Tommy Mars is a keyboard

Electronic keyboard

An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...

 player, best known for his work with 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...

.

Born in Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, U.S.A., 26 October 1951 Mars began piano lessons at age eight, and later his instrument range expanded to various keyboards and synthesizers. Mars graduated in 1972 from the Hartt College of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut. From there he struggled to hold a variety of musical jobs including choirmaster, church organist, movie accompanist and more. In a 1980 interview in Keyboard Magazine, Mars described one of the more unusual jobs he had as follows - "I was working in this revolving organ bar in Kodiak, Alaska, with Japanese and Russian fishermen kicking me in the back if I couldn't play an ethnic folk song to their drunken satisfaction".

Knowing nothing about Zappa except for the songs "King Kong" and "Peaches en Regalia", Mars was asked to audition for Zappa's band with the help of percussionist Ed Mann

Ed Mann

Ed Mann has been "a drummer and piano dabbler since childhood", best known for his mallet percusion recorded and live work with Frank Zappa from 1977 to the end of Zappa's career.- Career :...

, also a member of Zappa's group. From 1977 to 1982 he was part of Zappa's touring band, appeared in the movie Baby Snakes

Baby Snakes

Baby Snakes is a movie which includes footage from Frank Zappa's 1977 Halloween concert at New York City's Palladium Theater, backstage antics from the crew, and stop motion clay animation from award-winning animator Bruce Bickford....

, and recorded a number of Zappa albums.

After his work with Zappa, Mars alternated between teaching and touring with Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....

 or Stuart Hamm

Stuart Hamm

Stuart "Stu" Hamm is an American bass guitar player, known for his session and live work with numerous artists as well for his unconventional playing style and solo recordings.-Beginning career:...

. In mid 1990s, Mars formed The Band From Utopia, a group consisting of 10 Zappa band alumni, performing Zappa's music as a tribute band

Tribute band

A tribute act is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act - sometimes one which has disbanded, ceased touring or is deceased. Probably the largest class of tributes acts are Elvis impersonators, individual performers who mimic the songs and style...

.

In 2007 Strange News From Mars was presented, a jazz hybrid with Jon Larsen

Jon Larsen

Jon Larsen is an autodidact guitarist, composer, surrealistic painter, and record producer with heavy influence on the revival of Gypsy jazz worldwide...

, on Zonic Entertainment, featuring Bruce Fowler

Bruce Fowler

Bruce Lambourne Fowler is a prominent American trombone player and composer. He notably played trombone on many Frank Zappa records, as well as with Captain Beefheart, and in the Fowler Brothers Band...

, Jimmy Carl Black

Jimmy Carl Black

Jimmy Carl Black , born James Inkanish, Jr., was a drummer and vocalist for The Mothers of Invention.-Career: 1960s-1990s:Born in El Paso, Texas, Black was of Cheyenne heritage...

, Arthur Barrow

Arthur Barrow

Arthur Barrow is a multi-instrumental musician, best known for his stint as a bass guitar player for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and early 1980s.-Early life:...

, and other Zappa alumni. 2008 Tommy Mars has a brief (three tracks) appearance on The Jimmy Carl Black Story, together with the original Mothers Of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black

Jimmy Carl Black

Jimmy Carl Black , born James Inkanish, Jr., was a drummer and vocalist for The Mothers of Invention.-Career: 1960s-1990s:Born in El Paso, Texas, Black was of Cheyenne heritage...

.

Spring 2009 was the release of the 2005 recorded No Forest Fire: Tommy Mars together with The Band From Utopia members Bruce Fowler

Bruce Fowler

Bruce Lambourne Fowler is a prominent American trombone player and composer. He notably played trombone on many Frank Zappa records, as well as with Captain Beefheart, and in the Fowler Brothers Band...

, Walt Fowler, Kurt McGettrick, Larry Klimas (not from TBFU), Arthur Barrow

Arthur Barrow

Arthur Barrow is a multi-instrumental musician, best known for his stint as a bass guitar player for Frank Zappa in the late 1970s and early 1980s.-Early life:...

, and Vinnie Colaiuta

Vinnie Colaiuta

Vincent 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...

.

In 2010 Tommy Mars recorded the surrealistic audio book Willie Nickerson's Egg, written by Jon Larsen

Jon Larsen

Jon Larsen is an autodidact guitarist, composer, surrealistic painter, and record producer with heavy influence on the revival of Gypsy jazz worldwide...

, released in 2011.

External links

• http://www.united-mutations.com/m/tommy_mars.htmReprint of 1980 interview, Keyboard Magazine
  Keyboard Magazine
  Keyboard Magazine is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, including those not strictly pertaining to the...
  
  ]
• Zappa Wiki Jawaka
• http://myspace.com/tommymars Tommy Mars on MySpace