Zappa?

i was sittin here re reading the post's & listening to fz 'the legend of the illinois enema bandit'when it hit me that most new zappa fan's arent hip to all of the talent that was in fz's band's.

most people think of fz as a drug crazed mad man or just a weird hippy who made silly funny music & never realize that there were juliard trained musician's in some of his band's & other musician's that were part of the miles davis line up who later went on to form & play in some of the best band's ever like king crimson & return to forever.

a smoking hot jazz album to check out is 'jean-luc-ponty plays the music of frank zappa,king kong'if you like fusion jazz king kong will not dissapoint you.

mike.

I grew up on FZ & saw him 5 times. Saw some of the greats he had in his band..Napolean Murphy Brock, Captain Beefheart...

It's a crime he died so young. It's also a shame that his "hits" that went commercial painted him differently in the public's eyes than he really was. Personally I think he'll stand the test of time with some of the great composers of the past. A girlfriend I had many years ago had never heard of FZ (she grew up in a rather sheltered world) and happened to be a classical pianist...she's since played in the UK for the Queen and a number of other similar venues in EU & China...also placed very well in Van Cliburn's competition.
..anyway

I played some FZ for her a couple times and even though the music seemed very far from her world she perked up as soon as she heard it..."WHO IS this guy?" She thought he was pretty incredible.

If you're into FZ-once removed you might want to look into the Omibus Wind Ensemble's recordings of FZ compositions...very nice.

http://www.opus3records.com/list.html#Chamber

I'd also put in a vote for Chunga's Revenge, Zoot Allures, I don't think Bongo Fury has been mentioned(excellent), Hot Rats, One Size Fits All, Joe's Garage..., Roxy & Elewhere..others..

Weasels Ripped My Flesh, Burnt Weenie Sandwich and Chunga's Revenge are three you should definitely check out. If I could have only one Zappa album It would have to be "Were Only in it for the Money".

The Yellow Shark is EASILY his definitive and best work. Nothing even come remotely close.

As long as we're setting the record straight about what Frank was and about what Frank was not, I thought to drop this little tidbit in for good measure. Zappa dispelled the "Mr. Green Genes rumor" on p. 13 of his autobiography, "The Real Frank Zappa Book":

"Because I recorded a song called 'Son of Mr. Green Genes" on the 'Hot Rats' album in 1969, people have believed for years that the character with that name on the 'Captain Kangaroo' TV show (played by Lumpy Brannum) was my 'real' Dad. No, he was not."

Sorry, fans. Happy Listening!