Tzadik

Percussionist Cyro Baptista is what’s known as a “musical omnivore” : he eats pop with Paul Simon, jam with Trey Anastasio and cream of the “downtown” crop of avant-garde jazz musicians. Caym, the latest from his working band, Banquet of the Spirits, falls squarely into that last category, and exclusively features the music of sound maverick John Zorn. Ripped from the pages of Zorn’s Masada book, this music essentially amounts to jazz tunes based on Jewish scales, but it’s filtered through the zaniness of Baptista and his cohorts. The intensely grooving “Tzar Tak” has a quasi-Bollywood feel, and boasts some particularly filthy synth work from keyboardist Brian Marsella. The slinky “Yeqon” clops along slowly underneath blankets of melodica, harpsichord, vibraphone and oud.