972) was an American composer, voice actor and arranger for music in animated films. He is most closely associated with the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' shorts produced by War ...

and tracks 3-8 are named after avant-garde Japanese artists. ''The Classic Guide to Strategy Volume Two'' also contained the track "Yano Akiko" (5:20) which does not appear on the CD re-release. The cover art from Volumes One and Two are the kanji characters for "earth" and "water", respectively, which relate to the first volumes of The Book of Five Rings written by Miyamoto Musashi. The third volume of ''The Classic Guide to Strategy'' was released as part of Zorn's Birthday Celebration Series subtitled ''The Fire Book'' in 2003 and fourth, ''The Wind Book'' in 2016.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Stacia Proefrock states "when a line is drawn through Zorn's previous work, it ends up here -- the playfulness of sound, the variety of textures, the use of silence and space as part of the composition -- if the listener approaches this album expecting to find musical genius, he or she will not have to look too far".Proefrock, S. Allmusic Reviewaccessed March 10, 2009 The Penguin Guide to Jazz observed "This surviving torso of a much larger project serves notice of what an inventive saxophone player Zorn is... This is emphatically a jazz record".

Track listing

''All compositions by John Zorn'' # "Part 1" a.k.a. "Senki (War Spirit)" - 19:36 # "Part 2 (Cartoon Music)" a.k.a. "The Moon In The Cold Stream Like A Mirror" - 19:32 # "Aoyanian Michi" - 11:15 # "Enoken" - 3:21 # "Katsumi Shigeru" - 6:34 # "Kondo Toshinori" - 6:04 # "

Togawa Jun is a Japanese singer, musician and actress. Her close friends over the years include Susumu Hirasawa. Career After gaining attention a guest singer for the New wave music, New Wave band Halmens and her acting roles in Japanese dramas and comme ...

" - 8:54 # "Mori Ikue" - 2:38 :* Recorded at the OAO Studio in Brooklyn, New York on February 27, 1983 (tracks 1 & 2), and at Radio City Studios, New York City on July 30, 1985 (tracks 3-5) and September 19, 1985 (tracks 6-8)

Personnel

- Alto and Soprano Saxophones, Bb

Clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, Olt, Weems and Greenhead Game Calls, E-flat

* Martin Bisi - Recording Engineer (1-2)Discogs Page
Retrieved October 19th, 2015 *Don Hunerberg - Recording Engineer (3-8)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Classic Guide To Strategy, The Albums produced by John Zorn John Zorn compilation albums Compilation album series 1985 compilation albums 1996 compilation albums 1983 compilation albums Tzadik Records compilation albums