Painkiller

Emerging in 1991, Pain Killer brings together alto saxophonist John Zorn, born in 1953 in New York, NY, bassist Bill Laswell, born in 1950, and Mick Harris, who previously drummed for Napalm Death. Long celebrated for his work in bebop and free jazz, Zorn shares an active presence on the New York City avant-garde jazz scene with Laswell, whose own free jazz performances have spanned multiple groups and whose production credits extend to albums by jazz, metal, alternative, and pop artists. The trio arose from Zorn’s respect for death-metal and grindcore bands such as Napalm Death, which he compared in intensity to 1960s free jazz, yielding the group’s singular and demanding blend of those traditions.