PERFECT and Corny

Nowadays I happen to meet really nice people. Does it have anything to do with nice music? I don’t know. But the thing is that conductor Tom Trapp was kind enough to answer my few questions about the 100% Zappa project.

Nice text – the keywords are: arranging, first Zappa-experience, WAZOO, rehearsals, imrovisation, Gail Zappa, love of music… Have fun! (Thank You, Mr. Trapp!)

15 thoughts on “PERFECT and Corny”

  2. Very both good & instructive interview, Balint.
    And it’s a cozy talk.
    He’s a genuine musician. Thus: humble & honest, devoted to music.

    Isn’t it a good idea to suggest interviewing musicians (from all genres) about their idea about Z music? Jazz, pop, avant garde, classical, you name it.

  7. My idea is : beat the meters. (Meet the bee like artists).

    Overlook regular systems. Create something new, unexpected.
    OK you have to eat some meat to enable yourself to do so.

  8. No bernard, you have to eat some “meet” (this is for you Dr Sharleena) to enable yourself to do so. Bernard, if you ever go to the mountains in the US, you have to stay at the “Overlook Hotel” and get a drink at the bar. Maybe, I´ll serve you … ;-)

  9. I don’t care that much about spelling. And I do not want to play a role as a sort of Overlook Hotel.

    FZ. That’s about a guy from ordinary beginnings ( without too much formal education) who wrote very good music ( and humour). Puzzling scores. Great theatre. Very clever guy.
    Possibly a strange example. When asked about his idea of the painter Rembrandt he explained that it was all about one basic colour, brown. Self evident, however you need the basic skills to see it.

    FZ happened to be inspiring for successive generations. Basically, that’s what I guess: for those who heard his music when they were young enough. I might be wrong, however this is a valuable point of departure for a reasoning.
    FZ is an ear opener. Compare it with opening a can and discovering a weird content, way back then.
    Innovating, initiating border crossing in music, overlooking boundaries, square minds.
    And – as well – just one of the folks active in US day – to – day life: commercial.
    I confess: I learned quite a lot from him ( humour, combining things that seemed to be back to back,etc ) . And it happened to be useful in my life.

  10. Painting & FZ.

    I don’t like that haughty Rembrandt. I prefer Bruegel.
    Just have a look at his “The Fight between Carnival and Lent,” 1559 It’s
    http://www.rpi.edu/~zappenj/Bruegel/bruegel5a.html

    – People enjoy life. Great.
    – Some others (in black suits / have a look at the walls in the painting)endeavor to impose conditions.

    Just compare it with present day life.

  12. Yes, for sure. I’m well known as a ” sunny” guy, always ready to laugh and invent the next joke.
    However this kind of (1) narrow mindness and (2) greed from the side of the ZFT really hurts me. That’s not were good music is about. This is a truly shocking development. It runs 200 percent counter to the FZ legacy. I’ve been inspired by it and I feel deeply ashamed that things are now developing that way. Ever seen a good musician spittning somebody else, who cares about him, in the face ?

    I didn’ invent the comparison with Bruegel ( my favorite painter). J. Attali did, 30 years ago. In case you would be interested in a good book on – let’s say the sociology of music- that’s ” Noise”. “What is noise to the old order is harmony to the new.” Here’s the summary :
    http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/aesthetics%20of%20music/attali'snoise.htm
    FZT seems to reintroduce an old order. They belong to the black suited man on the upper right side of the painting.

  13. “Now, nobody likes a good laugh more than I do…

    except perhaps my wife

    and some of her friends…

    oh yes and Captain Johnston.

    Come to think of it most people likes a good laugh more than I do. But that’s beside the point. Now, let’s have a good clean healthy outdoor sketch. Get some air into your lungs. Ten, nine, eight and all that…“

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