Zappa at Montreux Prog Nights, 2009

Since 2006, the goal of Montreux Prog Nights has been to to promote progressive music in Switzerland, especially in Montreux, by organizing three or four events each year in various venues. In 2009, the band FiDOplaysZAPPA performed a Zappa Night on January 23rd, while French band Lazuli also performed selected Zappa compositions on November 7th. Both performed at Ned’s Music Club.
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Selected Idiot Bastard Sons

As a big fan of all Zappa and Zappa-related recordings, I’ve accumulated an immense number of live concerts, shows, and radio broadcasts via Zappateers and purchased elsewhere (far, far too many to name in this post). Among them, certain shows and recordings stand out as being exceptionally good.
Continue reading “Selected Idiot Bastard Sons”

Tunes, Treats & Torrents – Peach Noise

Ever so often a cover band comes along that absolutely impresses me with their ability to interpret Zappa’s compositions in fresh, bold new ways. The French cover band Peach Noise is one such band.
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Tunes, Treats & Torrents – Fattore Zeta

Italian band Fattore Zeta describes itself as a “jazz tribute to Frank Zappa” band. Their unique covers, interpretations, and arrangements of Zappa’s compositions – with their use of instruments in unexpected combinations – is really quite extraordinary (Listen to “Oh No” and “Blessed Relief” on their website). The band released their first album in 2006, entitled “(R)umori Jazz“. Their second, entitled “Dio Fa“, released in 2009, captured the band’s concert at Zappanale 19.
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Sleep Dirt Variations

We are all quite familiar with the acoustical duet version of “Sleep Dirt” between Frank Zappa (acoustic lead guitar) and James “Bird Legs” Youmans (acoustic rhythm guitar) on the album of the same name, recorded at the Caribou Studios in Nederland, Colorado, in December, 1974. It is one of the most beautiful compositions in Zappa’s body of work.

The other day, while organizing music tracks, I happened across several versions of “Sleep Dirt” by other artists as well as a live version by Frank Zappa from 1975 which has an eerie resonance when one listens to these later cover versions.

Listen for yourself, then decide:

Sleep Dirt – Henry Kaiser & Mike Keneally
– Live at the Freight and Salvage, 2000.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Henry Kaiser – Mike Keneally.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Ed Palermo Big Band
– Iridium Jazz Club, NYC, NY, 12 Dec 2007.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Ed Palermo Big Band.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Quintette Gaucher
– Quintette Gaucher Play the Music of Frank Zappa, 1996.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Quintette Gaucher.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Zappatistas
– Jazz Festival, Frankfurt, Germany, 3 October 2003.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Zappatistas.mp3]

Sleep Dirt – Frank Zappa
– War Memorial Gym, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1 October 1975.
[audio:20091201 Sleep Dirt – Frank Zappa.mp3]

Musicians Play FZ – Part II

Alas, I’ve saved the best for last. “Musicians Play FZ – Part II“, a compilation of FZ songs performed by various musicians, from Sting to The Persuasions and many in between (plucked from my own collection). Enjoy this mix for the next two weeks, at which time the “Son of Tweezer Glint” series will resume.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

Note: if we are infringing on anyone’s copyright, contact KUR and we’ll remove the offending material.

Musicians Play FZ – Part I

Originally conceived as an interruption in the “Son of Tweezer Glint” series for we schmucks who couldn’t make it to Zappanale 20 in Bad Doberan — “Musicians Play FZ – Part I” is the first of a two part series which will run concurrently for the next 4 weeks (my own virtual Zappanale, of sorts, you might say, plucked from my own collection), at which time the “Son of Tweezer Glint” series will resume.

Click here to listen to the mixtape.

This mixtape is for Sharleena (get well, soon) and Barry (while not the real Zappanale, there is always next year amigos).

Note: if we are infringing on anyone’s copyright, contact KUR and we’ll remove the offending material.

Pygmy Twylyte – Five Versions

I was going through my Zappa collection the other day, and I noticed I had quite a few versions of Pygmy Twylyte. The first four are covers by Tribute/Cover Bands, and the fifth is one of my favorite proto-versions from 1973, Texas:

Ed Palermo Big Band (Sonar, Baltimore, MD, 21 Sep 2006)
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/16-pygmy-twylyte.mp3]

Quintette Gaucher (Quintette Gaucher Plays the Music of Frank Zappa)
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/07-pygmy-twylyte.mp3]

Project/Object (Visualite Theatre, Charlotte, NC, 5 Jan 2002)
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/06-pygmy-twylyte.mp3]

Great Googly Moogly (Fasching, Stockholm, 15 Mar 2007)
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/12-pygmy-twylyte.mp3]

Frank Zappa (Armadillo World Headquarters, Austin, TX, 26 Oct 1973)
[audio:http://www.killuglyradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/04-pygmy-twylyte.mp3]

How do you think these later versions match up to the earlier version performed by FZ’s own band?