Review: Zappa Plays Zappa

A statement I’m prepared to back up: As we inch further past the millennary line, Frank Zappa looks more and more like one of a handful of the most significant American artists of the last century.

Put him in the same category as, let’s say, Miles Davis, Thomas Pynchon and Bob Dylan, and anyone lucky enough to have seen one of his live shows knows that they were hardly exercises in rote rockist posturing.

Though his tastes in classical music were anything but Wagnerian, he aimed for a similar kind of total artwork: equal parts incisive satire, theater of the absurd and high-wire free improvisation.

In addition, then, to the monumental technical requirements of his music, some of which is undoubtedly among the most difficult ever written for anything like a “rock” band, a group trying to breathe life into performances of his catalogue needs the same kind of bizarre élan and willingness to, as FZ once said in elegizing God’s grand maroon sofa, “stretch in all the right places.”

Zappa Plays Zappa, the ongoing project led by his eldest son, Dweezil, certainly meets those purely technical demands. They play some of his most devilishly convoluted compositions (“Echidna’s Arf,” “Inca Roads,” “The Black Page”) with as much limber ease and long-limbed agility as any of the bands FZ assembled.

The remaining question is thus whether or not they’ve internalized the Zappa aesthetic enough to be creating something new. Saturday night at Crossroads KC, they answered that question. And the answer is “yes and no.” Dweezil continues to astound with the extent to which, after cutting his teeth on what his father so accurately termed the “freeze-dried” look-at-me-isms of Eddie Van Halen et al, he’s internalized Frank’s guitaristic vocabulary. He bobs and weaves over the rhythm section with an uncanny resemblance to FZ’s proclivity for thorny temporal transpositions.

The rest of the group, while no less skilled, here and there leaves something to be desired in terms of daring and verve. Yes, new lead singer Ben Thomas is perfectly cut out for the job, his self-consciously ridiculous ballet moves and vocalese improvisations falling squarely within that aesthetic. And saxophonist/keyboardist/singer Scheila Gonzalez has the stage presence and pipes demanded of someone in her position.

But the rhythm section, for all its dexterity, not infrequently lacks the anything-can-happen space-exploration gutsiness of its forebears. Gonzalez’ sax solos tend to veer uncomfortably close to the Vaseline-lens West Coast glossiness of the David Sanborn breed. The improv section in the middle of perennial soloing vehicle “King Kong” devolved into some lax, dangerously jam-band friendly white-boy funk. And one wishes, bearing in mind that these shows no doubt primarily attract already-longtime fans, that they’d drop the done-to-death “Cosmik Debris,” “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow,” “Montana,” “Dirty Love,” and so forth, all of which received about 10 years’ worth of road-wear from Zappa himself and really can’t be elaborated upon much in the live setting. I like “Bamboozled by Love,” too, but why trot that one out rather than hundreds of better compositions?

It was still a night of (mostly) mind-blowing music played by people who clearly know its ins and outs. But the psychosis-inducing total-artwork of, for example, Zappa’s film Baby Snakes, it ain’t.

Michael Judge, Special to The Star

Set list: Apostrophe (‘), Montana, Village of the Sun/Echidna’s Arf/Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing?, Dirty Love, Magic Fingers, Caroline Hard-Core Ecstasy, The Black Page #1 & #2, Bamboozled by Love/Owner of a Lonely Heart (hilarious), King Kong, Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up, Outside Now, The Purple Lagoon/Inca Roads, Cosmik Debris. Encore: Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow, San Ber’dino, Willie the Pimp.

Comments

[Nivek9]

How was the attendance? I wish I could have been there. I saw Zappa plays Zappa when Dweezil started it up with Terry Bozzio and Steven Vai doing guest spots a few years ago. It was a great show that sold out Hard Rock Live in Orlando. How was the crowd at the Crossroads. The set list looks great. Nice variety of the well known and more obscure stuff.

[kelly]

Great music, musicians, and FZ would be proud. There were so many great songs played and so many more for next time.

Folding chairs should have been allowed, but the volume 'went to 11' on a great KC night.

[onthemark]

Is it just me, or does anyone else have a hard time reading a review written by Michael Judge?

[M.S. Judge]

@Nivek9: I've never been very good at ballparking that kind of thing, but maybe in the 350-400 range? The stagefront was full back to the soundbooth, and there were probably 50 or 75 people lurking around the picnic tables and bleachers.

I was excited to hear them pull out "The Purple Lagoon"--I don't know if ANY of FZ's groups had played that since the Brecker/Jobson "Zappa in New York" era--and of course the "Village"/"Echidna's"/"Don't You ..." triumvirate never disappoints, but I just wish they'd can the obvious "Over-nite Sensation"/"Apostrophe (')" stuff and replace it with either some more extended compositions (I'm thinking "Andy," stuff from the almost entirely ignored "Waka/Jawaka" and "Grand Wazoo," "RDNZL," parts of "Sinister Footwear," etc--and a Joe Travers-sung "Punky's Whips," of course) or a few less worn-out "song-songs" (on which score "Carolina Hard-Core Ecstasy" was a cool choice; how 'bout "City of Tiny Lites," "What Will This Evening Bring Me This Morning?," maybe the original instrumental versions of the "Sleep Dirt" material).

[M.S. Judge]

And by the way, in a spirit of proper perversity, I've always wanted some FZ repertory group (and here I should include a chastisement of the Zappa Family Trust for their ridiculous police-state antix regarding Project/Object and company) to do a set playing an FZ "miniature" between every song ... "T'Mershi Duween," "Evelyn, A Modified Dog" (which I've always hoped someone would arrange for a full group), or, best of all, "Manx Needs Women" over and over and over and over and ...

[M.S. Judge]

And @onthemark: I appreciate that what I tend to do doesn't really fall within the parameters of 'normal' criticism as such--our own Mr. Finn is basically untouchable in terms of pithiness and concrescence, which is presumably why he is the Mr. Miyagi to my Karate Kid--but for an artist whom I take as seriously as Zappa (whatever "seriously" means), I feel it incumbent upon me to place him in different historical, musical, and intellectual frameworks before I even get to the performance itself.

I'd really recommend, if yer innarested, Ben Watson's "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play," a massive tome of completely hysterical punk-scholarship that examines the links between FZ and some of the more far-out social and literary theory of the last century. Watson does a wonderful job of making accessible Marxist critique and psychoanalytic/genderqueer academia in his self-described attempt to "make a case for Zappa as a revolutionary artist in the line of Joyce, the Marquis de Sade, and William Blake" (that's a paraphrase).

[onthemark]

Sorry Mr Judge, but I am gonna have to pull out a quote from the movie 'Napoleon Dynamite': "I didn't understand a word that just came out of your mouth"...

[JJ]

"making accessible Marxist critique and psychoanalytic/genderqueer academia in his self-described attempt to "make a case for Zappa as a revolutionary artist in the line of Joyce, the Marquis de Sade, and William Blake" (that's a paraphrase)."

I'm sorry. But this was the guy who sang 'don't you eat that yellow snow" right?

[M.S. Judge]

Certainly--Watson's claim isn't necessarily that FZ knew or cared about any of the things that interest him (Watson, that is). He works on Zappa's catalogue the way that a Joyce scholar might treat "Finnegans Wake" ... there's a particularly hilarious section that deals with the whole "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" as a rewriting of Oedipal trauma and "King Lear" (you'll have to trust me on that one, I guess).

[Nivek9]

He sang much more than "don't you eat the yellow snow". What's wrong with a serious artist having a sense of humor. Zappa once played a bicycle (as a musical instrument) on a national TV talent show when he was still a teenager. Zappa and the Mothers also put out the first two-record set in the history of rock and roll which included the decidedly non-comedic social commentary of Trouble Every Day on Freak Out! as early as 1966. I like the Sleep Dirt idea. I'd also like to see some Orchestral Favorites stuff. Thanks for the tip about Ben Watson's "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play," I will check that out for sure.

[M.S. Judge]

Yeah, a version of that guitar/orchestra "Duke of Prunes" would be fantastic.

[JJ]

Nivek9 Just having a little fun. That was my sense of humor. And FZ had more of a sense of humor than anyone. We were just getting a little deep around here.

[Roget]

Dude, all I am sayin is put down the thesaurus!

[Nivek9]

I see no reason to dumb down anything within a conversation about Zappa. Defeats the purpose.

[Tim Finn]

I loved this review. If there's something you don't understand, Google it up.

[Mike A]

Nice pithiness and congruence, Mr. Finn.

[ptgkc]

I agree with Tim, very good review. Appropriate for the material.

For the few others, we have some wonderful community colleges in the area.

[CV]

I had never seen them before and thought it was a great show.

I guess it wasn't the same show that the reviewer saw.

If it was he would mentioned Ben Thomas' virtuoso ambidextrous arm-farting.

As it is now, you can get a much better review by looking at some of my 100+ pics of the show.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/philmo/sets/72157621323136514/

[SheikYerbouti]

We saw Mr Zappa Sr. back in the day, at the great facility that is Memorial Hall.

He seemed to break all the rules. He would allow his band to be more spotlighted than himself as several times he turned his back on his audience, sat on a bar stool, center stage, whilst his band created sounds, all very interesting. Interesting, that is, in much in a same way that Neil Young was interesting as the leader of the Shocking Pinks.

But, I have no interest in Dweezil contiuing to make money on his fathers music. It seemed a good novelty idea, for a moment, while Steve Vai played too ( given his history with Sr. ) but to give "Zappa Sr. type of streetcred" to his kid, actually insults the man himself, which might actually amuse the man himself, so it is all good.

[Steve]

I'd rather listen to Beefheart. Better music and no poo-poo jokes.

There's a great Beefheart repertory group too -- Fast 'N' Bulbous -- though they don't do the vocals, just arrangements for a horn section. Highly recommended.

[CV]

Some of you guys are taking this way too serious.

It's music. That's all.

All the talk about legacies and James Joyce. C'mon guys. A band showed up to play what they like and for that they ask you to help them do that by you giving them money.

If you enjoy it, then listen to it, if not, don't.

[kmoon]

thanks for reviewing this show. I saw the first 2, but had to play with my own band that night so I had to miss it. Who was the drummer?

[M.S. Judge]

Joe Travers was behind the kit again -- he's got serious chops, as anyone who's seen him with ZPZ or Mike Keneally knows, and he nailed the drum-solo version of "The Black Page," but there was just something lacking in terms of kick and spit. I think we may tend to forget, in an age in which the line between "White" and "Black" music has been blurred nearly to indeterminacy, what an impact FZ had in terms of their cross-pollination, and for my money the most sympathetic drummer he ever had was Chester Thompson, who came almost completely from a jazz and R&B background. Something like "Dirty Love," or "Echidna's Arf" for that matter, demands a serious whip-crack funk groove, and Travers is just a bit too foursquare for my taste ...

[kmoon]

thanks MR Judge, but don't forget Frank had Aynsley Dunbar on drums (before he left to help for the original Journey). He had great sensitivity and subtlety as well. Then there's Bozzio...Chad Wackerman...but by then, the music had become a lot more technically challenging. Heck, you could spend all day just talking about FZ's drummers alone!

[M.S. Judge]

Very true--Aynsley was (is? I haven't heard anything from him in a while) a phenomenal drummer, one of that brilliant group with Mitch Mitchell and John Bonham that married heavy R&B grooves with Elvin Jones/Tony Williams jazz finesse before anyone was bandying about words like "fusion." I love Bozzio/Colaiuta/Wackerman as well, but Aynsley and Chester (and Ralph Humphrey as well) had the slippery, heavy feel that I think served, and continues to serve, FZ's music best.

Wackerman is pretty much untouchable for reading accuracy, but on those '80s studio records--and of course this is partly the fault of production and engineering as well--he sounds so desiccated and pointillistic that anything heavy or groovy immediately gets put in quotation marks, you know?

And Colaiuta ... well, as a drummer (which it sounds like you might be), his presence is inescapable--everyone's wanted to be him since "Joe's Garage," and obviously he's got more chops than god, but I do find myself wishing he'd just shut the hell up sometimes.

[M.S. Judge]

I should've mentioned Michael Giles, Ian Wallace, and Andy McCulloch (and Pip Pyle, and Robert Wyatt, and and and ... ) in that group as well, which reminds me that I recently learned of Robert Fripp's intentions, c. 1970, to rope in Aynsley for King Crimson ... now THAT would have been a murderous combination.

[Richard Burdsell]

Funny you should bring up Project Object. So much more show for the money but it should not be a case of who is better, it should be celebrated that Frank's music is out there for everyone to enjoy so I don't really understand why the ZFT is so litigious. When Project Object plays, it's good for the ZFT. I just saw P/O in concert and they were phenomenal. They have a 22 year old drummer who puts Joe Travers to shame. The kid is a monster on a four piece kit and he's currently touring with Adrian Belew. Eric Slick is his name. Frank would have hired him on the spot.

[M.S. Judge]

Yeah, there's a whole group of young'uns coming up out of the Paul Green School of Rock and the various FZ groups (Slick's got a sibling who also plays with Belew, I think, and there's a young lady named Madi Díaz-Svalgard who's just phenomenal), every one of whom would have been fit for Frank's best groups.

The ZFT's protection-racket bullshit is exactly the sort of thing that Frank would have despised -- this was, after all, the guy who in his last days was working frantically to complete a recording of his arrangements of Edgard Varèse's chamber works.

I wonder, in all seriousness, if Gail's afflicted with senile dementia or something of the sort, given how recently all this copyright stuff began ...

[stopit]

if the star, or whomever, is gonna keep this overzealous censorship, editing, deleting, picking/ choosing bullshit then you can fuck yourselves.

This is all for fun, and if we all take time to read, and post, and you do allow certain stupid comments, but then dont delete the ones you dont like?? what the fuck?

stop the censorship, or fuck off.

[bawana]

We can all thank the Zappa family for caring enough to see that people from other generations can actually get to see and hear the great Frank Zappa's music,,We can also thank Dweezil for taking that time to learn all that extremely difficult music,,We can thank the wonderful musicians that go with the ZFT to performing this music as well,,I have seen the show several times each time I was impressed,,Unlike some of you other suposed zappa heads that were complaining about the quality of musician on some of the instruments,,,,Sheila gonzalez did not sound like dave sanborn not even close to sound like that,,,or the comment on the drummer who i thought did better than bozzio did ,,and by the way for frank vinnie was his favorite drummer,,,anyway it is about the music,,,,,,just too bad that he died way too early for my liking,,i wish he was still here,,,i miss ole frank i saw him at least 5-6 times ,i realize how fortunate i was to do that and am fortunate now because Dweezil is out there doing it just like his dad,,, i wonder if he can compose yet,,,i took some young ones to see zpz tour and they could not believe a 4 hr show like that with all the really different difficult and wonderful music that brings a sense of humor with it ,,,most bands now days you are lucky to get 2 hrs out of and you will be paying quite a bit more to see there suedo pop garbage as oppesed to the real stuff like frank's for me me it was like a taking a trip back in time again thaks zappas i appreciate it muchly looking forward to see you again in nov in dallas i will be there and go Hagstrom !!