Jazz from Hell
Programme Two: Frank Zappa
Saturday 5 June 2004 18:00-18:30 (Radio 3)
Charles Shaar Murray continues his Jazz File series, which celebrates and explores the relationship between jazz and the music of Frank Zappa. The series was made to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Zappa's death (4th December 2003).
Frank Zappa is usually thought of first and foremost as a rock musician and band leader, albeit a pretty unusual one! Zappa said he didn't like jazz; he complained of its endless 'noodling' and famously said that 'jazz is not dead, it just smells funny!'. However, much of his music shows a jazz influence, his recorded work features some of the most dazzling improvisers of their time (Ian Underwood, Sugar Cane Harris, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Mike Brecker etc) - not to mention the virtuosic guitar playing of Frank himself, and his music has in turn influenced contemporary jazz.
Shaar Murray (an acknowledged expert on the subject, and regular presenter of Jazz File) is joined by a host of the bandleader's ex sidemen to take an entertaining look at Zappa and jazz. The following Zappa alumni have been interviewed exclusively for this series: Arthur Barrow, Adrian Belew, Mike Brecker, George Duke, Bruce Fowler, Ralph Humphrey, Tommy Mars, Patrick O'Hearn and Don Preston. Plus there are archive recordings of Zappa himself.
This second programme focuses on the role Zappa's star sidemen played in creating his unique music. As a bandleader Zappa was like Ellington in the way he assembled groups of virtuoso musicians and then wrote compositions for them to play which would highlight their individual strengths. He always wrote pieces which allowed his sidemen to shine.
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