50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1

50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1 is a live album by the Masada String Trio documenting their performance at Tonic in September 2003 as part of John Zorn's month-long 50th Birthday Celebration concert series.^[1][2]

50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1
Live album by Masada String Trio
Released	February 24, 2004 (2004-02-24)
Recorded	September 3, 2003
Genre	Downtown music Avant-garde jazz
Length	63:03
Label	Tzadik TZ 5001
Producer	John Zorn
Masada String Trio chronology
Filmworks XI: Secret Lives (2002) 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1 (2004) Azazel: Book of Angels Volume 2 (2005)
John Zorn chronology
Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking (2003) 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 1 (2004) 50th Birthday Celebration Volume 2 (2004)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]

The Allmusic review by Sean Westergaard awarded the album 4.5 stars stating "From soloing to comping, bowing to pizzicato techniques, the set is dazzling from start to finish. Only "Malkut" and "Karet" are anything but beautiful, sounding like pieces left more open to free improvisation than the others, and allowing other facets of the players' abilities to come out. The Masada songbook has elicited a rather large number of truly excellent recordings from its various ensembles. Add this one to the list. Recommended."^[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by John Zorn.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Tahah"	7:53
2.	"Abidan"	5:25
3.	"Lachish"	3:29
4.	"Sippur"	3:27
5.	"Malkhut*"	5:02
6.	"Meholalot"	6:30
7.	"Kedushah"	8:31
8.	"Ner Tamid"	3:37
9.	"Karet"	4:12
10.	"Moshav"	8:07
11.	"Khebar"	6:50

• *misspelled as "Malkut" on album sleeve ^[4]

Personnel

• Greg Cohen – bass
• Mark Feldman – violin
• Erik Friedlander – cello
• John Zorn – conductor