Overview:
After nine months of forced time off the road recovering from his injuries sustained at the end of the Flo and Eddie era, Frank reinvents his musical style once again with a 20 piece jazz orchestra. Waka/Jawaka had already hit shelves, so audiences had a clue that this was his new direction. There’s no vocals on any of the tunes, just difficult intricate compositions and long boogies, jams and shuffles, a lot like the Hot Rats album. Like most Zappa tours there’s a nice mix of new material (The Grand Wazoo, Approximate, Regyptian Strut, For Calvin, Greggery Peccary) and reworked older tunes (Dog/Meat, Chunga’s Revenge and to a lesser extent Big Swifty). This band consisted of the best sessions musicians Frank could find (minus the Underwoods, who had been working with FZ for years), many of who appear on the Waka/Jawaka and Grand Wazoo albums, and they do a fantastic job with the material. The music is always lively, engaging and joyous. It’s such a bummer that this band only got to perform 7 shows across 14 days. Luckily every show, except the fourth show in The Hauge, was recorded in some way, and every tape is more than listenable. As the tour went on Frank does more and more with the horn section, incorporating more riffs into the larger jams in songs like Big Swifty and The Grand Wazoo. This band, despite it’s large size, could perform composed and improvised music at an equally impressive level. The only downside to this tour is it’s limited setlist, but there isn’t a song played that I tire of listening to. The Berlin and New York shows stand out above the rest, but the LA, London and Boston shows are fantastic too. FZ must have loved a lot of these musicians because many come back three years later for the 1975 Royce Hall shows. Overall this is a fantastic tour where every show is unique and worth checking out.
The Band:
Frank Zappa – Guitar, Composer, Conductor
Tony Duran – Slide Guitar
Dave Parlato – Electric Bass
Jerry “Greggery Peccary” Kessler – Cello
“Direct from Derek and the Dominos” Jim Gordon – Drums
“The King of the Keyboard Himself” Ian Underwood – Piano and Synths
“The Dynamic” Bruce Fowler – Trombone of the Upper Atmosphere
Malcolm “The Latent Necrophiliac” McNab – D Trumpet
Tommy “The Tuba” Malone – Bb Trumpet and Tuba
Earle “With an E” Dumler – Oboe, Contrabass Sarrusophone and Other Winds
Glenn “Hands Up, Face to the Wall” Ferris – Trombone and Euphonium
“The Indispensable” Sal Marquez – Bb Trumpet
Ken “Always Jovial” Shroyer – Liquid Delight, Trombone and Baritone Horn
Mike Altschul – Piccolo, Bass Clarinet and Other Winds
Joanne “The Debutante of the Bassoon” McNab – Gogo Dancing and Bassoon
Jay Migliori – Flute, Tenor sax and Other Winds
Ray “The Phantom” Reed – Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Dry Wit and Other Winds
Charles Owens – Soprano Sax, Alto Sax and Other Winds
Tom “With One Smashed Hand” Raney – Vibes and Percussion
Ruth “Also Jovial” Underwood – Marimba and Percussion
Recordings Available:
1972 09 10 – Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA (Audience B+)
The first show of the tour. Actually the first time the entire band was together in one place. Despite this the concert as a whole is surprisingly tight, showing just how excellent these musicians are. The show starts with a long soundcheck and intro while Frank joyously introduces the band. The show then opens proper with a standalone New Brown Clouds, and is followed by pretty standard, but high quality performances of most of the songs this band knew, all in very listenable quality. Big Swifty, Approximate, and The Grand Wazoo all produce enjoyable solos, but they’re not quite as far out as later shows. For Calvin has a bit of the lyrics during the trombone solo, and is probably the best version of the tour. We also get the only performance of the “Low Budget Dog Meat” Medley, as Music for Low Budget Orchestra was dropped from the setlist after this show. The concert is rounded off with excellent takes of the rest of Greggery Peccary, Penis Dimension and Regyptian Strut. Because it’s his first show in over nine months, Frank seems happy to be on the road and gives interesting intros to almost all of the tunes played, including between the movements in Greggery Peccary. Not the most fantastic show of the tour, but very enjoyable and worth a listen.
1972 09 15 – Deutschlandhalle, Berlin, Germany (Audience A)
By far the best sounding audience of the tour is this fantastic show, also the longest of the tour. This show’s intro is much shorter than the previous date but besides that it starts largely the same as the last night, with excellent versions of New Brown Clouds, Big Swifty, Approximate, For Calvin and The Grand Wazoo. This shows Big Swifty is unique in that it includes a Trombone solo after the Trumpet’s. The first part of the show is rounded out by the rest of Greggery Peccary and the Dog Meat Medley. After this FZ decides they’ll “make something up” and the band produces 20+ minutes of just fantastic improv. Absolutely worth hearing and a highlight of the tour. The show ends with the Penis Dimension-Regyptian Strut medley and the encore is this band’s only performance of Chunga’s Revenge. Also notable is that this show features the last performance of For Calvin. An excellent show in excellent quality, that should be in every fan’s collection.
1972 09 16 – Oval Cricket Ground, London, UK (Audience B+/B)
The least interesting of the known Grand Wazoo shows, but still an enjoyable concert. It starts with another long intro and soundcheck, which I always enjoy for some reason. A nice Big Swifty, with a rare trombone duet starts the show and next up is the first complete performance of Greggery Peccary with New Brown Clouds at the end. This is followed by a nice, long take of The Grand Wazoo. The show ends with Dog Meat and the Penis-Strut Medley. The sound on this recording is okay, nothing fantastic or terrible, still quite listenable. Nothing wrong with this show, but it’s just not as great as the others. I’m also surprised FZ makes no reference of the events that happened last time he was in London, though there was apparently an attempt to get the guy who pushed Frank to come on stage and hand him flowers, but FZ rejected this idea.
1972 09 17 – Houtrust Hallen, The Hague (No Recording Available)
Unfortunately there is no known recording circulating of this show, making it the only show from this band not available. One person who attended, a Paul B., claims to have recorded the show, but he has no idea where it ended up. He said it possibly ended up with a friend. If anyone out there reading has a copy of this show, please let yourself be known! The venue was apparently half empty and very echoey as a result, so the recording likely isn’t great, but since it’s the only missing show I’d love to hear it. A review from the time lets us known the setlist includes at least The New Brown Clouds, Big Swifty, Approximate, For Calvin, The Grand Wazoo and Uncle Meat. FZ also is known to have mentioned the Grand Wazoo in the context on Hunchentoot, which I’d love to hear too. Malcolm McNabb has said that at the Berlin show “Frank announced “Now we are going to feature the Fighting McNabs'” and then he proceeded to conduct me and my then wife, bassoonist Jo Ann Caldwell McNab, in a musical dialogue.” Since this isn’t on any of the known shows, it must have happened in Holland.
1972 09 22 – Felt Forum, New York, NY (Audience B)
This show starts with another long soundcheck/intro and opens with 37 minutes of “Random Weirdness” AKA some of the most incredible improv you can ever hear. A 20 piece band completely making things up by the seat of their pants is not something you see everyday. About half the band gets a chance to solo before the beast comes to a close. The main set is rounded out with standard, high quality takes of Dog Meat, New Brown Clouds, Penis Dimension and Regyptian Strut. Big Swifty is played as an encore in a truncated version containing only a hot Frank solo and prominent bass. An fantastic show, almost as excellent as the following night.
1972 09 23 – Felt Forum, New York, NY (Audience A-/B+)
Another contender for best night of the tour. This show starts with a quick, probably spontaneous performance of part of Lohengrin, followed by the regular intro/soundcheck, but with a twist. Frank tells the crowd that there will be audience participation tonight and that they will be cued to make three comic book sound effects during one of the numbers later in the show. The concert opens with a long, fantastic Grand Wazoo and now it is time for the comic books. The band plays Approximate and Frank cues the audience numerous times during the solos. After the bulk of the song Frank begins the Grand Wazoo Comic Book Extravaganza with the orchestra reading out lines from comic books and performing an extended jam all with the audiences shouts. An amazing high point in FZ’s touring career. The show is completed with great takes of Dog Meat, Big Swifty and the Penis-Strut Medley. Before Big Swifty someone asks for Freak Out and Frank sings “It Can’t Happen Here.” Another excellent show that needs to be heard by all Frankophiles.
1972 09 24 – Music Hall, Boston, MA (Official Release)
The final show of the tour and this band, and the only known recording of this ensemble in the Zappa vault. It’s another excellent performance with great takes of The Grand Wazoo, Approximate, Greggery Peccary, Big Swifty and the Penis-Strut Medley. FZ and the band are in high spirits and great music is produced throughout. The sound is very nice even though its only a two-track recording made by a local radio station. The most notable part of the show is that FZ spontaneously decided to add improv between the movements of Greggery Peccary, nearly doubling the length of the piece. The improv is sometimes tweaky, sometimes jamming and always excellent, just like this band as a whole. On the official release, Big Swifty and Greggery Peccary were switched to better fit two CDs. This show is available to stream pretty much everywhere and is a fantastic document of what this band can do. Go check it out. Also available is a short audience recording of the soundcheck featuring parts of Music for Low Budget Orchestra.
The Songs Played:
The Adventures Of Greggery Peccary – This insane epic premiers on this tour instrumentally. FZ would always intro the tune with some of the story, and tell the audience to not clap between movements, which someone almost always does. On other occasions FZ would tell more of the story between the movements. This piece was a simplified version of what would later appear on Studio Tan with a very different orchestration. Most notably missing are the “Steno-pool” and Some Ballet Music” (“If it’s Wide Enough…”) sections which had not yet been added to the piece. On this tour the piece has four movements: I. Greggery’s Apartment, II. Greggery Invents the Calendar, III. Greggery is Attacked and IV. The New Brown Clouds. The first movement has about a minute of different music instead of the Ballet Music Section and about 20 seconds of unique music at the end. The second movement is about a minute and a half of music found on the studio take (“Sunday, Saturday… Tuesday through Monday…). The third section starts after the hunchmen (and hunchwomen) dance to the pile of radios and consists of about the next 2 minutes of music. In place of all the musical quotes and Greggery’s “What?” we get an awesome sax solo over the chaotic preceding riff. Movement IV is essentially the final 6 minutes of the epic, with two short solos on either side of the One Shot Deal quotation. The fourth movement was played as an opener at the first two shows, with the rest of Greggery coming later in the program. At the first New York show only movement four is played. The London and Boston shows feature the full suite in order, but at the Boston show FZ decides on stage to add some lengthy improv between each movement, doubling the length of the piece. It’s interesting music, one of three times this band is known to have delved into full blown improv, definitely worth hearing. Overall every performance of Greggery Peccary on this tour is pretty fantastic and worth checking out, but that’s coming from a major fan of the tune.
Approximate – Maybe Frank’s most experimental song ever, a piece with a specified rhythm but no specified pitches. “To the layman, that means ugly notes, ladies and gentlemen.” This tune is absolutely ridiculous and I love every performance of it over the years. There are basically five different written sections to this piece, with a solo or two coming between each chunk. Between the first two themes we get a bass clarinet solo by Altschul. Between chunks two and three we hear a wild Sarrusophone solo by Dumler. Between the third and fourth chunks we get a scarry synthesizer solo from Ian Underwood, and finally between the last themes we get a percussion solo or duet by Ruth Underwood and/or Tom Raney followed by a drum solo by Jim Gordon. At the second New York show FZ announces that there will be audience participation in this program and teaches the audience three comic book noises (“ARRROOOO!, RUNCH!, and B-TOOMMMMMMMMMMM”). FZ cues these noises during the solos in this show’s version of Approximate and after Jim’s drum solo FZ begins The Grand Wazoo Comic Book Extravaganza. We then get a few minutes of band members reading from ridiculous comic books while other’s vocalize some odd tones and someone plays a flute solo underneath. This morphs into an excellent shuffle with a wide variety of solos. An awesome one-of-a-kind live performance that should be heard by all Zappa fans.
Big Swifty – A monster version of a great tune. “The version that we’re gonna play of this tune is not exactly like the record. It’s been spiffed over a bit.” The orchestration is pretty different, but all the component composed parts are still there. The standard set of solos for this tune were an alto sax, a trumpet and Frank on guitar, but this wasn’t always the case. At the Berlin show, there is a trombone solo following the trumpet and the next night in London there is a trombone duet after the sax solo. At the first New York date they’re short on time for an encore, so they play a condensed version with only a Frank solo. On Waka/Jawaka there are more solos following the closing themes, but here the tune ends immediately following the second composed section. Every take of this tune from this tour is high spirited and excellent, though I usually prefer The Grand Wazoo as this band’s jam song.
Chunga’s Revenge – Played one time as an encore at the Berlin show. The majority of the band stays backstage for this tune, so instead we get a restrained take of this instrumental classic featuring FZ, Ian, and the rhythm section. It’s essentially performed as on the eponymous album, but with no horns. FZ plays a beautiful, melodic solo and the song ends with a repetition to the theme. Worth checking out, along with the entire Berlin tape.
Dog Meat – A medley of two songs: The Dog Breath Variations and The Uncle Meat Main Title Theme, each orchestrated beautifully. All of the weirdo studio effects from the studio takes are left out, so there’s just great music. At the first show parts of Music for Low Budget Orchestra were included as the first part of the medley, then titled “Low Budget Dog Meat”. This is the first appearance of this medley, which would be played heavily over the next two years, and during the 1992 Yellow Shark shows.
For Calvin And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers – An instrumental version of the weirdest song on the Grand Wazoo. Played at the first two shows before being dropped from rotation. Between the composed sections we get a weird and eerie sax solo and a weird and eerie trombone solo. Someone, possibly Bruce Fowler, sings “Where did they go? Where did they come from?” during the trombone solo at the LA Show. An excellent version of this rare tune, definitely worth checking out. Always followed by The Grand Wazoo.
The Grand Wazoo – Known on this tour as Think It Over. The structure of this shuffle is the same as the studio take on the eponymous album, with differences arising in who solos where. In place of Frank’s intro solo we get an alto sax solo and over the first repetition of the intro vamp we get a very short piano solo. The piece then continues like on the album: more composed sections and slide guitar, trumpet and trombone solos. Frank gets a solo after the trombone, and the tune ends with a repetition of all the themes and an Underwood synth solo. This band only produced wonderful versions of one of my favorite of Frank’s songs. Go listen to every take of this tune. It’s unfortunate it was never played live again.
Improvisations – This band delved into full blown improvisation on two or three occasions. First at the Berlin show they “make something up” for about 20 minutes. This improv starts with tweaky woodwinds before the guitar comes in. They morph into a nice jam and keep it up with a plethora of solos, ending with a second awesome solo from FZ. Immediately following this improv, while FZ is attempting to introduce the next song, the rhythm section starts playing a simple blues and Frank can’t stop himself from joining in. A short but sick blues jam follows, during which FZ yells out “I’ve got them Berlin Blues!” This is just another reason to check out that fantastic show. A week later, at the first New York show FZ asks the crowd if they’d like to hear something weird or something more normal. The New York audience of course picked weird, and when asked what kind of weirdness they wanted they picked Random Weirdness, which is what we get. 37 minutes of mind boggling improv follow. About half the band gets a chance to solo, and everyone does so beautifully. The music frequently changes and it always entertaining, an easy tour highlight. Additionally at the final show in Boston, Frank decides to add loosely structured improv in between the movements in Greggery Peccary. Its debatable whether this counts as true free improv or not, but it’s still great music.
Lohengrin – At the second New York Show Ian starts playing the Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, and after a couple seconds the horns and rhythm section join in. FZ then stops them to introduce the show. The whole thing only lasts about 40 seconds. Nothing special, but it’s a neat start to a fantastic show.
Music For Low Budget Orchestra – This tune was only played once at the first show before being dropped from the setlist. It was essentially the first 2 minutes and the last minute of the revised version heard on Studio Tan. On this occasion it was played as the first part of the Dog/Meat medley, which FZ dubbed “Low Budget Dog Meat”. It’s a good performance and worth hearing, but Uncle Meat and the Dog Breath Variations work together so well that Low Budget isn’t missed after it’s dropped. There’s also a partially complete soundcheck take from the Boston show.
New Brown Clouds – Part four of Greggery Peccary was often played on it’s own, separate from the other movements. At the first two shows it was played as an opener, with the rest of the suite late in the program. The two following performances (London and Boston) feature the complete piece. Only the first New York show has New Brown Clouds with no Greggery Peccary. The orchestra always performs an excellent instrumental take of the ending movement. Every performance featured a short clarinet or sax solo before the quotation from One Shot Deal, and a short trombone solo after.
Penis Dimension – “The Symphonic Arrangement” An instrumental version of the vile 200 Motels tune. I vastly prefer this version to the Flo and Eddie takes. Bruce Fowler plays an inspired solo over the monologue section (“Hiya, friends. Now just be honest about it…”) from the studio take. The tune ends abruptly with a drum crash and an eerie keyboard riff before a quick segue into Regyptian Strut. A great version of this tune, only rivaled by the December 1976 take.
Regyptian Strut – This underrated Sleep Dirt tune makes it’s sole live appearance on this tour. It’s played much faster than the studio take and with a 20 second mock-march intro. All the between phrase fills are from the horn section. This tune was always preceded by Penis Dimension and played as the final song of the main set or the encore. It’s a favorite song of mine, one that I wish got more love. In 1972 this tune was known as the Variant 1 Processional March.
Big Swifty Solo Table:
Life On The Road 