50th Birthday Celebration Volume 5

50th Birthday Celebration Volume 5
Live album by John Zorn and Fred Frith
Released	June 29, 2004
Recorded	September 15, 2003
Venue	Tonic, New York City
Genre	Downtown music Avant-garde jazz
Length	44:53
Label	Tzadik TZ 5005
Producer	John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
Masada Recital (2004) 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 5 (2004) 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 6 (2004)
John Zorn & Fred Frith chronology
The Art of Memory (1994) 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 5 (2004) The Art of Memory II (2008)

50th Birthday Celebration Volume 5 is a live album of improvised music by Fred Frith and John Zorn documenting their performance at Tonic in September 2003 as part of Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Sean Westergaard awarded the album 4 stars stating "The interplay is simply amazing. Much of it is what you'd expect from free improv, but there are a handful of beautiful, lyrical moments, like those that close the set. Any fan of free improvisation will be thrilled. It doesn't get much better than this."

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Zorn and Fred Frith

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Off Topic"	7:29
2.	"Alecto"	3:56
3.	"Sowers of Discord"	3:54
4.	"Four Corners"	8:14
5.	"Level Six Jumping"	4:33
6.	"Cruel Abstraction"	6:25
7.	"Eumenides Outside the Window"	6:54
8.	"Nine-part Invention"	4:37
9.	"Cord Trouble and Tuning"	1:38
10.	"Astrologers and Magicians"	6:31

• Recorded live at Tonic in New York City on September 15, 2003

Personnel

• John Zorn – alto saxophone
• Fred Frith – guitars