FRANK ZAPPA - INCA ROADS REACTION & REVIEW | FIRST TIME LISTENING TO INCA ROADS 

George Duke came into Zappa's band as a classically trained pianist. He played jazz with Jean-Luc Ponty who brought Duke to Frank's attention. George Duke had no interest in synthesizers, coming from the trained pianist perspective. He also never sang a note. Frank wanted George to learn the synthesizer, but he was not interested. Frank bought a unit for him and set it up on his keyboard rig and asked him to just play around with it in his spare time. George did and soon learned of its capabilities and fell in love with it, becoming one of the greats on the instrument. A little prodding by Frank turned George Duke into the synth giant that he became. As to singing, George also told Frank he didn't sing. Frank fed him one line of this song at a time. Sing this line. Go ahead. Now sing this. On and on until George felt comfortable singing. Frank hired the best musicians that he could find and then pushed them further out of their own comfort zones to make them even better musicians when they left. Napoleon Murphy Brock was one of the very few who didn't have to audition to be in the band. Frank saw Nappy playing in Hawai'i and introduced himself. He told him right then to come see his band play when he returned to L.A. and if he liked what he heard, he was in the band. Nappy never heard of Frank and asked him who he had in his band. "Jean-Luc Ponty and George Duke, among others." Nappy said, "If you have those cats in your band, you must be a hell of a musician." Nappy saw them play and joined. No audition. By contrast, watch any video of Zappa musicians talking about their grueling audition. Frank threw impossible note combinations at them to play, sight-reading requirements, etc. and many said they were sure they didn't pass, until Frank assured them that they did. It was a hell of a band. The various incarnations over his touring career were all stellar but this particular band is generally regarded by fans as the best of them all. R.I.P. Tom Fowler, bass player in this band.

RIP Tom Fowler on bass who passed away yesterday 7/2/2024

I saw Uncle Frank over 35 times in and around NYC. I first saw Uncle Frank in 1974 when I was fourteen,I was standing directly in front of him at his greatest concert at the Ritz in lower east side of NYC. Uncle Frank was the greatest musical mind that ever walked this Earth..

RIP Tom Fowler...

Tell me that Frank doesn't have just the most amazing band and arrangement for live performance! Amazing!

Ruth Underwood is amazing. Still is. Frank was and always will be a hero to me. My favorite guitarist.

George Duke. . .vocals and keyboard work stellar and phenomenal in this performance!

Great reaction to what sounds like essentially your second listen to a challenging and hard to categorize, sometimes polarizing artist. Probably one of his most popularly successful periods as a recording artist. Looking forward to more on your channel. Cheers 🍻 👏🏼 👏🏼 😊🤙🏼🎶🔥❤️🍁❤️✨️🕊

I know: listen to it fifty more times...like me!

Frank's instrumental only Big Band Music is equally amazing. Try Waka-Jawaka, or Big Swifty for a trip into music you have never even thought would exist.

Even if you expect the unexpected, you'll get blown out of your socks!

So far no-one's mentioned the writer/producer of the animation - "the amazing" Mr Bruce Bickford. For Phil's attention: much of this performance made it to the album track (on One Size Fits All), but for the album there were some overdubs and a solo cut in from a different gig (for which refer to volume 2 of the Stage series). Incidentally Inca Roads evolved in public over the span of a year and a half - it was originally an instrumental and can be heard in its most basic form on either the compilation The Lost Episodes or early-1973 live bootlegs (Durham University, Raleigh, is a good one).

that band is just fantastic, top level everything

Chester Thompson on drums, Ruth Underwood on marimba & a lot more percussion and Tom Fowler on base. Great reaction!

This is the song that made get into his music Big fan since

Once you know this song well enough and you can start to dig into the individual pieces, you can begin to appreciate how truly special this performance is. Frank’s solo is the most beautiful solo I’ve ever heard. Every single note and line is part of a stream of consciousness from Frank’s mind to his guitar. It’s flawless and criminally underrated. That said, your reaction is on point. You are a quick study for sure, and eloquent too. Inca Roads can scare some people off. I’m glad you’re not one of them. I’m here for the Frank. Subbed. Let’s keep it going! Happy 4th if you are here in the USA! As soon as I figure out how to buy you coffee I got you. Please let us watch you react to Watermelon in Easter Hay from the Joe’s Garage album. You will not be disappointed.

Alix777 states its George Duke on vocals and keyboard for Frank's band.

Watching this thing again is like an event! Has to be one of your best reaction videos, despite the incredible complexity of this music and the added claymation video which is mind bending, to say the least!

George Duke on vocals/keyboards

The lyrics are a satire of a book that was popular at the time called Chariots of the Gods which postulated that aliens and flying saucers were the old gods and that ancient civilizations made monuments to them

Welcome in our rabbit hole! Zappa Lives!

George Duke is fantastic on the keyboards-that solo I am just picking up now is nothing short of amazing!

I get the distinct feeling this is going to be an awesome reaction program!

Hard to believe that anyone could perform that song live and do it perfectly.

Vocals by George Duke, and some scatting by George and Napoleon Murphy Brock - Percussion by Ruth Underwood - This was his best band IMHO. So talented. The clay animation is a distraction I think. I want to see these guys performing. Another great reaction!!!

Breathtaking, ain't it?

Welcome to Zappa's universe, the deepest most eclectic wonderful rabbit hole one could fall into.You might want it to slow it down a little bit, at the pace you're doing you're going to rip through the really good stuff in 4 or 5 years. P.S. George Duke didn't sing a note when he joined the band, Frank brought it out of him.

Right! There's quite a roster of musicians in Frank's band; I'm sure the knowledgeable Zappa fans will tell you who is performing the lead vocals here.

Come on Zappa fans! You guys can have your expert input on this program as to what we should be listening to with Frank Zappa! We all know, even those of us novices, that his discography is so complex and lengthy that the input of real fans who were there with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention from the beginning can aid us greatly with coffee suggestions to Philip. Fan reaction has been bigger than I expected. . .a lot of views on Philip's first Zappa program. Looks like Zappa reviews would do well on this channel! Just sayin!

You dont multi-task when listening to Zappa, YOU JUST LISTEN! Zappa Lives!

I can you feeling daunted just before giving your take on this incredibly complex performance, but, I have to say Philip, from what I'm hearing so far, you're doing your usual fine job with it!

It's "Blew me away" Brother. "Blew me off" is an entirely different thing. Uh Ummm.... 😂

sorry, but I like the record version much better, even though I can move my fingers through most of it, which tells you how tightly it is composed

You do definitely look worn out by the end of the video! You had to work hard to follow this one!

ZAPPA... ZAP-PA... Not ZEH-PUH.... Jeez!!!!

It's not your fault, but I am so sick of that animation. It totally ruins the video in my opinion. I want to see these excellent musicians performing, not a claymation animation. I had to stop watching immediately when the animation started. I wish you had been pointed to or had chosen another version of this excellent Zappa song. I would have like to see your reaction, but not to this version of the song.