Zappa.com

Apologies if this has already been posted. Excellent BBC radio documentary on Zappa's jazz influences. Great interviews with lot's of band members.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jus7lnP72Fs

It's funny, I just saw the first part of that and it seemed to be on a sorta mistaken premise. Zappa himself admitted that he was a fan of Cecil Taylor (describing a solo on Freak Out! as being similar), Eric Dolphy (even naming a piece after him!), and Mingus. Apparently one of his and Beefheart's favorite records was 'Sketches of Spain' (you could make a good argument for that being very 'classical', though) and Zappa considered Oliver Nelson's 'Blues and The Abstract Truth' one of the greatest albums ever, placing 'Stolen Moments' right next to Varese and Stravinsky.

If anything, I think Zappa's 'disdain' for Jazz was mostly an image thing. (though granted, his interest in Jazz was pretty exclusively for the modern stuff; he was no bebopper.)

But I'll listen to the rest of the thing before I make any judgements on the quality. It looks fantastic for the interviews alone; and it's nice that for once they're talking about the music.

Thanks for that. A fine listen.

Slightly related, in terms of FZs influences - see my Another boot thread...

HEY!!!

Thanks for posting this. I thought I'd seen/heard everything Zappa on YouTube.

"The Beatles were IMPRESSED!"


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"I'll do the stupid thing first and then you shy people follow..."

Great listen! Thanks!

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I checked this out last week.
Duke spoke about how FZ would explain a guitar solo to him in terms of rectangles, squiggles, dots, etc. In other words shaped visual terms.

I wonder if FZ had synesthesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
Your thoughts?

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