The Zappa Commision

[Professor1]

Hello Zappa fans! Professor here....

Zappa's music has become even more important since his death. Unfortunately, mosy of it will never be in print. Of the amount that has been, most is no longer in print. Gail Zappa said, in Rolling Stone IIRC, that she has 40 albums in various stages of completion.

Do you own rare, or even current publications of sheet music or scores? Together, we might make a library of Zappa music.

I have:


Apostrophe(')
Dupree's Paradise, in orchestra score
The Frank Zappa Guitar Book
Hot Rats



I will be doing a thesis on a Zappa topic. If you own any music, it would be of great value to be able to research it. Especially primary sources, like autograph scores, charts, or parts, or sets, and also letters, interviews, and lectures.

[slowpoke]

hey prof,

just stumbled across this site
www.docheuser.de/wel.html#FZ

thought you might be interested.

[Professor1]

Thanks.
That looks like some bootleg transcriptions. I can't tell how accurate or legal they are. What i'm looking for would be actual publications, or lead sheets and charts used by the band or stuff like that.

[dkaplowitz]

I have some stuff I got from John Frusciante (most known for playing guitar in The Red Hot Chili Peppers) while we were students at GIT in Hollywood (way back in 1987-88). He is a huge Zappa fan and he had a ton of stuff he got from some former Zappa band members (I think mostly Arthur Barrow, but I'm not 100% sure the source).

It's all pretty rough copies, but it's stuff like the interlude for Jumbo Go Away, the transition melody for Sinister Footwear/Yo' Mamma, Moggio (labeled "mystery studio song"), the postlude keyboard stuff from Sinister Footwear (with psychotic polyrhythms), and a few odds and ends here and there. I have some scores I bought too...Guitar Parts from Drowning Witch and Alien Orifice. I used to have the score version of the clarinet part for Mo 'n Herb's vacation (can you say 17:3 ?), but for the life of me I don't know where it is any more.

I'd be interested in trading - esp. if you have anything cool.

To tide you over, here are a few things that are available online:

The Frank Zappa Guitar Book. That's complete.

And The Frank Zappa Song Book, which isn't so hot, but it's nice to have.

O yeah, and there's this very nice TBP from Keyboard Mag in 1987.

I had a goal to work up that version of TBP this year, but I'm working on jazz improv right now, so I'm not going to spend much time on polyrhythmic stunt guitar until I feel better about playing over changes.

Cheers,

Dave

[Professor1]

Well, I've listed all the stuff I have, I have several books by and about Zappa. I'd be interested in seeing the stuff you mentioned from the band members. Is it xerox copies or handwritten stuff?

[dkaplowitz]

Professor said:

I'd be interested in seeing the stuff you mentioned from the band members. Is it xerox copies or handwritten stuff?

They're mostly xerox with some handwriting on them. If you send an email I'll send you some of what I have. Not sure how much I've comitted to digital format(s), but I have some in jpg.

[slowpoke]

dkaplowitz said:

I have some stuff I got from John Frusciante (most known for playing guitar in The Red Hot Chili Peppers) while we were students at GIT in Hollywood (way back in 1987-88).

Neat! Are you still in contact with him? I have some of his solo albums and am pretty amazed with his first; Niadre LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt. I like a lot of the albums he's been putting out this year as well (6 in 6 months!). Did you have a lot of classes with him? What were they? How was he back then? Any stories?

[dkaplowitz]

slowpoke said:

Neat! Are you still in contact with him? I have some of his solo albums and am pretty amazed with his first; Niadre LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt. I like a lot of the albums he's been putting out this year as well (6 in 6 months!). Did you have a lot of classes with him? What were they? How was he back then? Any stories?

I mostly hung out with him at GIT and we talked a lot about Zappa. I guess he noticed me b/c I always wore Zappa t-shirts. I remember telling him this or that Zappa composition was humanly impossible to play and he'd pull me in a practice room, tap his feet and play it perfectly. Heh.

He said he had the chance to audition for Zappa for the '88 band but that he chickened out at the last minute. According to him Frank was examining the guitar Frusciante had (a custom strat with comic books all over the body under the finish) and that's when he should have asked him if he could try out, but didn't.

Some people who knew him at GIT called him "The Vai Clone" b/c he purposely looked like (and wore the same makeup as) Steve Vai. He'd also jump on stage and do perfect covers of "The Attitude Song" and "No Pockets". Tim Bogert (teacher at BIT/VIT and former Vanilla Fudge member) chewed him out about "No Pockets" b/c it didn't groove. I guess he didn't like (or couldn't hear) that the song was largely polyrhythmic and odd time (hence the name "no pockets"). Frusciante did great covers of Hendrix songs also. For someone who was 18 he could play incredible things.

I ran into him once at Sunset and LaBrea after "Mother's Milk" became a huge hit and it was an awkward conversation... He had become this big rock star and I knew him more as a geeky, ultra-talented guitar player from GIT who though eccentric was pretty down to earth. I saw him at a party some time after that but we only spoke briefly (he was trying to get his mack on with the chick who's party it was).

Good guy, I'm glad to see he's doing creative things rather than playing with RHCP full time. I've heard some of his records, but it wasn't really anything that fired me up. I didn't know he's released 6 this year. I'll have to check some of that out.

[slowpoke]

Some interesting stuff dk, thanks for sharing.

I bet that was weird seeing him become a star like that.

I do think Niadre LaDes is a damn good album, totally off the wall and strange and unusual but there's just something about it that appeals to me. Maybe because it's off the wall and strange and unusual. It's just music that was made for the sake of being made and I think that's what I appreciate the most about it.


Prof, sorry for hijacking your thread a little.