Author: Balint

architect.

Ascolta: Reagan at Bitburg (2009)

Update from United Mutations:

Ascolta are a Stuttgart based septet, though there were 10 on stage this cold November night. As a contemporary music ensemble they have been at the fore of playing modern music. The two percussionists, Martin Homann and Boris Muller were involved in Zappas infamous Rage and Fury recording of Varese (yet to be released).
After sending Gail Zappa the recording of two arrangements of synclavier pieces from Civilisation Phase 3 (Reagan in Bitburg and Im in a Drum), Gail invited them to LA to see whether they could arrange some other synclavier tracks – not yet released! They played a load of tracks, which Ascolta claim were completely unplayable, apart that is from 2 tracks which they took away, arranged and recorded last year for ZFT. Those tracks were Samba Funk and Uncle Sam. Ascolta play Samba Funk along with the synclavier recording from the vault.

Ed Palermo: We’re Only In It For The Music

It’s got to be love, hasn’t it? Why else would someone bother to transcribe 200 of Frank Zappa’s tunes? For what other reason would someone dedicate himself for over 15 years to presenting his arrangements of Zappa’s music in the setting of a 17-piece jazz big band, and at a loss to boot?

A fantastic interview with the fantastic Ed Palermo – about music, about transcriptions, about his first time he saw the Mothers, about rehearsals, about his goals… (have you heard his latest album, Eddy Loves Frank?)

Once all the notes are down the way Frank Zappa’s band played them, then I think to myself: “Right, what do I want to do with this?” I wanted to use all the parts that Frank wrote but to juggle them around, to make it more interesting for me but mainly so that the hardcore Zappa fans can listen to it and be surprised.

Night School, 2009:

Me loves Eddy.

Francesco Zappa – His First Homepage In Over 200 Years

Indeed, Francesco Zappa really lived and wrote much more music beyond that rearranged in the posthumous record.

Yes of course – and finally he has a website now (in italian and english). Looking pretty nice, and the content is quite all right, too. And of course it is “dedicated to Frank Zappa, who discovered Francesco Zappa”. Great work!

Some extras:

Exclusive FZ-Audio at Rolling Stone Dot Com

An exclusive Audio feature from the Rolling Stone:

…his estate is releasing a three CD concert set taped at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1978. The shows were the source of some tracks on 1979s Sheik Yerbouti, but the complete unedited show hasn’t been available until now. Click here to hear an exclusive version of “City of Tiny Lites” from the new collection.

Not exactly: the song is different from the one on Hammersmith Odeon, so it’s probably from the new Birthday Bundle, recording date: 26. january 1978 (one month before HO). Sounds better to me than Odeon (Thinman? What do you say?), with more organic sound and more cimbals – and a much better solo. (Source: Zappa in France)