Frank Zappa

Some musicians have inspired me not just through their music but also through their words and their lives. A few quotes and remembrances won't do justice to the impression Frank Zappa has made on me, but here goes:

"There was no time to worry if people 'got it.' The guy made 40 albums and was working on 40 more. And you never saw Frank read a review and go, 'Gee, that son of a bitch!' He'd say, 'What's for breakfast?'" -Mark Volman

Interviewer:	When Freak Out came out, the thing that seemed to jar everybody was its sense of humor.
Zappa:	Look, I'm an honest person, and I try to keep a certain kind of integrity in the work that I do. If I have a sense of humor, I'm not going to subdue it in order to make myself more acceptable.

"Because I wanted to." (Zappa's response to being asked by Jay Leno on the Tonight Show why he gave his children such unusual names)

Any composition (or improvisation) which remains consonant and 'regular' throughout is, for me, equivalent to watching a movie with only 'good guys' in it, or eating cottage cheese. -FZ



I had the pleasure of meeting Frank Zappa once, around 1982. A friend and I were bike riding on Mulholland Drive, and Zappa was at the side of the road having his picture taken for an ad (for AB Systems amplifiers; I don't know if they're still in business).

At a break in the action, I said "thank you--we love you" and Zappa came over to talk to us. He was remarkably graceful and friendly, especially in light of some bad experiences he'd had with fans over the years.



I've notated the initial melody of the Zappa song G-Spot Tornado from the Jazz From Hell (and Yellow Shark) albums:

tornado.pdf	Adobe PDF; 8½"×11"	21290 bytes
tornadoA4.pdf	Adobe PDF; ISO A4	21285 bytes
tornado.ly	GNU LilyPond source	1774 bytes

Tom Ace

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