The Times Quotidian

The Big Gundown (album) is John Zorn’s tribute to Italian master film composer Ennio Morricone. The featured track, Giù la testa (Duck You Sucker!), is from the 1971 Sergio Leone spaghetti western Fistful of Dynamite. This remix is imposing. The color and diversity of the instrumentation alone makes for worthwhile listening. The opening Shakuhachi riff is an inspired imaging of the gangster theme. Our once grisly gunfighter collides head first into Burt Bacharach and emerges a shoop, shoop, Samurai Warrior. Zorn’s witty re-paired soundtrack now is more resonant of Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, the “eminent ur-text behind all Leone’s movies”. 

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The Ensemble:
Ned Rothenberg…shakuhachi, orcarina, Jew’s harp
Michihiro Sato…Tsugaru shamisen
Wayne Horvitz…organ, celeste, electronic keyboards
Vicki Bodner…English horn
Fred Firth…acoustic guitar
Bob James…tapes
Arto Lindsay…vocals
John Zorn…game calls, vocals