Frank Zappa

, Jan 15, 2006

A genious composer of music that was litteraly everything and anything. You cant, and will never put a specific stamp on Zappa of what he did at the time of his career. He visited every camp of musical style you can imagine from rockn roll to funk, soul, jazz, fusion and even Disco. Sometimes he blended styles to give things a more interesting approach and result.
He really took his music seriously from the very beginning when he started his band The Mothers, and had a strong leadership troughout his career to the very end based on strict rules. Like for instance, if you played in his band and used drugs or showed up drunk before a live show, you got fired on the spot. Quite strange and paradoxal in that period around the 60s and 70s were drugs pretty much florished in rock bands at that time.
His live performances was something very unique as well. In the very beginning of the Mothers period it was quite normal to find band-members crawling around on stage and speakers in vivid frenzy DURING the concert, and STILL be able to perform music. And sometimes inviting audience up on stage to sing, talk or do whatever madness they could imagine. These acts are perfectly represented on the You Cant Do That On Stage Anymore Live series. And that stuff never really happens on stage anymore really to be honest. So in a way, Zappa struck a chord with that title.
Frank Zappa also had pretty much control on everything he put his hands on, on stage, in studio and definatly his recordings and licencing rights. After some time, he took complete control over the rights to his recordings.
And when Zappa didnt spend time in the studio, he toured. Music took up every single day of the year non-stop during his most productive period. And get this: Every single live performance he did was recorded. and those recordings are stored in a vault courtesy controled by his wife Gail. So even though Zappa is gone, there are tons of pre-released stuff yet to see the day. Some people has estimated that it would take years to completely go trough the vault of his recordings. Its just up to Gail to decide what to do with everything.
Shame he didnt write a complete autobiography of his career either. He really saw it all, did it all. And he played and collaborated with the best musicians out there. Therefore he rightfully deserve my biggest respect for his music and compositions.

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