Thread 127654661

For the discussion of American composer Frank Zappa (1940-1993), and associated acts.

Links:

https://www.zappa.com/#/ Official site

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-Qb2d6dJJJtNL4rgr3FNw Official YT channel

https://www.afka.net/ Zappa in print media

https://www.dweezilzappa.com/ Legacy

https://zappa.fandom.com/wiki/Frank_Zappa Zappa wiki

https://www.donlope.net/fz/index.html All things Zappa, and links to other resources

https://fzpomd.net/turtlestew/index.htm Live show/touring wiki

https://www.zappateers.com/login Trading tapes and boots

R.I.P. Mark Volman

https://deadline.com/2025/09/mark-volman-dead-the-turtles-1236509216/

>>127654679
zappa sure had a bad habit of firing outstanding frontmen, didnt he?
>ray collins
>flo and eddie
both unironically instrumental in early mothers cult popularity. ppl were going to the shows night after night, in part because of the strange music, but also from their crazy stage show.
and its not like he ever even rly replaced the frontmen he fired. 70s mothers he was either singing leads himself (which he was truly terrible at lol) or hed have one of his hired gun horn players like george singing it all. the latter was "fine", duke could sing well enough (better than frank at least). but he wasnt the caliber of frontman that the early mothers had. not even close

early mothers > later mothers
and dudes like mark were a huge part of that
F

>>127654705
i wish frank hadnt been so scared of ever playing simple rhythm guitar
in the few clips ive ever seen of him actually doing it, its clear he was VERY good at it

it seems like he was kinda bound by his own autism to constantly be pushing for some new abstraction or complexity. arguably to his own detriment, even

>>127654918
There were a few people that he kept around. Frank wasn't a "Band" guy, he just wanted to hear his music played and make money to pay his lawyers. He would hire anyone who could help out.

>>127654995
>Frank wasn't a "Band" guy
yea i can tell
his band arguably got "worse" as he hired "better" musicians (imo at least)
i think its far too pragmatic to look at various combinations of musicians as simply "additive/subtractive". its very much more a "multiplicative/synergetic" kinda thing. certain pairings of musicians can give a force multiplier to the surrounding musicians. see: art tripp + JCB = the best drums zappa ever had (imo). in spite of bozio clearly being the better drummer from a tech standpoint

theres something rly rly interesting with early mothers, in that it was mostly ordinary bar-gig lvl musicians, but being forced to play to an absurdly high standard. everyone was playing within an inch of their life. as frank swapped out the parts for higher caliber guns, it lost some of that. like, you cant write music that would make george duke sweat. period. guys an animal, so hell always sound at least "comfortable". but sometimes those more ragged edges can fit the music better imo. and franks weird ass music is definitely in that camp, as far as im concerned

>>127655077
agreed, except for Ruth. Don Preston was insane, Duke was a pro's pro. But there was no one like Ruthie. She is the reason everyone loved his early '70s bands.

>>127654661 (OP)
He had a good ear for talent