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Frank Zappa
Born:
Frank Vincent Zappa was born on 21 December 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. His parents were second-generation Sicilian Greeks, the family had arabian and french origins too. His father played "strolling crooner" guitar. At the age of 12 Frank, who had relocated to California with his family, became interested in drums, learning orchestral percussion at summer school in Monterey. In high school he had some more harmony training because he was an unruly senior, and was given permission to take some harmony classes "to occupy his mind with". In fact, he found the training very boring. The first time he had any of his music performed was at Mount St
Improvisation Versus Composition
by Robert J. Lewis
What is it that attracts music lovers to jazz (improvised music)? Is it the loose structure, or the beat or the notes and melodies we have never heard before and will never hear again, unless the performance has been recorded? Or is it the musician's uncanny ability to spontaneously translate feelings that inform the notes into ...
Christian McBride Big Band with Sting and Andy Summers: Murder by Numbers
by Ludovico Granvassu
It seems that Sting revisits “Murder by Numbers" with once-in-a-lifetime collaborations as a way to comment on the corrupt pulse of the times. He did so in 1988--as a pointed response to televangelist Jimmy Swaggart's claim that the song was “written by the devil"--with Frank Zappa on the stage of Chicago's Auditorium Theater, after ...
The Mystery of "The World’s Greatest Pianist"
by Kyle Simpler
Introduction In the mid-1970s, a 16-year-old kid walked into the recording studio where Roberta Flack was working on her latest album, Feel Like Makin' Love (Atlantic 1975). No one recognized him or knew why he was there, but he stormed in like a man on a mission. When they asked him who he was and what ...
Ed Palermo: Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages
by Jack Bowers
Well, if it walks like a big band and talks like a big band...chances are it's a big band, even though, in the case of Ed Palermo's New York-based 18-piece ensemble, it neither walks nor talks much like any other big band on planet earth. On Prog Vs. Fusion, Palermo casts aside many established harmonic principles ...
The Ed Palermo Big Band: Prog vs. Fusion: A War of the Ages
by Kyle Simpler
Sometimes musicians with serious chops take their music a little too seriously. Others, however, manage to combine talent and humor in a way that proves infectious. The Ed Palermo Big Band is one of the best examples of the latter. With albums drawing on such diverse influences as Frank Zappa, Paul Butterfield, and King Crimson, Palermo ...
The Sun Rises Again on Strata-East Records
by Joshua Weiner
Fans of classic post-bop, avant-garde, and spiritual jazz rejoiced at the news of Mack Avenue Music Group's partnership with Strata-East Records, a pioneering independent label founded in 1971 by trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell. Many Strata-East releases are being reissued on CDs, deluxe all-analogue vinyl LP packages, and digitally through streaming services, many for ...
Diana Ross & Frank Zappa: Soul Freak Symphony
by Glenn Astarita
When Diana Ross, the glittering soul siren of Motown, and Frank Zappa, the madcap maestro of musical anarchy, unveiled Soul Freak Symphony in March 1985 but was put in limbo due to contractual issues. Hence, it was not just an album--it was a cosmic detonation of sound and sanity. This 12-track hallucination melds Ross's velvety charisma ...
Brad Shepik: Hard Believer
by Dan McClenaghan
The first burst of noise from a recording can be telling, predictive of what will come. The Believers' Hard Believer title tune says as much. A guitar, bass and drums group, the music comes to life with some resonant metallic chords. The drums and bass push their weight around. It is assertive music laid down with ...
Remembering Susan Alcorn: Bucking The Trends
by Ian Patterson
All About Jazz is saddened to learn of the passing of Susan Alcorn--pedal steel guitarist extraordinaire. She died on January 31st of natural causes. Perhaps more than any other pedal steel guitarist before her, Alcorn took her instrument into musical terrain not usually associated with it. She played country music for twenty years, but ...
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