a part of BBC Late Show with Matthew Collings "BBC Television Tribute" 1993. including Ruth & MOTORHEAD & ZAPPA's interviews, and a few clips. globalia.net/do...
I don’t know how you can compare the 2. completely different musicians, training, approaches, instrument setups, addition of synths and samplers #2, different job descriptions - #2 to include experimentation and improvisation. Who’s better, and why? They’re completely different. I think you like the different bands and Ruth’s undeniable sister of Frank charisma.
She is so amazingly incredible and added so much to Frank's bands for many years! A lot of Frank's sound back then was RUTH! I am still amazed at how she hits all of those quick, all over the place notes with such precision and accuracy!!! I love her intellect, demeanor, personality, unbelievable talent and of course, She's gorgeous! I had such a crush on her when I was in my early 20's! Love you Ruth!!
Zappa's mind was going full-tilt from sunrise to way past sunset. The statement: "Music is an expression of the soul" makes one wonder what Frank's soul must have looked like!? One seriously driven musician. RIP Brother, the world's become your worst nightmare.
If you would like to read Frank's daily routine at the log cabin in Laurel Canyon, read 'Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa' which follows my own journey from that lucky day I met Frank in London in 1967 and ended up living and working in his house 1968-1971.
A charismatic and beautiful WOMAN and one HELL of a musician!In the recent interview in the brilliant documentary about Overnight Sensations and Apostrophé+ LPs,she does a piece on the vibraphone, "first" time in thirty years, and says after the astonishing performance something like:"Ah, well.Three mistakes in there,that's one for each decennium[since she stopped playing]!"It's a big shame she stopped performing music, she was so good.The legend Terry Gibbs(see wikipedia)was her teacher.
I allways admired Ruth Underwood deeply for her incredible playing - and her well behaved-distanced smiling at the same time, while the band went crazy. So cool. Even Fank was
I had the pleasure and honour of interviewing Frank, in Montreal, the weekend before he broke up the Mothers in August 1969. It was the same weekend as Woodstock, and the Mothers gave 5 free concerts in town. When I asked Frank if he was disappointed by the folks in the front row yelling out for "Louie Louie", or "Whipping Post", he told me that if only one person in the audience got what he was trying to do, that would be enough for him. Well, 48 hours later, he announced he was breaking up the band because "People wouldn't know good music if it bit them on the ass". From speaking with members of the band at the time, it appeared it had been a hard tour. One of them mentioned to me a football stadium they were booked into, where they were assured a P.A. system would be provided. When they arrived, it was a 35W Bogen, of the sort used to announce to spectators that someone had left their car headlights on. NOT what a professional touring band would expect.
:)...She looks so beautiful and young...I found a new respect and admiration for her, after Bozzio's; "the drummers of Frank Zappa"...She is so endearing and musically brilliant.
Right, I’ve seen this excellent British documentary once before. I saw Ruth and Zappa play marimbas and vibes at a show in Boston the winter of ‘73. It was for me the highlight of the evening. And I remember as a young guy carefully examining my copy of “Uncle Meat” and making note of someone named Ruth Komanoff listed as playing vibes and marimbas.
Thanks for your insight Ruth Underwood & I think your right about Frank as being a consummate encourager for the best you could offer. Your contributions to Frank as a Mother of Invention so adds to my enjoyment of the performances!
No percussionist in Frank's bands post-Ruth had the set-up she had. She was the hardest working member of the band in that era. She was literally required to jaunt from vibes to tympani to bass drum to gongs and bongos, much of it rehearsed and other times on a whim from Frank through a hand signal. Even with two drummers during the fall '73 line-up, Ruth was all over the place in her percussion duties. And she worked those mallets masterfully!
That’s really not true. The percussionist after ruth created a much larger setup. Add xylophone and glockenspiel, all double tiered in front of the marimba and vibes, syndrums X2, rack of 7 gongs, amplified woodblocks and cowbells, table full of sound effects, minimoog, chimes, giant orchestral bass drum, and in 88 2 digital mallet synths, syndrums X2, a rack of synths and samplers, Simmons SDX mega sampler, vibes, glockenspiel, programmed custom weird vocal samples, and a custom programmed midi distribution and control device that allowed for instantaneous switching between sounds and direct input into the synclavier. A lot of what you hear from tne synclavier was actually played by the percussionist. Watch any percussion performance post Ruth to see all over the place.Strictly Genteel 81 is a great one.
@1:16 I can't say I've heard that before, but every time I listen to it, I can actually hear it in my head but played with Ruth and the others. You can already hear Frank's signature. I've been a longtime fan since Joe's Garage or was it Sheik Yerbouti, but I still have barely nibbled at what he recorded. Amazing composer.
When I saw Frank Zappa and The Mothers in '73, Ruth was with them. She was fantastic. She could play a xylophone like no one I have ever seen since. I was right up at the stage and just watching her sling those mallets made me dizzy. She was hot too! Frank would chase her around with a Chinese fish wind sock thingie like it was snapping at her butt. It was a riot!
magprob Ruth was HOT on the xylophone and yes..i wa a lusty teenager in the Ruth years and seeing videos now, yes she could sit on my face...wheres my waitress!?
Incredible lineup of musicians and singers for Zappa's A token of his Extreme live album August 27, 1974 at KCET, Los Angeles Frank Zappa - lead guitar, vocals Napoleon Murphy Brock - tenor saxophone, flute, vocals George Duke - keyboards, vocals Tom Fowler - bass Chester Thompson - drums Ruth Underwood - marimba, vibraphone, percussion
Oh no I don’t believe it was one of the most memorable Zappa pieces . Little snippets of it show up in a few different places over the years. Frikkin brilliant
Like Louise Fletcher who thanks to her great portrayal of Nurse Ratched gets typecast, I suspect Ruth Underwood feels she's typecast too. She may get frustrated at people commenting on her playing on "Rollo", but god damn - I can't help it. That is phenomenal playing - never ceases to blow me away.
Man. To be a musician during this time and to be on the zappa roster....getting together with all the other top musicians at the time to reinvent everything youve studied......fucking intense! Zappa was the man and showed schooled players other layers that otherwise would have never been discovered. So cool!
FZ and his entourage were always part of my early youth and now I'm old and trying to understand the man that made this all happen in all it's various 'bands' and understanding the genius so many years later.
Oslerian, Tom Waits opened for them He got Boooed from the moment he sat down at his piano. I really felt bad for him but man...it was ZAPPA! I still feel bad every time I see Tom Waits. As far as the Zappa show, it really was completely unbelievable. Each person in the band was a one man show. They were just so great. Together, they were beyond great. There will never be anything to come close to it. The way I have come to explain it to people is: it was like an orgasm that actually kills you!
Those 70ies Bands were splendid - but there is a dark side about the enormous creativity of FZ. It's that not many musicians could stand the pressure too long. The repertoire they had to remember with sometimes daily changes was so enormous. Also the personality of FZ was not always easy I think. I would like to hear more about that, without bitterness or defamation. I would just like to know how it was in some way.
I saw an interview where one of the guys said that after leaving the band it took months to get the Zappa out of his head. The musicians were so deep into the FZ sound that it was hard to get your brain cleared out from it afterwards.
He was methodical in getting the most work and musical ideas for the least amount of money from his musicians. This isn’t a diss, it’s just how it was.
The best composers are SO much more than a composer. I've always had a crush on Ruth, though I always knew she was married to the undeniably very fetching and monstrously talented Ian Underwood. I bet you Frank encouraged her to wear those swimming suit tops for the sake of the show...
I remember seeing The Mothers at the Garrick, which was just down the block for where I lived then...fuckin' great. I thought that Ruth Underwood was outstanding with them.
Saw them once, Napoleon was a prolific front person. Many left while Frank solo’d at the very end. He was pissed off the next day...he never came back to Ottawa Ontario Canada
In the split femtosecond between Frank finishing the phrase "Help me out, Ruth!" and Ruth embarking on that blistering "tweezer glint" run, I was half expecting her to quip "Sure Frank - which way'd you come in?"
