John Zorn goes epic at the Elbphilharmonie

In recent years, composer, improviser, alto saxophonist and organist John Zorn has been taking his entire musical family out on the road, usually presenting the vast panoply of his compositions in a concentrated run, frequently as part of a festival. At the majestic Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Zorn colonised a four-day span as part of the venue's ongoing Reflektor series. Previous featured artists have included Anoushka Shankar, Laurie Anderson, Nils Frahm, Max Richter and ECM mainman Manfred Eicher. Towering over Hamburg's Elbe River docklands, the five-year-old Elbphilharmonie perches at the top of a large edifice that also houses a hotel, restaurants, and even permanent living quarters. After four days, your scribe was still struggling to digest its geography, with winding stairways, lifts that required foot-transfers to certain floors, and slowly chugging gradual walkways, curving the crowds to the upper reaches. The looming interior might be arcing white and featureless, but the theatre interiors are organically knobbly, curving and cavernous, in the post-Gaudí manner. Zorn was emphatically enthused by their acoustics.

Zorn grew out of jazz and improvisation, but soon built an additional reputation as a moderne classical composer, recently concentrating on his Bagatelles repertoire. Besides an impressive sequence of concerts devoted to the various manifestations of his musical interests, Zorn also performed as part of the well-established Masada, in its various guises, also leading a 'Cobra' game (as its lightning-inspiration prompter), and playing the Elbphilharmonie's organ in its main theatre. A mighty assemblage of players were on hand, deployed in various permutations, to interpret works found on Zorn's own highly prolific Tzadik label. Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Dave Douglas, Joey Baron, and Ches Smith were some of the more jazz orientated artists.

Zorn presented the original Masada Quartet and his New Masada Quartet in the same concert, although his predilection for hyper-condensed brevity meant that a prompt start flashed past to a 70-minute finish. Each combo shot through around 30 minutes of material, with the personnel transfer being one of the speediest ever witnessed, as the second band's members were taking their places before the applause had waned for the first Masada. The New edition features Julian Lage (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums), laying out a retro groove that sounded markedly linear following the frantic angularities of the old Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen and Joey Baron gang.

The 30-year-old Masada still resounds with an Ornettian hyperactivity, Zorn managing to prompt jackknife changes even while soloing on alto. An Eastern exotica swooshed from slinky to free, gliding then scrabbling, coiled then striking with a bebop squall. Zorn made sharp hand retractions to signal a sudden end, waggled his index finger, touched his head, guiding the squabble with precise cutting. Speedy inter-slicing could lead to a jabbing finger-point, from player to player, as sounds cascaded around their semi-circle, Baron leading the laughs, as the band navigated serious sounds with smiles. The audience also released their tension with laughter, before gasping at the following contortions. Baron was in Gene Krupa mood for his brief solos, leading a Balkan bounce, then shuffling further beyond. Zorn presented the Masadas in chronological order, but it would have been preferable to hear the new incarnation first, rather than adjust to their more single-minded flow. Lage and Zorn engaged in a 1960s-era conversation, with the guitarist edging towards a flamenco style, this second part endowed with romantic, emotional qualities. Right at the close, the two Masadas shared the stage, reaching 70 mins of high velocity compactness, providing one of the weekend's highlights, right at the start.

The Hermetic Organ is a regular Zorn concept, mostly found in churches, but often in large theatres. The Elbphilharmonie pipes are impressive, fitting into its curving walls, with a connected light-pulse prompted by the organ keys. The theatre was transformed by Zorn into a drone grotto. He pulled out the stops, creating vast bowel groans, shuddering on multiple simultaneous levels, utilising the foot-pedals to build a spectral torment. The higher notes evoked a snarling caged animal, as the behind-pipes lights pulsed like a sluggish ticker. Our planet was in a dangerous orbit, an earthquake intensified as Zorn pressed splayed palms down on the keys. Eventually, a throaty whine swirled around in a folkish questioning, skimming over charcoal-burn terrain. Zorn paints apocalyptic pictures when he's at the organ, surging and swelling in a fashion reminiscent of Fripp & Eno's No Pussyfooting.

The Brian Marsella Trio operated on the weekend's jazziest level, with their pianist leader observing themes dedicated to the tarot card pack. The most dramatic number was 'The Hangman', which provided Marsella with a prime outlet for his manic energy, as he expanded a conventional jazz flow into a language trimmed with flamboyant improvisatory extremity. At times, he was soloing on his knees, sending his glasses flying, giving expression to every ounce of energy, from his core. A slugging section hardened into a headbanger, then rode into an exotic sparseness, as Wollesen bounced puffball mallets and bassman Trevor Dunn bowed with friction. As is his way, Zorn huddled cross-legged, in the side-stage shadows, probably enjoying his music as much as the public crowd.