Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute
Encyclopedia
Frank Zappa Plays the Music of Frank Zappa: A Memorial Tribute is a posthumous album by Frank Zappa
.
According to the liner notes, Frank's son Dweezil
talked with his father shortly before Frank's death about the songs Frank had written that he would consider to be his "signature" tunes. These were "Zoot Allures", "Black Napkins" and "Watermelon in Easter Hay". The album compiles the original album versions of these three pieces, along with an alternate, live take of each, and the track "Merely a Blues in A", a blues
improvisation recorded in Paris in 1974. It was released by The Zappa Family Trust and is only available online from Barfko-Swill—the mail-order section on zappa.com.
Similar albums: Guitar, Trance-Fusion
, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar
, The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa
.
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
.
According to the liner notes, Frank's son Dweezil
Dweezil Zappa
Dweezil Zappa is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor.-Early life:Zappa was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of musician Frank Zappa and Adelaide Gail Sloatman, who worked in business. He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon, younger sister Diva and younger...
talked with his father shortly before Frank's death about the songs Frank had written that he would consider to be his "signature" tunes. These were "Zoot Allures", "Black Napkins" and "Watermelon in Easter Hay". The album compiles the original album versions of these three pieces, along with an alternate, live take of each, and the track "Merely a Blues in A", a blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
improvisation recorded in Paris in 1974. It was released by The Zappa Family Trust and is only available online from Barfko-Swill—the mail-order section on zappa.com.
Similar albums: Guitar, Trance-Fusion
Trance-Fusion
Trance-Fusion is the name of an album of guitar solos completed by Frank Zappa shortly before his death, but not released until 2006. The album had previously been announced for release in 1999, and 2003 and again announced in 2005 in relation to the Zappa Plays Zappa tour...
, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar
Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar
Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar is a triple vinyl album, originally issued mail order-only as three separate volumes, featuring live material recorded by Frank Zappa between February 1977 and December 1980. The final track, "Canard du Jour", is a duet with Frank Zappa on electric bouzouki and Jean-Luc...
, The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa
The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa
The Guitar World According to Frank Zappa is a 1987 compilation album featuring guitar solos by Frank Zappa. It was issued as a cassette from Guitar World magazine, and has also been available in bootlegged versions as Guitar Hernia and Solo on Guitar...
.
Track listing
All tracks by Frank Zappa.- "Black Napkins" – 7:10
- "Black Napkins" (Zoot AlluresZoot AlluresZoot Allures is a 1976 rock album by Frank Zappa. This was Zappa's only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager Herb Cohen Frank Zappa's recording contract was temporarily re-assigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.The title is a pun on the French...
album version) – 4:15 - "Zoot Allures" – 15:45
- "Merely a Blues in A" – 7:27
- "Zoot Allures" (Zoot AlluresZoot AlluresZoot Allures is a 1976 rock album by Frank Zappa. This was Zappa's only release on the Warner Bros. Records label. Due to a lawsuit with his former manager Herb Cohen Frank Zappa's recording contract was temporarily re-assigned from DiscReet Records to Warner Bros.The title is a pun on the French...
album version) – 4:05 - "Watermelon in Easter Hay" – 6:42
- "Watermelon in Easter Hay" (Joe's GarageJoe's GarageJoe's Garage is a 1979 rock opera by Frank Zappa. Zappa stated that along with Lumpy Gravy, this album was one of his finest achievements. It was originally released as two separate albums, the first comprising Act I, and the second part as a double-album which made up Acts II & III. All three...
album version) – 8:42
Personnel
- Frank ZappaFrank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
– lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, vocals - Terry BozzioTerry BozzioTerry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.-Biography:Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Napoleon Murphy BrockNapoleon Murphy BrockNapoleon Murphy Brock is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums One Size Fits All, Roxy and Elsewhere, and Bongo Fury...
– tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, vocals - Norma Bell – vocals
- André Lewis – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, vocals - Roy EstradaRoy EstradaRoy Estrada is an American musician and backing vocalist, best known for his bass guitar work with Frank Zappa and for co-founding Little Feat.-Biography:With drummer Jimmy Carl Black and Ray Collins, Estrada was an original member of Frank Zappa's...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Chester Thompson – drums
- Tom Fowler – bass guitar
- George DukeGeorge DukeGeorge Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
– keyboards, vocals - Dave Parlato – bass guitar
- Ruth Underwood – marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
- Lou Anne Neill – harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
- Patrick O'HearnPatrick O'HearnPatrick O'Hearn is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and recording artist. While his musical repertoire spans a diverse range of music, he is an acclaimed New Age artist in his solo career...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Tommy Mars – keyboards
- Ed Mann – percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
- Adrian BelewAdrian BelewAdrian Belew is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer...
– rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Vinnie ColaiutaVinnie ColaiutaVincent Colaiuta is an American drummer based in Los Angeles. Originally from Republic, Pennsylvania, he began playing drums as a child and received his first full drum kit from his parents at the age of 14...
– drums-optometric abandon - Arthur Barrow – bass
- Peter WolfPeter WolfPeter Wolf is an American Rhythm and Blues, Soul and Rock and Roll musician, best known as the lead vocalist for the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983; and for a successful musical solo career to date with writing partner Will Jennings.- Life and career :Wolf was born in the Bronx, New York...
– keyboards - Warren CuccurulloWarren CuccurulloWarren Bruce Cuccurullo in Brooklyn, New York is an American rock musician who worked with Frank Zappa, was a founding member of Missing Persons, and has been a long term member of Duran Duran. He also has some notoriety in the porn industry after making nude appearances in a magazine and...
– rhythm guitar