Little Dots

November 4th 2016

Tracks

Cosmik Debris
Little Dots (Part 1)
Little Dots (Part 2)
Rollo (includes: Rollo/ The Rollo Interior Area/ Rollo Goes Out)
Kansas City Shuffle
“Columbia, S.C.” (Part 1)
“Columbia, S.C.” (Part 2)

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Official Release #109

Catalog Number: ZR 20026

Original Recordings And Mixes Produced By Frank Zappa

Produced For Release By Ahmet Zappa & Joe Travers

Players:

Frank Zappa - Conductor, Guitar, Vocals

Malcolm McNab - Trumpet

Gary Barone - Trumpet

Tom Malone - Tuba/Saxes/Piccolo Trumpet/Trumpet

Earl Dumler - Woodwinds

Glenn Ferris - Trombone

Bruce Fowler - Trombone

Tony Duran - Slide Guitar

Dave Parlato - Bass

Jim Gordon - Drums, Steel Drum

Maury Baker - Drums, Steel Drum (“Columbia, SC”)

1972 4-Track ½-inch analog tape show masters recorded by Barry Keene

Mix Engineers: FZ, Michael Braunstein, Kerry McNabb

Mastering: Gavin Lurssen & Reuben Cohen at Lurssen Mastering, 2016

Audio Transfers and Compilation by Joe Travers, UMRK 2016

Liner Notes by Malcolm McNab and Maury Baker

Photos by Bernard Gardner

Package Design by Michael Mesker

Production Management by Melanie Starks

Special Thanks: Ahmet, Diva, Holland Greco, Charles Ulrich

Thanks Forever: Frank & Gail

Vaultmeister Notes

LITTLE DOTS is the audio sequel to IMAGINARY DISEASES - released in 2005. It consists of additional music compiled from master tapes that were handpicked and worked on by the Maestro himself. All masters were transferred at The Utility Muffin Research Kitchen in 2004. Most of these performances were scattered amongst various reels, some incomplete, all found in The Vault. Frank would work with material from this line-up on and off, but sadly nothing was ever officially released during his lifetime. IMAGINARY DISEASES was the first release to feature the “Petit Wazoo”, a short-lived 10-piece ensemble with an emphasis on brass and woodwind instrumentation. (with maybe even a little steel drum on the side…)

To quote Gail Zappa: “This is the 10 Piece Band as ordained by FZ who also called it the Mothers of Invention, although at this point in time and space this entitlement was more a marketing device and part of the conceptual continuity. For everyone on the other side of the speaker cabinets however, it will always be the Petit Wazoo.”

A tour was booked that took the band through the U.S. & Canada during the end of October through December, 1972. During this tour, many new compositions were introduced for the first time. “Little Dots,” the piece, makes it’s debut on this release. “Cosmik Debris” is the first version which predates the issued master on APOSTROPHE(’) in 1974. “Rollo” can now be heard in it’s initial and complete three-movement form. There were also many instances where Frank would challenge the group to on-the-spot improvisations, or just hit ‘em with a good ol’ nasty blues as evident on “Kansas City Shuffle”.

— Joe Travers, Vaultmeister

"Suppose we were to just sort of make something up right here on the stage, would that be offensive to you? Okay? Blues, Jazz? Suppose it was none of the above. Suppose some of those other things creep into it periodically. All we’d like to do is just extend our imagination a little bit up here and see what happens."