If you’re familiar at all with John Zorn, you know he never sticks to one idea for long. His wild experimentation renders the very concept of genre obsolete, along with other conventional aspects of improvisational/outsider music. While most well-known for his blistering, over-the-top-insane acts like Naked City and Painkiller, Zorn also possesses a softer side full of sublime beauty, breathtaking melody, and comforting texture.

Inspired by the writings of Walt Whitman, Zorn’s 2014 album On Leaves of Grass is an exquisite collection of tunes composed for and performed by the Nova Quartet (John Medeski on piano, Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, Trevor Dunn on bass, Joey Baron on drums – with a dash of Japanese experimentalist and frequent Zorn collaborator Ikue Mori on electronics on track eight). The music revels in its own beauty, dancing spritely through waving, undulating tendrils of superb resonance and dazzling harmony.

While much of On Leaves of Grass is steeped in shimmering tranquility, this is still John Zorn we’re talking about. Interspersed within the delicate, meditative music are wild bursts of atonal discord, flurries of stellar musicianship reflecting Zorn’s iconoclastic compositional approach. The seamless melding of lush, rich hymns and blinding free jazz is of course a hallmark of Zorn’s work, and as always it delights and surprises.

If you’re unfamiliar with Zorn’s more obscure canon, this is as good an entry point as any – you won’t regret it!