The Wrecking Crew were the musicians on Lumpy Gravy.Tommy Tedesco said, when they all saw Frank, this was to be another pop infused easy day of work. Then Frank handed them all the charts.
Theyy refused to playvtheir charts at all as this longhaired freak clearly had no idea what he was doing. So, Frank played the clarinet part on his guitar and they all were amazed, not only did he know music, it was beautiful music too. They came in with disdain (sspecially Tommy who apparently came in dressed as an american indian) and they left the sessions as lifelong Zappa fans.
@@hansvandermeulen5515 I first read he played the guitar part on a clarinet - and I believed it too. 😅 Frank Zappa was my first idol in music, 'some' (45) years ago. Well, in music and mind too. He really helped me going through this society in agony. 💚🙏
Still to this day I marveled on Zappa was able to pull Lumpy Gravy off. How it was paid for, how he had the time (with all the other crap he was doing -> see the MOI) to arrange and conduct this stuff, how with all the hours and hours of tape to review and splice into perfect shape, how it was able to "stop" and create a finished product. It being one of FZ's favorite projects back then, it was the equivalent of the LSO recordings. And who the hell dislike this one? Why are you even here?
He produced more albuns than years he was alive..........and he still left loads of material for his legacy to carry on! Brilliant! The only music scientist that ever lived. R.I.P. FRANK
Frank had 10 years of ideas and compositions to fit into Lumpy Gravy - music which didn’t suit Freak Out or Absolutely Free - and there’s no stronger material for a musician for themes and arrangements which have been going around your head for ten years. And these ideas weren’t in my ordinary head - they were in Frank’s!! Many musicians run out of steam after an album or two but not Frank: the ideas kept coming. He also re-used many of the themes and ideas again and again throughout his career. The level of musical dexterity in Lumpy Gravy is astonishing - Frank plays with genres with utter confidence. It didn’t take him 50 albums to perfect his talent: it was there from the start, fully formed.
I always was fascinated as a child with the orchestra part of Lumpy. It’s great to hear FZ’s idea in its entirety- especially the odd “ psych” sections. Great trumpet solo. It’s just amazing, he was in his 20’s writing like this. FZ is the best!
Frank! We miss you so! It's been 50 years since I first heard him and I was called weird. Well, I'm still weird. Take that, Tipper Gore! You never stopped by the house to check out the toys.
The modern day composer refuses to die. The greatest of 20th century and beyond. 100 years from now the universe will still celebrate his genius. Freak out!
Man who knows how lumpy gravy originally started , there's so many different versions, this here somewhere in between with themes and experimentation. Very good!
The fact is - as many albums as he put out over his lifetime he was so prolific that every one of them could have been double and we'd STILL have a warehouse worth
I started playing drums in 1960 when I was seven years old.I knew about the regular radio music but late night free form jazz and avant guard caught my ear .I didn't know I was hearing the dead letter office of commercial broadcast.We lived next to the mountains along Route 66.Then there was this skinny I-talian boy from Cucamonga...
That was the place my mom would threaten to ship me of to, when I misbehaved. I had no idea it was a real place. At the time , he was actually living there. Purely by accident, When I was four yo, I saw him play the bicycle on TV
Frank Zappa had an enormous influence on the British Canterbury Scene, as you can tell. You could make out some motifs here and there and relate the Lumpy Gravy piece to any albums by the Canterbury-related bands by similarity.
Not sure if he had enormous influence but these guys were definitely listening to Zappa. The link is the French promote Jean Gerogakarakos who had a record company called PYG Records and promoted mostly Gong (Daevid Allen); he is the one also who did Amougies festival under PYG Actuel. And his friend Michel Magne was the owner of the Chateau d'Hérouville where Gong did their first records as well as many other band, incl. Pink Floyd during the more period. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Georgakarakos
@@syn707 sorry ,i messed up,your correct. There is a version on capitol records though with some chick singing on it. I think this was one of his albums that had legal issues.(wzrner bros)
I don’t think I recognized him when I saw this before but yes, that is him. You can be sure there are other ‘Wrecking Crew” people sitting next to him.
this is so much more relaxing than some of the other things i listened to today.. narcist avoidance advice and pee-wee death , the end of the world by television witchcraft and the other things that pop up... THANK YOU !!! rockettebob in reno
Jimmy Zito Lew McCreary Ted Nash Gene Capriano John Rotella Pete Jolly Mike Lang Paul Smith Tommy Tedesco Emil Richards Victor Feldman Jimmy Bond Shelly Manne Frank Cap John Guerin
@@garygibson5983 Yes he did. But I would have loved more about those sessions. Not only his observations of the freak crowd surrounding the sessions, but any technical things he might have seen....but as a session player, he was doing a job...get in, and get the hell out! LOL
If I remember correctly, this same cast of musicians was working sessions with Brian Wilson for the Smile album when they weren't recording with Frank. I've heard stories about Frank and Brian crossing paths in this era, and they were both respectfully scared of each other. Brian was a little too drugged out for Frank, and Frank was a little too scary and avant-garde for Brian. Van Dyke Parks was the first dedicated keyboard player in the Mothers, he could set the record straight...
Okay, that's tommy Tedesco in the photo shown at the start. So is this the famous incident (See "For Guitar Players Only by Tommy Tedesco) where he dressed up in goofy attire in attempt to fit the session, based on what he only had heard of Zappa's reputation? If you haven't heard the story, he did do just that, although from Tedesco's description he was far more garishly dressed. His final comment was that Zappa's music was very challenging, harder than he anticipated. That's a lot from a guy who could sight read anything, including music that was put in front of him upside down.
Tommy tells one about Frank playing the Bassoonists part on guitar because the guy didn’t think it was possible. Zooming in I see Carol in the control room too.
"How did that get in here?" Answer: read his autobiography where he as much as describes himself as a composer who justified the rock n roll gigs to generate money to pay for music score copyists.
I hear ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-C38EHToCMso.html, and every time I can't help but say, > I went to the country, > and while I was gone...
Zappa couldn't play guitar on any of the Lumpy Gravy sessions due to contractual issues. He was signed to MGM, but Lumpy Gravy was initially recorded for Capitol. A loophole in the MGM contract allowed him to be signed to another label as a composer/arranger.
I would extend that into artistic and marketing genius too. If one discounts the fact that Lennon was more part of a democracy whereas Zappa was basically the boss as far as his realm went. Lennon was part of a band that had so many fans he didn't need to do that much marketing himself, Zappa tried to sidestep traditional distribution by doing mail order in areas where the stores refused to stock his music and succeeded. I never heard of Lennon even having to do something like that let alone actually doing it. The more I find out about Frank Zappa the more I respect him and the bar was pretty high to begin with. His accomplishments with film and animation go way beyond what Lennon did. Let's give Lennon some credit though he did write some great songs and most songwriters would love to have his level of success.
Using the posting of this lovely version as an opportunity to take a shi* on someone seems to me unfortunate in the extreme. PLUS, leading to another wanker who felt the need to drop his drawers and do the same. Too bad.
"frank zappa was a musical genius compared to john lennon...john lennon was a marketing genius compared to frank zappa. there" boys and girls, this is what's known as a "wind up" it appears to have succeeded.
