Books published by Hips Road/Tazadik

The final installment of John Zorn's major series of new music theory, with Oren Ambarchi, Peter Blegvad, Annea Lockwood, Henry Threadgill and many moreInitiated in 1997 and now in its tenth and final installment, John Zorn's acclaimed Arcana series is a major source of new music theory and practice in the 21st century. Illuminating directly via the personal vision and experience of the practitioners themselves, who experience music not from a cool, safe distance, but from the white-hot center of the creative crucible itself, Arcana elucidates through essays, manifestos, scores, interviews, notebooks and critical papers.Over 25 years the ten volumes of Arcana have presented the writings of over 300 of the most extraordinary musical thinkers of our time, who address composing, performing, improvising, touring, collaborating, living and thinking about music from diverse, refreshing and often surprising perspectives. Technical, philosophical, political, artistic and mystical in nature, these writings provide direct connections to the creative processes and hidden stratagems of musicians from the worlds of classical, rock, jazz, film soundtrack, improvised music and more.Contributors include: Susan Alcorn, Oren Ambarchi, Ran Blake, Peter Blegvad, Tyondai Braxton, Patricia Brennan, John Butcher, Ben Coniguliaro, Amir Elsaffar, Kenny Grohowski, Tom Guralnick, Mark Helias, David Hertzberg, Stefan Jackiw, Dan Kaufman, Derek Keller, Richard Kessler, Pauline Kim, Ulrich Krieger, Hannah Lash, Dan Lippel, Annea Lockwood, Dave Lombardo, Charlie Looker, Thomas Morgan, Stephen O'Malley, Laura Ortman, Alex Paxton, Alexandria Smith, Conrad Tao, Pat Thomas, Henry Threadgill, Anna Webber, Fay Victor, Christian Wolff and Miguel Zenon.

Initiated in 1997 and now in its ninth installment, John Zorn's Arcana series is a major source of new music theory and practice in the 21st century. To date, close to 300 musicians spanning three generations have contributed, addressing the inner workings of composing, improvising, teaching, living, touring and thinking about music via essays, manifestoes, interviews, notebook entries, critical papers and more. Arcana illuminates via personal vision and experience through the undiluted words and thoughts of the practitioners themselves. This ninth volume is perhaps the most varied and imaginative installment yet, with contributions from classical masters John Luther Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, Ann Cleare and Aaron Jay Kernis, jazz virtuosos Christian McBride, Chris Potter, Tomeka Reid and Joel Ross, soundtrack composers Danny Elfman and Carter Burwell, vocalist Ganavya Doraiswami, recording engineer Ryan Streber and much, much more. Essential for composers, musicians, students and fans alike, this challenging and original collection provides deep insight into the work, mind and methodologies of some of the most remarkable creative minds of our time.