100% extasy! I’ve just arrived home. A real Zappa-celebration, a celebration of Music, with 3 concerts in a row. Beginning with the warm-up concert of Mike Keneally and Ed Mann, playing in duet – jazzy, improvisational, zappaesque: fun. Then came the Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Fischer – amazing! Smiling musicians, rich texture, carefully elaborated details, big laughs and power. Better than the LSO!
The day was closed by the Modern Art Orchestra (a Big Band), featuring also the two guests above. Cletus Awreetus Awightus, Big Swifty, Zomby Woof and more – can you imagine? Orchestrated by Tom Trapp, who also made a good job as a conductor – lively gestures, big smiles, collective improvisations.
The message of the day was: Music is the Best!
Good times, I gather! Oh, and the Modern Art Orchestra ended up pulling it off, did they? I seem to remember, while in Antwerp, you were slightly concerned about whether they would :)
nice one, sounds like it would have been great! full setlist perhaps?
This is the setlist – a nice program, I think! :-) And about the orchestra: I did not know that Tom Trapp will also be conducting – and he did it realy fine! Controlled the improvisations, made some collective improvisations, jokes, hand-signals. Sometimes walked up and down between the musicians and gave them “orders”, giving colour and fun to the arrangement. So: the written part was (most of the times) tight, the improvisational parts long, rich and exciting – thanks to the conductor. They’ve played A Holiday In Berlin, Aybe Sea, The Little House I Used To Live In together, as it is on Burnt Weeny Sandwich – with tons of solos, for more than a half an hour (I think).
It was FUN! :-)
I hope they had permission from Gayle!
“Can anybody dance?” –FZ