The Book of Heads
The Book of Heads (1978), composed by John Zorn, is a set of 35 etudes for solo guitar. It was recorded and released in 1995, and featured Marc Ribot. The pieces use multiple extended techniques. Condensed from roughly 80 other compositions, the work was originally composed for Eugene Chadbourne. Zorn learned the extended techniques from Chadbourne, and used them to create a piece that would push Chadbourne's virtuosity to new levels. Zorn incorporated new techniques, such as rubbing balloons on the guitar strings until they pop, holding talking dolls up to the microphone, pulling the guitar strings out of the bridge notch, hitting the strings with pencils, and playing with rice. He also used classical guitar techniques, such as hitting the body of the guitar and multiple harmonics. A second complete recording of all 35 etudes by German guitarist Christoph Funabashi was released on the Berlin-based label schraum in 2012. Ten of the pieces are also featured on Marco Capelli’s YUN MU from 2002. In 2015 another complete edition was released on Tzadik by New York guitarist James Moore who worked with Zorn on the pieces. This one also contains a DVD with a film by Stephen Taylor. In recent