ORCHESTRAL EVENTS
THE MUSIC OF FRANK ZAPPA
previous classical events with
string quartets,
string orchestra
symphonic orchestra
previous classical events with
string quartets,
string orchestra
symphonic orchestra
THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION
LIVE ONSTAGE WITH
special guest
ED MANN
+
THE YELLOW STRING QUARTET
MEDLEY
HOLIDAY IN BERLIN
AYBE SEA
LITTLE HOUSE I USED TO LIVE IN
Bunk Gardner whips it out in Germany..........
Da BluZe - ED MANN SOLO
- DONNIE sings
- DON SOLO
- BUNKS SOLO
RECAPITULATION
LIVE ONSTAGE WITH
special guest
ED MANN
+
THE YELLOW STRING QUARTET
MEDLEY
HOLIDAY IN BERLIN
AYBE SEA
LITTLE HOUSE I USED TO LIVE IN
Bunk Gardner whips it out in Germany..........
Da BluZe - ED MANN SOLO
- DONNIE sings
- DON SOLO
- BUNKS SOLO
RECAPITULATION
previous amazing musical moments with:
21st Century Players
WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL,
Los Angeles, CA USA
with the
ORCHESTRA OF INVENTION
at the Gewendhaus Leipzig Germany
recorded for Warner Bros EU as
A NIGHT AT THE GEWANDHAUS
with the
OSLO CAMERATA
in Oslo Norway
with the
BERGEN FILHARMONIK ORKESTER
in Bergen, NORWAY at GRIEG MUSIC HALL
with the
THE ORCHESTRAL STRINGS OF INVENTION
FRANKFURT JAZZ FESTIVAL, GERMANY
with the
TRONDHEIM SOLOISTS
NIDAROS BLUES FESTIVAL, NORWAY
with the
YELLOW STRING QUARTET @ ZAPPA UNION
OSLO NORWAY
VARIETY REVIEW OF CONCERT AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
"To an outsider, Igor Stravinsky and Frank Zappa seemed to reside on different planets, even though both lived in the Hollywood Hills in the late 1960s. But insiders know Zappa was a serious Stravinsky buff, invoking the Russian’s acerbic spirit, techniques and even some of his music in his own gargantuan output. Thus, the teaming of one of Zappa’s favorite Stravinsky pieces — the ever-zesty, ever-acidic “L’Histoire du Soldat” — with a survey of Zappa’s intricate idiosyncrasies for rock band at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday night was not so much far-fetched as it was far-sighted.
As it happened, though, Zappa came off a lot better than Stravinsky.
There are rumblings of a Zappa revival afoot in the world — what with his son, Dweezil, preparing to take an authorized “Zappa Plays Zappa” band on the road next month and this ongoing project, which was launched in Europe in 2003. The latter group is a quintet containing alumni of various Zappa bands.
This outfit was road-tested (their 66th gig), as precise as any of Zappa’s bands and able to burn brightly on a wide range of Zappa selections on Friday (the set list was completely different Saturday). With powerful vocals, physical shtick coupled with Preston’s and electronic guitar salvos, the evening contained a lot of the contradictory eclectic, serious and circusy flavors of a Zappa show.
Indeed, in some cases, they were able to go deeper into the material, rather than merely parroting Zappa’s notoriously tricky composed lines. “The Idiot Bastard Son,” for example, revealed some lovely harmonic ideas only hinted at on the original Mothers recording.
All on board were adept at exploring the drumfire jazz-rock riffs of the early ’70s, and there was a deftly done sample of Zappa’s doo-wop sendups.
All the while, the screen behind the band displayed slides of Stravinsky beaming down paternally — as if one needed more reminding after the “Rite of Spring” riff in the middle of “Duke of Prunes.”