He was the hardest man in the business to work for. A friend of mine drove his equipment truck for a couple years. Sometimes he was allowed to sit in on their rehearsals. He was always in awe.
@@absolutelypositively my wife thinks i'm an angel and if you met me on the street you would think that is a great guy. you wouldn't want to work for me though but if you did you would definitely know how to do the job right.
For all his ego and genius, Zappa was a very self-defacing guy. His main desire was never fame and fortune but, as he said, rather to just be able to release material, mostly that which was an alternative to the majority of music out there. He certainly accomplished his goal. RIP brother .
a conductor for life and art can banter around, genius comes to mind. Time loves a hero, sent here from heaven or mouthpiece from hell a Lowell George quote got a bit misty when Lowell play with Frank
Given the mastery Frank had over ALL musical genres, I believe he eclipsed his heroes Stravinsky & Varese. Miss ya Frank, R.I.P. You got your " own little piece of heaven " now, and you ain't here to go through the insanity we are . . .
+Synapsenkitzler - I have to agree. Every time I hear his music, it's like the Universe is being explained to me in the form of a musical journey. He's the Einstein of Music.
i was 14, (1969), one of my first jobs, at a used furniture store in van nuys, ca. i went out to the loading dock, and sitting there, was the indian of the group. his wife was shopping inside. i knew who he was, sat down beside him, and shared an hour of cha-hortles! one of those memories i'll never forget.
This is contemporary music.Music of the highest calibre performed through a band of great musicians. Classical music composed in the 70's,with contemporary and non contemporary instruments, the way it shoudl be.Zappa took the music of the twentieth century to the other side of the mirror.A place you don't want to leave once you are introduced to that world. Thanks to the amazing genius of Frank Zappa.
I was at Concert 88 in Dortmund and in Germany Zappa was a great Number . Zappa was the best Musikan. He was funny, i like the Musik from him.....Regards from Germany
@@kay61100 I performed in Dortmund in 1994 with the show tour Evita (percussionist)-I always enjoyed working in Germany, great beer, great food and interesting cool people.
I saw Frank Zappa conduct the L.A. Philharmonic one night at U.C.L.A. Not bad. He had the entire orchestra quacking and making fart noises and chanting and...well, ya had to be there. 1974 possibly.
Honored to see Frank a few times back in the day. One show at the Boston Music Hall, he came out and signaled the band into song. He went over and picked up the SG from the guitar stand, hit two notes, which were out of tune, and waved his hand once horizontally without even looking at the band, and in a nano second there was complete silence. It seemed unprofessional at first, but after a minute or two of tuning, he re-signaled the band to restart the song, and Holy Cow, The next fifty minutes were pure magic! Thank you F.Z. for an educational lesson, and a wonderful show for a fledgling musician.
The best band in the world every year from 1966 to 1988.If he were alive today,would still have the best band in the world. Zappa was also one of the top composer/musicians of all time,not in pop and jazz but ALL music. Top 3 of ALL time.1)Beethoven 2)Stravinsky 3) Zappa. That's the end of that story.
Frank Zappa was an original and -truly unique rock'n'roll genuis. Irrelevant to modern media and Brilliant in his delivery of his own brand of music which of course -was zany and immediately great. He is missed and quite the legend.
Dear god that is amazing. I knew he was a great composer (obviously), but to be a great conductor and to just make something like that is amazing! Thanks for showing us this
Tempo, dynamics, AND texture, phrasing, balance, blend, emotion, color, expression, articulation, line... there are LOTS more elements to conducting than simply tempo and dynamics! I am a professional conductor, friend, and that is why I wrote my original post. BTW, "what he did 'exceeded' conducting" was what you meant, right? Zappa was a very talented guy who had a fresh approach to music which I do respect. I simply take issue with that moniker "the best conductor".
I can see some dislike of FZ works as a conductor on comments here.. it takes hours and hours of rehearsal to be able to control a band like that, itll take some a lifetime to get it as good as FZ and company, believe it.. its not like hes some revolution or anything really new, but he definetely was one of the most sincere personas in music altogether
It is certainly easy to see Edgard Varese's influence watching this video. If you are not familiar with this composer, I suggest the piece "Ionisation". One amazing concept Frank had was incorporating the audience into a piece. This would not only ensure uniqueness, but give the audience the feeling of being "inside" the piece.
The lesson to be learned from Frank's body of work is NOT a list of attributes to qualify him for geniushood, but rather, to open your mind to all of the possibilities that exist in musical expression that are ignored or not even thought of because of the rigidity that exists in the musical establishment, and Frankly, society as a whole. What is it's purpose ? - To delight, to surprise. it tells you nothing about human nature, that is not it's point. Frank's mind was very focused, no agitation.
And you wonder where the inspiration for things like Stomp and Blue Man Group came from? All that AND real musical chops, always more chops, increasing over time. The man realized his dreams and made some of ours come true.
Mak Muk Was Right mak muk f**k, Zappa is not relevant anymore. Have you seen how many people on RU-vid are covering him. I think you are are not relevant and I should ignore you. But you are talking dirty about Zappa!
My friends and I from the Chicago 'burbs went to see Frank in concert 5 times, tripping every time. It was awesome. Uptown Theater 4 of the times, and once at a college auditorium where I was a mere 20 feet away from Frank and his body guard the whole time.....
He was a genius. Although I'm sure he could give his bandmembers a VERY hard time when recording or rehearsing. As explained before, he was quite a perfectionist. But he COULD makes mistakes, while others weren't allowed too. I'm sure he was very demanding. Perhaps even to a degree us fans cant imagine. Thats a side of Frank we'll probably never know much about. Still, his demand of perfection and control in terms of music, created some of the most exceptional & beautifull art of the century
Frank's conducting reminds me of Tim the Enchanter on the mountain top in MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, his gestures generating explosions here, there, wherever. Crazy genius!
fascinating. Zappa was the real deal as far as a avante-rock fusion composer and conductor goes. It's amusing that he conducted sometimes without a shirt and a cigarette going.
Frank was light years ahead of other producers and studio owners,Frank had the 1st fully digital recording studio in the world,for years the Utility Muffin Research Studios were the worlds most advanced studio ,Frank even made a presentation of an early version of I tunes where music buyers could download albums and single songs for a fee,the Zappa estate spent years in court against Apples I tunez.
@ Frank M That is probably the best interpretation of Zappa ever expressed. Like other great mold breaking personalities that lived and died in the 20th Century : Gertrude Stein ; Ernest Hemingway; Pablo Picasso ; Andy Warhol ; Jackson Pollock ; Bella Bartok ; Orson Welles ; John Garfield ; Alfred Hitchcock ; heck maybe even Knute Rockne --------- Frank Zappa is right there with them !
Like I said, if you like it, hoorah! I needed to say what I have just said, after many years of nodding and affirming to a few friends how cool this stuff is... I never find myself wanting to hear it. But they work hard, and are so CERTAIN they are geniuses; how can they be denied?
George Duke is using a ring modulator on the Rhodes piano. Choral conductors in African-American churches use many of the same techniques, as their choirs are often singing spontaneous arrangements, or singing harmony parts assigned in realtime by the conductor. Thus, this Zappa conducting is as real as any other set of musical directions given in any number of different ensemble genres. Who is the talk-show host from the big-band and audience participation section, in the black and white footage? Performance art uses many of the same techniques. The danger for the avant-garde is that its non-standard uses of sound, image, and gesture can become codified, as Jackson Pollock's action paintings did. MBB
+Michael Ledford Negative! That's not Mike Douglas. Many years ago I bought fro 818-PUMPKIN, the video called Video From Hell. It is a compilation of filmed sequences with FZ music attached, and on it is this black and white (with the blue-ish hue placed over it) talk show interview in its entirely. It is identified as from Australia in 1973, so it must be in January of 1973, because that was when Frank first went to Australia. I sold the video a long time ago when I was scrapping for money and forgot the name of the talk show. But there you ago, not Mike Douglas.
Marc Ribe I still have baby snakes & video from hell , both on " honker " video , I'll have a run thru of the vhs & see who your talking about , of that ain't Mike Douglas it's his body double but I will have a peep at the video from hell & see who the guy your talking about is , I could be wrong but I don't think so :)
thanks for that! :) I will show that to my ensemble students...although we still work on a rather simple medley of popular music tunes, this will hopefully put their minds on fire...or at least amuse them :D
.. that guy would be Jimmy Carl Black, vocalist and drummer for The Mothers Of Invention. Met him in a small pub in Cardiff ( Wales UK ) in 1995ish where he was playing drums for The Farrell and Black Band. Bought him a pint of Guinness or two, had a chat and afterwards he signed a CD cover of Freak Out! for me and signed my Uncle Meat CD with " The Indian of the Group " .. Saw Frank in concert in 1988 at the Printemps de Bourges Festival, so very glad I had the chance to see him play live .. music lost a great maestro when he died.
Frank's conducting style resembles Walter Thompsons soundpainting method to some degree ! Another example of people developing similar ideas simultaniously.....
its a musical style called avant garde. i like to compare frank Zappa to a mixture of Edgar Varese and Johny guitar Watson. how ever he does do a lot of non avant garde classical esque music i would suggest listing to strictly genteel and g spot tornado to great examples of Zappa composing expertise
This is a first of the conductor side I have seen of this BEing. LOVED his musical creations and lyrics but his conductor- perfection must have been brutal. His signs are a conductors-sign-language of sorts. This vid creation is a fantastic side of this great I am thrilled to have introduced to me. ENJOY!!!!!! :-)
