Welcome to the first official entry in an ongoing series focused on the vast and uncompromising catalog of the Downtown mastermind himself, John Zorn. For our premier examination, we take a look at the very first Zorn record to ever grace my earballs – 2009’s O’o. The bright, whimsical artwork pairs impeccably with the twelve gorgeous tracks laid down by the Dreamers, one of Zorn’s most celebrated ensembles. Featuring Marc Ribot on guitar, Jamie Saft on piano and organ, Kenny Wollesen on vibraphone, Trevor Dunn on bass, Joey Baron on drums, and Cyro Baptista on percussion, one could hardly ask for a more highly skilled group of musicians to deliver this shimmering jewel of a record.

While Zorn is typically better known for his more intense work such as Naked City, Painkiller, Masada, etc., the Dreamers are a vessel for his more melodic and thoughtful side. The level of beauty reached here makes sublime seem like an inadequate descriptor. Harmonious, delicate, crystalline, each of these words sound clunky in my head when compared to the actual sounds produced on O’o. Sparkling and iridescent, the music induces a sense of wonder in your heart, wistful and misty like a Hawaiian morning dew.

This whole record is a tribute to the now-extinct family of Hawaiian songbirds, Mohoidae. Each track is titled after a different bird, and the music reflects the vibrant biodiversity of the Hawaiian islands and the birds in particular. A song-by-song breakdown of this album would be doing you a disservice, as this work deserves to be listened to in one fell swoop, no breaks if possible. It transports the listener somewhere peaceful and contemplative, somewhere hidden away to recharge and refresh the spirit.

I could wax poetic for the rest of the day about how each track doesn’t waste a second of time, how every instrument is right where it needs to be, the impeccable phrasing and melodic interplay between all these virtuosos, but really, you need to hear this album. It’s the perfect entry point if you’re unfamiliar with Zorn’s work, and it will introduce you to several of the frequent flyers, so to speak, in Zorn’s vast army of regular collaborators. If you’ve never listened, I cannot urge you strongly enough to get this in your head ASAP. Your whole world will change.

The link below will take you to a playlist with the full album – we try to post Bandcamp links here, but Zorn’s catalog has only recently been added to streaming at all, so we work with what we have.