Bar Kokhba Sextet brings together six core members of the Masada family under the leadership of John Zorn. The music act is an improvisational group from New York's best downtown artists, including Cyro Baptista on percussion, Marc Ribot on guitar, Greg Cohen on bass, Joey Baron on drums and Mark Feldman / Erik Friedlander on strings. According to Tzadik, John Zorn's music label, the band's music is
"Sephardic exotica for young moderns"
The Bar Kokhba album recorded between 1994 & 1996 together with the Masada musical project was the album that started John Zorn's 2nd evolution into Masada Book Two (II) or Book of Angels during the Winter of 2005 at Tonic (New York City) after performing a ravishing set of sessions of filmworks at the Anthology Film Archives in the same city during the Winter of 2004.
John Zorn / Bar Kokhba: Lucifer: Book of Angels Volume 10 album review by Troy Collins, published on March 17, 2008. Find thousands jazz reviews at All About Jazz!
The first time I saw him play it was in NYC with multiple guest sax players. Started with a solid hour of skronking, then seamlessly into Mood Indigo played dead straight off a chart Duke Ellington would've loved. Space is the place, indeed. One of those things that's so much better live in a small-ish club than a big barn or on recordings. But yeah, a little can go a long way.