Album Review: John Zorn - Prolegomena

John Zorn 

Prolegomena

**and1/2 out of *****

NYC based avant-garde jazz artist/composer John Zorn's Prolegomena was written at the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown but recorded and released in 2025. The two tracks, under a half hour of music, deliver sonic madness, contemplative passages and a sense of wonderous unknown with layers of string work.

The album starts with the shorter of the two songs "Sigil Magick" as the twitchy strings become all encompassing then sift to almost nothing before raging back and forth in frantic fashion. Zorn composes schizophrenic passages delivered by his inner circle of players. For these compositions Zorn expanded his JACK Quartet and the artists include: Jay Campbell - Cello, Yura Lee -  Viola, Michael Nicolas -  Cello, Chris Otto - Violin, John Pickford Richards - Viola, Austin Wulliman - Violin.  

The meat of the album, "Prolegomena To Any Future Metaphysics That Will Be Able To Present Itself As Science" is an expanded version of his earlier shorter piece, the bows dart and dash all over the strings before ominous interludes interrupt, fright recedes and we do it all over again. This is challenging music to begin with as Zorn writes for strings with chaos lurking at the fringes, before it overwhelms. 

There are snippets of beauty as well such as at the 8;40 mark with soothing violin strings that deliver a false sense of safety before the plucking, and uncertainty creep back in. Towards the end, the track feels like a few pieces getting added together. Around the 14 minute mark the cello thumps and bangs, then there is a full pause before cinematic strings feel as if they are rising anew in a different song. The plucking and chaos returns however leading to a finale of bedlam and sense of dread.  

The title of the main song comes from Immanuel Kant, a German critical thinker/philosopher (that is him on the album cover) from the 1700's who focused on the meaning of everything, trying to find out the nature of things. Perhaps this overwhelming brain activity led Zorn to be all consumed and crazed during the early pandemic days, not knowing what is real or just perceived. 

Whatever the case maybe, John Zorn's Prolegomena, is a tense experimental string outing that may leave listeners questioning reality themselves.  

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