Zappa.com

Very interesting observations.

_________________
"drums are too noisy, 'n you've got no corners to hide in"

That is interesting. Is there a way to check that out?


Aside from which. I like The Grand Wazoo quite a bit. Especially around a minute or so in.

yep, you're correct about both.

ah, yes. georg riedel and jan johansson. two brilliant musicians/arrangers/composers. sadly enough, jan johansson passed away in a car crash in 1968, only 37 years old.

every time I listen to 'ruins' from henry cow's second album 'unrest', there's a short part which makes me think of the theme from "vi på saltkråkan" (another astrid lindgren creation), composed by georg riedel.

_________________
"bit of nostalgia for the old folks."

Alien Orifice live dvd is great, one of franks best solo's.

_________________
Confusion will be my epitaph

I quite like the extra music that is added on "America Drinks and Goes Home" for Jean Luc Ponty's version on "King Kong" album. Really makes me wonder if it was a post-facto addition or rejected originally because of being too difficult for Absolutely Free era MOI? Petite Wazoo Orchestra in any way played the JLP version live in 1972.

And speaking of "King Kong" album, I think "The Duke of Prunes" theme that surfaces on the original version of "Low Budget Orchestra" is also a good vehicle for improvisation, just a simple two-chord theme with very nice violin and piano solos.

Oh, and "Farther O'Blivion"! I think FZ once in 1973 made a comment: "To prove that jazz is dead, here's "Farther O'Blivion"". This ties together with "Bebop Tango's" classic sarcastic jibe: "Jazz is not dead it just smells funny". For a dead musical idiom in which it is obviously all composed, it sounds very interesting. I especially like the 1973 Ponty era versions, while I still have no idea what bebop elements are in the tango, I appreciate the idea of using clarinet as one of the lead instruments.

_________________
Lies are like quicksand, soft and comfortable, but they will swallow us. Truth is like bedrock, hard and uncomfortable, but we can always stand on it

Are you saying jazz is a dead musical idiom?, I say, NOT, try the new Brubeck Brothers cd.

_________________
Confusion will be my epitaph

My personal favourite has to be Little Umbrellas. It's great to read recommendations from other fans, especially from CD's I don't own. Gives me some ideas as to what to buy next. Thanks everyone.

_________________
A succulent fat one. A mod little flat one. Maybe a hot one, to give me the clap.

I sincerely hope not. But apparently FZ considered it "dead" and that's what I referred to. Clearly I was not precise enough.

_________________
Lies are like quicksand, soft and comfortable, but they will swallow us. Truth is like bedrock, hard and uncomfortable, but we can always stand on it

I think Jazz in the classical sense did die as a progressive musical form in about 1968 with the death of Coltrane and Ayler a bit later. Everything since is just a retreading of what went before. I exclude fusion and European Free Imrov from this however. If this is was what Zappa meant then I'm with him.