Almost 10 years ago, in the early, pre-DIW days of Masada, there was something exciting about Zorn's project, which came on the heels of the dissolution of his Naked City. It wasn't about hearing familiar compositions played by one of the best working jazz bands around (as the Zorn/Dave Douglas/Joey Baron/Greg Cohen quartet has become), or about hearing those same pieces played by a string trio of string-and-percussion sextet. It was about a feeling of unpredictability.

The original idea, that Masada was a songbook, not a band, was in practice for less than a year before gelling into a group with a month of open rehearsals at an East Village restaurant. Initially, a Masada show might be any of a number of assemblages of Zorn cohorts (one show even featured the twin sax front line of Zorn and John Lurie), and fans assigned point-of-reference nicknames like "Electric Masada" and "West Coast Masada" to the various line-ups.

For Masada's tin anniversary, Zorn is returning to the song-not-the- singer approach. The first in a series of "Masada 10 Years" releases is a setting of the now familiar heads for solo guitar, to be followed in March by a double cd with two dozen bands performing from the songbook (presumably Zorn won't be releasing this as "Great Jewish Music: John Zorn," although it's the thought that counts).

Volume 1 of the self-styled tribute is simply beautiful. The 21 tracks alternate between longtime Zorn collaborator Marc Ribot (who is also a part of the "Chamber Masada" sextet), Naked City guitarist Bill Frisell and Tim Sparks, whose fingerpicking has been showcased on three previous Tzadik releases. The themes are, of course, recognizable, but the takes on the songs are utterly f resh. Masada Guitars is easily the most exciting Masada release since 1996's Bar Khoba.

The disc opens with a lovely acoustic reading of "Abidan" by Frisell. It's a straight read, and he seems the least likely of the three to have played it. On his second piece "Bikkurim," his effect pedals do begin to twinkle and by track seven, "Katzatz," his familiar, disjointed phrasing and barely-harnessed electrical waves are in full effect.

Some of Marc Ribot's most purely beautiful playing has been on the Chamber Masada recordings. Like Frisell, he starts pretty and works his way out as the disc progresses, the two creating small bursts of energy as the track selection round-robins around them. Tim Sparks, meanwhile, delivers gorgeous, non-ironic, never clever interpretations. He's a talented traditionalist who was weighed down by weaker material on previous releases. Here he shines.

For three very different guitarists recording in different places with different engineers, the sound is clear and remarkably consistent. The players themselves, however, would have been better served by presenting each of their seven tracks in blocks rather than in rotation. But then, that's why G-d made cd players programmable.