The Book of Heads

The Book of Heads
Studio album by John Zorn/Marc Ribot
Released	Oct 1995
Recorded	1995
Genre	Avant-garde
Length	56:00
Label	Tzadik TZ 7009
Producer	John Zorn
John Zorn chronology
Nani Nani (1995) The Book of Heads (1995) Filmworks II: Music for an Untitled Film by Walter Hill (1995)
Marc Ribot chronology
Subsonic 1: Sounds of a Distant Episode (1994) The Book of Heads (1995) Don't Blame Me (1995)

The Book of Heads (1978), composed by John Zorn, is a set of 35 etudes for solo guitar.^[1] 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.^[2] Ten of the pieces are also featured on Marco Capelli’s YUN MU from 2002.^[3] 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.^[4] In recent years there has been growing interest in The Book of Heads with performances by adventurous guitarists throughout the world – notably Alessandra Novaga in Italy and Kobe Van Cauwenberghe in France.