John Zorn MASADA GUITARS BY TED DROZDOWSKI

Here’s an opportunity to hear Bill Frisell at his most "out," Marc Ribot playing for gentility and grace, and Tim Sparks pushing the acoustic guitar for all its orchestral brilliance. Although Manhattan composer John Zorn is best known as a prince of skronk, these 21 compositions capture a melodic beauty worthy of classical guitar. They’re plucked from the 208 songs that make up Zorn’s Masada songbook, a series of works that celebrate Jewish culture by drawing on all elements of its artistic history for inspiration. This disc marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of Zorn’s Masada project, and it’s one of the best guitar albums you’ll hear this year.

Sparks, the least known of the three guitarists here, has expanded his folk roots to embrace all aspects of fingerstyle six-string, from Brazilian music to Leo Kottke–rooted psychedelia. And his five numbers are the most striking for their unexpected turns of melody and tasteful chord-and-single-note picking. Frisell invokes the days when he was the ECM jazz label’s house guitarist, expanding the palette of numbers like "Bikkurim" with digital delay, chorus, and other processing on his acoustic and bringing the only electric-guitar tracks to the CD. And Ribot delivers his most contemplative performances, moving through the nuances of "Hadasha" and "Moshav" with such a Zen-like approach, it’s as if his earlier screaming ensembles like Shrek had never existed. Sure, this disc is a guitarist’s dream, but it invites anybody with an ear for lovely music to listen repeatedly.