The Sergio Leone tribute album was The Big Gundown, recorded in 1985 for Nonesuch (since reissued, along with a Jean-Luc Godard tribute, by Tzadik), and is widely considered Zorn's artistic and commercial breakthrough. His prospects for a successful big-label career were quashed when he and Nonesuch had artistic differences: He wanted the cover of his next album to show a man's head on a platter; the label didn't; Zorn took his tapes and walked out. The Big Gundown also marked the serious beginnings of Zorn's role as the downtown avant-jazz scene's impresario: The album brought together guitarists Bill Frisell, Robert Quine, Arto Lindsay, and Vernon Reid, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, and percussionists Bobby Previte and Cyro Baptista—none of them well-known at the time, most of them stars today—alongside veteran jazz and blues musicians Big John Patton on organ and Toots Thielemans on harmonica.