Hoodoo Zephyr

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Unique among the composer’s recordings, Hoodoo Zephyr is an electronic solo work created in the studio, released as a definitive “final cut.” Says Adams, “I was able to enter an imaginative world that I could never inhabit writing orchestral music.”

Description

Hoodoo Zephyr, the October 8, 1993, Nonesuch release by John Adams, features a behind-the-scenes look at the Grammy Award-winning composer of Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer. Five Yamaha keyboards and a rack of samplers have served Adams in his recent composition and orchestration activities. Here he brings these midi synthesizers to the forefront, in a CD of seven short compositions inspired by Western landscapes.

Produced in the upstairs studio of Adams’s Berkeley home, Hoodoo Zephyr extends the range of a composer whose versatility is well documented. From the lyrical guitar solo of “Disappointment Lake” to the propulsive bass clarinets and tympani of the title track, Adams’s recognizable style is joined with an array of sampled sounds in a high-end romp through numerous musical vocabularies.

 

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by John Adams
Engineer: Mark Grey
Consultant for mixing and production: Paul Dresher
Mastered by Robert Ludwig

Composed and produced January 1992 to May 1993 in Berkeley, California, utilizing the Korg Wavestation, Yamaha Electone, Yamaha SY77 and SY99, E Mu Systems Proteus I and E-Max II, Kurzweil K-2000 and Lexicon LXP-15.

Design by John Heiden
Photography by Deborah O’Grady

Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

Nonesuch Selection Number

79311

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
ns_album_artistid
2
ns_album_id
8
ns_album_releasedate
ns_genre_1
0
ns_genre_2
0
Album Status
Artist Name
John Adams
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
All songs composed and performed by John Adams

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
603497098866
  • 79311

Track Listing

News & Reviews

  • Girls of the Golden West, John Adams’ eighth music theater work to be released by Nonesuch, is due April 26. The composer leads the LA Phil in this recording made in Disney Hall, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale led by Grant Gershon. You can hear the aria "Wagon Ride," featuring Davóne Tines and Julia Bullock, now. For the opera, which tells the story of the California Gold Rush, longtime Adams collaborator Peter Sellars drew from original sources from the era—letters, journals, newspaper articles, and familiar song lyrics—to create the libretto. The cast also includes Paul Appleby, Hye Jung Lee, Elliot Madore, Daniela Mack, and Ryan McKinny.

  • The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2024–25 season, including the Met premiere of John Adams's latest opera, Antony and Cleopatra, on May 12, 2025. The adaptation of Shakespeare’s drama stars soprano Julia Bullock, following her company debut in Adams’s El Niño this April, as Cleopatra, opposite bass-baritone Gerald Finley’s Antony. Adams himself conducts a new staging by director Elkhanah Pulitzer, who transports the story from ancient Rome to the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s. Performances run through June 7, 2025. 

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  • About This Album

    Hoodoo Zephyr, the October 8, 1993, Nonesuch release by John Adams, features a behind-the-scenes look at the Grammy Award-winning composer of Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer. Five Yamaha keyboards and a rack of samplers have served Adams in his recent composition and orchestration activities. Here he brings these midi synthesizers to the forefront, in a CD of seven short compositions inspired by Western landscapes.

    Produced in the upstairs studio of Adams’s Berkeley home, Hoodoo Zephyr extends the range of a composer whose versatility is well documented. From the lyrical guitar solo of “Disappointment Lake” to the propulsive bass clarinets and tympani of the title track, Adams’s recognizable style is joined with an array of sampled sounds in a high-end romp through numerous musical vocabularies.

     

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    All songs composed and performed by John Adams

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by John Adams
    Engineer: Mark Grey
    Consultant for mixing and production: Paul Dresher
    Mastered by Robert Ludwig

    Composed and produced January 1992 to May 1993 in Berkeley, California, utilizing the Korg Wavestation, Yamaha Electone, Yamaha SY77 and SY99, E Mu Systems Proteus I and E-Max II, Kurzweil K-2000 and Lexicon LXP-15.

    Design by John Heiden
    Photography by Deborah O’Grady

    Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz

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