Overview:
Just a little over two months after wrapping up the Wazoo projects of 1972, Frank is back on the road with an entirely new band and a slew of new compositions and arrangements. This is the most virtuosic Mothers yet, with every musician bringing his or her own unique, fantastic artistic ability to the table. Ian and Ruth Underwood return, along with Bruce Fowler and George Duke, who had been vital in the Wazoo sessions. Jean-Luc Ponty had worked with Frank on a few occasions over the previous three years, but had never toured with Frank before. And rounding out the band are newcomers Tom Fowler and Ralph Humphry, an excellently tight rhythm section. In early April, Grand Wazoo veteran Sal Marquez and new vocalist Kin Vassey join the ensemble. Kin lasts three shows before Frank ejects him from the band, but Sal sticks with them for a few more months, providing fantastic trumpet and vocals. Everyone (except Ruth) is an amazing improviser and these pieces let them show it. Dupree’s Paradise, Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing, Fifty Fifty, Big Swifty, and Farther O’Blivion all provide great improvisations within these fantastic compositions. Additionally, Montana, Cosmik Debris, I’m the Slime and others all provide FZ with incredible solo opportunities, and he is ready for the challenge. Although this band excels in instrumentals, they have there fair share of humor too. The Yellow Snow Suite debuted on this tour, and along Montana, Cosmik Debris, Zomby Woof and the occasional chat with the audience bring some levity to this “serious” tour. That being said this is still the earliest era for this group and they’re still finding their feet in a lot of places. Solo sections are more structured here compared to later in the year and some of the pieces haven’t found their spark yet. This core band would continue playing until September of this year and they only improve as time passes. I believe the Ponty era to be the closest Frank ever got to mainstream jazz, which is why I think a lot of FZ’s hard rock fans find this era to be “boring” or “sleepy”. Frank even seemed to agree, since Pajama People is apparently about his band, but I think this tour is a great sign of things to come. They’re an amazing ensemble, and really make Frank’s music shine.
The Band:
Frank Zappa – Guitar, Vocals, Mar-Juh-Rene
Jean-Luc Ponty – Violin, French
George Duke – Keyboards, Soul
Ian Underwood – Woodwinds, Keys, Reliability
Bruce Fowler – Trombone, Dancing
Ruth Underwood – Inhuman Percussion
Ralph Humphry – Drums, Underrated
Tom Fowler – Bass, Nepotism
Sal Marquez – Trumpet, Vocals, Cocktails (Starting in April)
Kin Vassey – Vocals, Unreliability (April 7th-May 1st)
Recordings Available:
1973 02 24 – Cameron Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC (Audience A-/B+)
The second show of this line up and the earliest known recording of this band. It’s a fairly standard representation of the early leg of this tour, but with a couple notable differences. The show starts like usual with RDNZL, but immediately after that Frank starts playing the opening guitar riff to Dog Breath, skipping Exercise 4 in the Dog/Meat Medley. Moving on we get a fantastic 50/50 and Inca Roads and then the band “makes something up”. we get some very interesting jamming that quickly turns deranged with an extended bit of Zomby Woof thrown in. Ruth even improvises near the end! This show’s Montana is a little different from the rest, with some sax screeches over the opening. Montana is followed by a vocal intro to Dupree’s Paradise with no Duke improvisations! Instead, following Jean-Luc and Frank’s solos, Duke got a chance to solo over the chords to Blessed Relief! Not a mind blowing performance, but really interesting to hear. This is followed by a hot I’m the slime and an equally hot Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing where everyone but Ruth and Tom get a chance to stretch out. Cosmik Debris closes the show as an encore. Very nice sound on the audience recording too. Overall it’s a very enjoyable show from both a musical and historical perspective.
1973 03 02 – Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa, FL (Audience B+)
A standard show from the early dates of this band. Good sound quality too. The show starts with regular, excellent takes of RDNZL, Dog/Meat (still lacking Exercise 4), Fifty/Fifty, Inca Roads and Cosmik Debris. The highlight of this show though is the fantastic Big Swifty in the middle of the program. Bruce, George and Frank give wonderful solos. The rest of the show is your normal early 73 fare. Montanan and Dupree’s Paradise (with George’s Intro) are nice as always and followed by I’m the Slime, which sadly cuts after just a few seconds, bringing the recording to a close. A nice show, not a necessary tape but there’s not much to dislike.
1973 03 03 – Pirates World, Dania, FL (Audience B/B+)
Another tasty show from early March. This show opens like usual with RDNZL, but before Dog Breath FZ announces that superfan Craig Eldon Pinkus will dance for us during Uncle Meat itself. His dance is lost to time, but it’s still fun to imagine. After this we get another great 50/50 and early Inca Roads, and the only known live performance of Cleetus Awreetus Awrightus! A fun take of one of FZ’s least appreciated tunes. Following this we get Cosmik Debris and a performance of the Be-Bop Tango on it’s own separate from Farther Oblivion. Its neat to hear but there’s sadly no Trombone solo. Following this we get a regular set of songs to close out the show proper, Montana, Dupree’s, I’m the Slime and Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing. Strangely enough, I’m the Slime features a one-time-only slow violin intro. “Wash That Thing” features another long exciting boogie, with solos from everyone but Ruth and George. And for an encore we get the earliest known Green Genes/King Kong/ Chunga’s Medley, though it sadly cuts right as Chunga’s is starting. The sound isn’t great, but this is a very nice concert filled with just enough special moments for me to recommend.
1973 03 04 – Peabody Auditorium, Daytona Beach, FL (Audience B/B-)
Only the late show is known to circulate from this date. The most interesting thing about this show is that Frank decides to play “the whole show backwards”. Meaning start with their usual encore, the Green Genes medley. The rest of the show is pretty standard. Frank says “Ground Control to Captain Tom” during Duke’s spacey Intro to Dupree’s Paradise. The other highlight is the amazing boogie in the middle of Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing. This is probably the best take of the early version of this tune, with lots of solos, conducted improv and a quote from Zomby Woof. Overall not a mind-blowing show, but well worth checking out.
1973 03 07 – Veterans Memorial Hall, Columbus, OH
(Audience B+/B)
Another standard concert from this excellent band. There are three major reasons to get this tape. First, this show features some great standalone improvisations. They start off with Ponty alone, but the full band comes in soon with some great support. Jean-Luc solos, followed by Ian, Ruth(!!!!), Tom and Ponty again before the tape unfortunately cuts. Highlight number two is a very rare Uncle Remus which pops up during George’s intro to Dupree’s Paradise. After an instrumental run through, Frank sings the lyrics and we get the theme on violin. Frank’s vocals are a little stilted, but this is still a very enjoyable listen. The third highlight comes from the very audible tapers, which would usually be a downside but they don’t talk during the music, and their comments are usually pretty fun. Right as the tape starts we hear a very sarcastic “oh I smell Marijuana. lets smoke some dope and go see Frank Zappa!”. We can also hear someone singing along to the Dog Breath Variations, which Frank introduced as “a collection of garbage from the Uncle Meat album”. The rest of the show is taken up by standard, high quality performances of a handful of this band’s wonderful tunes. Overall, a high energy show, with enough deviations to make it worth your while.
1973 03 09 – Civic Center Music Hall, Oklahoma City, OK (Audience B)
Another regular performance from the early ’73 Mothers. Decent sound quality with a nice set list, but with no big surprises. FZ explains the story of Inca Roads throughout the tune, which is fun, and the fans who asked for “The Heats Out Every Night” at the Kansas City show last year are back and of course requesting the tune once again. A fun show, but not the first one I’d recommend.
1973 03 11 – Texas Hall Auditorium, Arlington, TX (Audience A)
Excellent concert with excellent sound and the last known show before the addition of Sal Marquez and Kin Vassey. The show starts like normal, but after 50/50 Frank gives the audience the choice between “straight ahead” and “deviate”, they pick deviate of course and we get some wonderful improv. Before this though, Frank conducts the audience and teaches them a variety of hand signals. We get some quiet, tweaky music for a little while before FZ decides to tell a story about imaginary diseases. Later in the show, Duke starts his intro to Dupree’s, but this ends up turning into more excellent full improv and ends with multiple repetitions of the “One Shot Riff” heard in It Just Might Be A One Shot Deal and Movement IV of Greggery Peccary. For an encore we get a hot Green Gene’s Medley with an extended King Kong featuring Jean-Luc, Tom, Bruce, George and Ian. Another awesome show from this band that’s well worth a listen.
1973 03 23 – Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA (Official Release)
This wonderful show was unearthed from the vault and released on the Over-Nite Sensation 50th anniversary box set. Unfortunately, Vaultmeister Joe Travers could not find the first reel of the show, containing Frank’s intros and the opening Dog/Breath-Fifty/Fifty medley. I’m hopeful the reel may appear someday, but the most likely answer is that Frank wiped the tape to record more shows. The very ending is missing too, which possibly wasn’t even recorded. This is a bummer because Ray Collins came on stage for the encore, but the performance is probably lost to time. Despite this, what remains of the show is fantastic. An excellent Montana starts us off, followed by an equally wonderful Dupree’s Paradise, which gets better with every performance throughout the year. George, Jean-Luc and Frank always deliver in this tune, and Bruce even gets to solo during Mr. Duke’s intro. A solid Cosmik Debris follows this up, and next Frank stops to talk about how “if you live in Los Angeles and you’re in a rock ‘n roll band and you play in Los Angeles when you’re in a rock ‘n roll band it’s, it’s different than being in a rock ‘n roll band from someplace else playing in Los Angeles.” He goes on to say that that there are always friends of the band in attendance at LA shows, and he decides to bring the former trumpet player of the Grand Wazoo Orchestra Sal Marquez on stage for a fantastic version of Big Swifty! (“By the way, ladies and gentlemen, in case you didn’t know, this is Big Swifty, here he is…”). Sal, George and Frank all whip out some tasty solos (though George’s is notably shorter than the other two), and the tune closes like normal. After this Frank announces the “riddle” song I’m The Slime, but apparently at this point in time he was referring to it as “The Curse Of The Zomboids.” for some insane reason. He comments that “this just might be the successor to Willie The Pimp” (which I’ve never thought about but the two riffs are similar). The crowd cheers when Frank provides the answer to the “riddle”, and they cheer once again after he rips out a fantastic solo. An excellent Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing of course follows this, and we get what may be the best version of the early boogie arrangement of this tune. Ian (on sax), Bruce, Tom, Jean-Luc, and George each whip out a great solo, and Frank follows them up with another crazy solo which morphs into an early Echidna’s Arf! Eventually Frank concludes and Ralph hits his drums to finish us off. This isn’t really an end though, as Frank cues Ruth to start playing with Ralph, and even joins the percussion section himself for a little (skipping the composed ending to Wash That). After a little while the full band returns and we get more fantastic complete improv, this time with guest vocalist Ricky Lancelotti! He improvises lyrics while the band chugs away, and eventually comes up with some vocals about a “smog sucker”, which was a title fans have heard about for years. The tape unfortunately comes to a close after this, with the big finale/encore of the concert lost to time (unless an audience tape miraculously appears). The sound quality is very nice, not quite “high-quality”, but far better than any other tape we have available from this band. Overall this is an excellent show, and easily one of the best we have from 1973. Check this one out! (as a bonus I’ve included the track named “Vault of Imaginary Diseases” on the YouTube playlist. It is improvisations – probably a Dupree’s intro – from the show the following day in San Diego, and features special guest Don Preston. It’s a fairly regular “Imaginary Diseases” speech, but it’s worth a listen. It was originally released years ago on zappa.com, but eventually found a home as a backer reward for Alex Winter’s Zappa documentary.)
1973 04 27 – Dillon Gym, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (Audience B/B-/C+)
Over a month passes between known recordings and we now have two new Mothers: Sal Marquez on trumpet and vocals, and Kin Vassey on lead vocals. Unfortunately, this can be a pretty frustrating tape to listen to, with sub-par sound and frequent mic problems. Ignoring that, there’s some excellent music here, including the first known Pygmy Twylyte and Yellow Snow Suite. Also debuting is the reworked Inca Roads, with a new cocktail lounge intro sung by Sal. Kin Vassey sings on a crazy funky Pygmy Twylyte and a proto-Yellow Snow, so those are the two biggest reasons to get this tape. FZ is on fire throughout and gives a long solo in Dupree’s. Cosmik Debris features a bunch of solos, and the night ends with an encore of Farther O’Blivion and the Green Genes Medley. Additionally there’s a hot jam following the Yellow Snow Suite, where the band would later transition into a repeat of Father Oblivion. This is a pretty historically important show, and worth a listen, but due to the annoying sound problems I don’t come back to it often.
1973 04 28 – Spectrum Theater, Philadelphia, PA (Audience B)
Show two of three with Kin Vassey and unfortunately another show with recording problems. Sound isn’t bad, but there’s a number of disappointing cuts throughout the program. The show starts promising, with a neat soundcheck jam and a hot Dog/Meat/50-50. The Yellow Snow Suite follows but the tape cuts off in Nanook and returns midway through Montana, missing pretty much all of Vassey’s contribution to this show. Dupree’s Paradise suffers from mic problems, making it basically unlistenable. Fortunately the sound improves by the end of the concert, giving us nice versions of Farther Oblivion, Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing and the Green Gene’s Medley. An alright show, but for completionists only.
1973 05 01 – Kent State University, Kent, OH (Audience B+)
Kin Vassey’s final show and an overall excellent concert. If you want to hear what Kin’s time in the Mothers sounded like than this is the tape. The concert starts with an announcement from Frank asking the audience to “make Marty happy” and help their road manager Marty Perellis find his lost his briefcase. This is followed by the introduction of special guest Richard Nixon, who in reality is just a tape of voice clips the disgraced president that occasionally play while the band tunes. Really amusing whenever it happens. The show proper starts with the full Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow Suite, and the best version available from the short Kin Vassey period. The rest of the show continues to impress, with excellent versions of Pygmy Twylyte, Inca Roads, Dupree’s Paradise, a rare Big Swifty and finally the Green Gene’s Medley. Frank continues to experiment with his composed themes and has Sal play the melody of the Be-Bop Tango over the solo spot in Big Swifty. Wonderful chaos follows. The saddest part of this show is that 50/50 is mysteriously dropped from the Dog/Meat Medley, but the rest of the material certainly makes up for it. Kin sounds great on this show, but its evident Frank’s having trouble with him, as he has to bring him back on stage a few times. All in all this is a tremendous show, both musically and historically, and worth acquiring.
1973 05 02 – Coliseum, Indianapolis, IN (Audience B)
Kin Vassey has been fired and we return to the regular scheduled programming. What we get here is another solid show from this new nonet. Highlights include 50/50, with hints of Uncle Remus in George’s intro and Frank’s quoting of the post-solo theme from Inca Roads at the end of his Dupree’s Paradise solo. The Mothers are short for time due to local curfew laws, and they’re forced to start the Green Genes Medley in King Kong, and shorten the final Green Genes by 32 measures. This is a good concert, no complaints whatsoever, but it’s not the first one I’d recommend.
1973 05 04 – Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Canada (Audience B)
Another quality show with no major surprises from May ’73. High quality performances of many of FZ’s best songs. Notable is that FZ gives a few other players solo spots in Cosmik Debris, a feature that would become regular later in the year. Frank also drops the first Green Gene’s from the medley once again. This is another show that I wouldn’t recommend, but I wouldn’t turn anyone away from it either.
1973 05 05 – War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, NY (Audience C+/C)
This is a good to very good show captured on a bad to very bad sounding tape. I’m not gonna spend much time on this, and neither should you. If you’re gonna check out this show it will be for the very rare performance of Eat That Question. I guess I’d recommend that performance, cause I love the song so much, but it’s hard to fully enjoy over the loud tape hiss and distant sound. Hardcore completionists or hardcore Eat That Question fans only.
1973 05 06 – Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, PA (Audience B/B-)
Now here’s what I’m talking about. This is a fantastic show. FZ and the band are in high spirits, and the sound quality isn’t too bad. The show opens with a nice Montana and is followed by the premiere of the slightly reworked, no-Vassey Yellow Snow Suite. This is followed by an amazing JLP left jam that needs needs to be heard to be believed. Frank unleashes Ponty “for the first time since Phoenix” to stunning results. 22 minutes of amazing jamming, often with Jean-Luc in front. This jam leads directly into Inca Roads, which is followed by an above average RDNZL. The show continues to astound when they decide to play Zomby Woof, possibly for the first time live. They perform the complex piece very well despite not rehearsing it recently and Frank rips out a fantastic solo. This is followed by another new song: Camarillo Brillo. This very early performance, the first known, is much slower and more majestic than later year’s takes, and is accompanied with some great jamming from George and Frank. After this we get some audience participation and some Ian-focused Improv that leads into a stellar Eat That Question. This closes the show proper and Cosmik Debris finishes the night. An excellent show, and it gets a strong recommendation from this reviewer.
1973 05 08 – Music Hall, Boston, MA (Audience B+/B)
Another great show from this fantastic pseudo-jazz band. Some of the band apparently didn’t know when the show started, so they filter in throughout the sound check. FZ’s in a good mood throughout though, regularly talking with the crowd. The show starts with a nice Montana and a nicer Dupree’s Paradise. The band starts to jam before George can even finish his intro, and all the results are enjoyable. This is followed by another early Yellow Snow Suite and Farther O’Blivion. After this we get the most notable chunk of this tape, a 25 minute Bruce Fowler-lead improv, which pretty quickly turns into a delightful blues jam, with many Mothers getting to stretch out. Not the most mind-blowing jam, but still very fun. Dog/Meat is next and, though beautiful as always, is sadly missing 50/50. This is followed by the final know early “boogie” Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing. Not the best but still very enjoyable. For an encore we get a standalone King King that starts nicely, but sadly cuts shortly into Sal’s solo. This is a very fine concert, another one where it wouldn’t be my top recommendation, but I doubt you’d have a bad time listening to it.
1973 05 09 – Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ (Audience B+)
My personal favorite show from this tour and one of the best shows Frank put on in his career. Excellent sound, 3 hours of high energy performances and constant fantastic music. The show starts with a hot RDNZL and that’s followed by a great Yellow Snow with the first full Mar-Juh-Rene monologue. Besides great takes of all the tour regulars, we get some of the best performances of Eat the Question, Zomby Woof and Big Swifty and this tours only Willie The Pimp. Swifty even includes Frank playing parts from Sleep Dirt and I Come From Nowhere. Every minute of this show is fantastic, down to the 20+ minute Green Genes Medley encore. If someone asked me for one show from this tour, it’d be this one. The only thing missing is full improv, but you don’t see me complaining. The rest of the show more than makes up for it.
1973 05 12 – Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI (Official Release)
This nice show has been officially released on the Over-Nite Sensation 50th anniversary box set, and is luckily complete (though Joe used a chunk from the Annapolis show to patch a reel change in St. Alphonzo’s). Tonight starts with the regular soundcheck/intro. Frank tests everything, harasses Ruth, wishes us a Happy Mother’s Day and demonstrates his guitar “noise makers”. We begin with a very nice Dog/Meat medley, followed by an equally joyous Fifty/Fifty (with solos from Bruce, Ian and George). This dwindles away into a lovely Inca Roads (the first official release of Sal’s version), which in turn leads into a very fun, though pretty standard Yellow Snow Suite. Frank announced Farther O’Blivion along with Yellow Snow and the band plays “Join The March” after, but as the Mothers start the opening vamp for Farther, Frank realizes that they don’t have enough time to for the 15+ minute tune, and cues Cosmik Debris in its place. FZ delivers a nice solo (his first of the night!) and this brings the main show to a close. They return for an excellent Green Genes medley, and likely due to time, they skip the opening Mr. Green Genes and start with King Kong. It’s another great take of this fantastic medley, and Frank tears the roof off the house with his tremendous Chunga’s solo. This brings tonight’s concert to a close; it isn’t the wildest show, it would have been nice if there was no building curfew and we could have gotten a full Farther O’Blivion, but it is a very nice concert captured on pleasant 4-track and is overall an accurate representation of this band at this point in time (I could have used more guitar solos too, but the Hollywood show earlier in the boxset sated that desire). Ruth’s vibes were recorded too loud at points, but thankfully the amazing Zappa team was able to get it undistorted and listenable. Check this show out along with everything else on the amazing Over-Nite Sensation box, you won’t be disappointed!
1973 05 13 – Fieldhouse, University Of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH (Audience A-/B+)
A solid show and a nice recording, but nothing too special despite being on Mother’s Day. The show starts with Dog/Meat but sadly lacks 50/50 and is followed by the Yellow Snow Suite and Farther Oblivion, all solid takes. Frank starts to solo for a bit during Nanook which is really neat to hear. This is followed by a hot Cosmik and some special Mothers Day improv that starts with Frank and features Jean-Luc and George. It’s pleasant music, but not the best this group could do. They then quickly run through the Green Genes medley because of a hall curfew. Far from the best concert, but still an enjoyable listen.
1973 05 16 – Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL (Audience B+)
This show is one of the biggest mixed bags in FZ Bootlegdom. Lots of fun, one-time only moments countered by lots on incredibly unfortunate edits. The show starts with Dog/Meat and 50/50, but the tape cuts right as the latter is starting. It returns for a very fun one-of-a-kind “Down Beat Award Ceremony Ballet”. Frank and Jean-Luc each won a Down Beat Audience Poll Award and Frank decides to make an event of it with dancing and directed improv. Really fun, but nothing insane. Yellow Snow is next and doesn’t feature many deviations, and Frank announces the drum solo in Farther Oblivion as “Ralph’s Belated Birthday Solo”. Solid performances all around, but it cuts at the end and returns at the closing lines of Montana, missing the whole song. We get some nice improv from George afterwards, but it cuts again(!) right as Dupree’s is starting. After this we get another high point, Frank decides to tell the story of the demise of Catherine the Great, an urban legend about the famous Russian getting crushed under her sex-bull. It’s a fun, perverted little story with conducted improv and an awesome transition into Eat the Question, which of course immediately cuts to the outro theme, missing the entire song. This brings the show to an end, and we get a partial Green Genes Medley (starting in King Kong) for an encore. The Down Beat Ballet and Catherine the Great are really fantastic moments, but the rest of this tape is very frustrating.
1973 05 18 – Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (Audience A-/B+)
FZ’s Long Island concerts always seem to be high quality, and this show is no exception. Frank’s not very talkative tonight, but we get a two hour show full of great music from this exceptional band. There’s no surprises, but all the regular material is really coming together and this band is fully gelled. Highlights include Fifty Fifty, Inca Roads and the intro to Dupree’s, which joyously devolves into chaos. A solid show, with very nice sound, that’s worth checking out.
1973 05 19 – Great McGonigle’s Seaside Park, Annapolis, MD (Audience B)
A very solid show from the end of the US tour. Nothing negative from this concert, in fact it’s got some very exciting moments. The highlights for me are 50/50 (as always), an excellent Dupree’s Paradise with a story featuring Godzilla in the Chesapeake Bay, and a lengthy Eat That Question (with no cuts, and in listenable quality!). The show ends with a standard Yellow Snow Suite/Farther Oblivion and the tape unfortunately doesn’t contain any encore. This is a solid show, with some very nice highlights. I’d say check this one out once you’ve listened to a couple other dates from this tour.
1973 05 ?? – Unknown venue (Soundboard A-)
The location of this wonderful sounding recording is unknown. The presence of Sal Marquez but not Kin Vassey means it must be from May 1973, but that’s about all we know. I have a hunch it’s the May 20th show from Providence, Rhode Island, because it’s the only confirmed show from that time period that can’t be ruled out due to newspaper reviews (though I haven’t found any reviews to verify that it IS the providence show either…) and Fifty/Fifty has the same solo order as the 05 19 Annapolis show the day before. Additionally, I believe Providence had a midnight curfew at the time (like Zappa mentions), the gig had an 8pm start time, and the Mother’s came on after two opening acts on the 20th, so it’s possible said show ended early. Anyway, this is a fairly short, though exciting concert and the only known soundboard from this era. Dog/Meat, 50/50, Cosmik Debris and Zomby Woof are all terrific and the show proper ends with a lovely Montana and Dupree’s. For an encore, Frank asks the audience if they would rather hear old or new songs, and they surprisingly request new, which leads to a quick performance of Farther Oblivion. Unfortunately they have to skip Bruce’s post-tango solo due to time constraints, which is the biggest bummer of this show. All in all an excellent recording of a great show, and one that should be listened to.
The Songs Played:
Big Swifty – “A song from the worst selling album I ever put out”. This Waka/Jawaka opener was played a handful of times across the tour, always to magnificent results. The composed sections of the piece are largely unaltered, except for differences in instrumentation, and at least once, in Passaic, it didn’t feature the closing written section. On this tour the piece is shorter than the studio take, but still filled with fantastic jazz-riddled improv from Frank’s A-class musicians. Each performance features a wonderful, different, slew of solos and includes some conducted improv from Frank. Also, on Waka/Jawaka there are more solos following the closing themes, but here the tune ends immediately following the second composed section. The performance from LA is fantastic, and features the dynamic special guest Mr. Sal Marquez, who will join the band full time shortly thereafter (“By the way… in case you didn’t know, this is Big Swifty, here he is…”).. At the Kent show Frank has Sal play the melody of the Be-Bop Tango during his solo and at the end of the Passaic take Frank even starts to play the I Come from Nowhere riff and Sleep Dirt! An excellent monster song, though played way too infrequently.
Camarillo Brillo – This eternal classic premiers on this tour and gets played twice, in Pittsburg and Passaic. It’s a slower and more majestic song at this point in time and pretty much every component is present from the get go. After the lyrics we get a really nice solo from George and a short burst of guitar from Frank. Frank then introduces the next tune while the band keeps playing. Both performances are lovely, inspired and worth hearing.
Cletus Awreetus Awrightus – One known recorded performance from Dania, Florida, witch unfortunately misses the beginning of the tune. What we get is very similar to the studio take, but a little slower and with George, Ian and Frank each giving a short solo. I love this song and wish it stayed in this band’s regular setlist for longer.
Cosmik Debris – This tune appears pretty much as it would on Apostrophe(‘), complete with an excellent guitar solo. I feel this is one of the best tours for this tune as Frank regularly whips out something fantastic. On a few occasions Frank let’s Jean-Luc, George and/or Ian take a solo usually to quality results, but I feel when Frank is the sole soloist there’s more energy to his guitar work and it elevates the song overall.
Dog/Meat (incl. Exercise 4, Dog Breath, The Dog Breath Variations and Uncle Meat) – An amazing medley and one of the best pieces from this ensemble. It starts with Exercise 4, (which is some moody chamber music from the beginning of the Uncle Meat Variations on Uncle Meat) and then goes into a jamming instrumental version of Dog Breath. This second tune features two short fantastic solo spots for Jean-Luc to show off. He pretty much always plays the same thing in these spots, like in a number of his solo spots on this tour, but it’s a really excellent addition to the song and almost always gives me chills. This then goes into the Dog Breath Variations and then Uncle Meat, like what was played on the Grand Wazoo tour and what will be played on the 74 tours. On the earliest two recordings, Exercise 4 had not been added to the medley yet, so the tune started with the Dog Breath guitar vamp. This medley very often, but not always, segued directly into Fifty/Fifty. There’s very little improv in this tune, but it’s just so perfectly composed and performed that I listen to it pretty much every time it comes up.
Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow Suite (incl. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow, Nanook Rubs It, St. Alphonzo’s Pancake Breakfast, Father O’Blivion and Mar-Juh-Rene) – What’s probably Frank’s most famous song debuted in April on this tour. Most of the component songs debut similar to what’s heard on Apostrophe, but there are some extra parts to the extravaganza. The titular tune is the most different. It starts with a frantic intro involving Midnight Sun played ridiculously fast, and the tune itself has a more upbeat bouncy feel, with backing vocalists singing “no, no don’t eat it”. A really fun rendition, but the studio version captures the feeling of “trudging across the tundra” much better. Nanook, Alphonzo and Father O’Blivion follow virtually unchanged on the album, but immediately following O’Blivion we get a sped up repeat of St. Alphonzo’s, and when they hit “where I stole the margarine” they slow to a near stop and George begins playing some soulful background music, while Frank admonishes the margarine, and proceeds to spell out “Mar-Juh-Rene”, giving significance to each letter, including hyphens (Ex. H is for Homunculus). Once Frank finishes spelling, the fur trapper’s sight comes back and we get a brief jam where Frank sings “I stole the mar-juh-rene, I admit it I did it”. FZ then repeats the lyrics to Father O’Blivion over the same beat. After this, Frank ends the story stating that, in a daze, the disgraced father turns to the horrified crowd and tells them to “join the march and eat my starch”. This is immediately followed by 30 seconds of insane music later used in Greggory Peccary, immediately before the steno-pool section, and then Farther O’Blivion. These are wild fun performances, but Frank probably made the right choice honing it down to the four tracks on Apostrophe. In the earliest performances Kin Vassey sang Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow, Nanook Rubs It and, Father O’Blivion. Once he leaves the tune disappears for a few days before returning with Frank singing the first two tunes, and Sal taking Father O’Blivion. Mar-Juh-Rene also started differently. It was originally just a minute long connector piece between the Alphonzo and Father repeats before evolving into it’s own tune. Frank would spell out the ingredient but not give any significance to the letters. The long spoken Mar-Juh-Rene debuted in Passaic on May 9th. Also, the very first performance ends with a long “I stole the Mar-Juh-Rene” jam, with great improv from the entire band. In Pittsburgh, Frank plays a sick little solo at the start of post Mar-Juh-Rene boogie and in Annapolis he ends the tune without the little “I stole the Mar-Juh-Rene” jam. Frank would riff at the end of Nanook and the second Father O’Blivion adding details to the story where he pleases. For some reason, Frank decides to say “sausage hoagie” instead of the regular “sausage patty” in performances of St. Alphonzo’s from May 8th in Boston through May 18th in Uniondale (though in the Chicago take he says hoagie first and switches back to sausage for the reprise). Every performance of this tune on this tour is really fun and completely ridiculous. Both the looser early takes with Kim and the somewhat more structured takes throughout May are worth hearing and add a lot to the shows they appear in.
Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing? – Played regularly in February and March and sporadically in April and May. This Roxy & Elsewhere classic instrumental appears on this tour in a radically different mode. The silence/drum breaks between phrases, the bridges and the quote from Penguin in Bondage would not appear until later this year. What we get here is one run though of the first 90 seconds of the Roxy take (minus the above material) followed by a long (15 minutes+) boogie featuring some hot solos from nearly the entire band. On average the earlier takes tend to have more solos. Not the craziest jams in FZ’s catalog, but still very entertaining. The tune then ends with two takes of the coda heard on the Roxy version, with a variation on the phrase between the two repetitions. The exception comes from the LA show, where after a slew of solos (and a wild, early performance of Echidna’s Arf during FZ’s solo!), Frank decides to continue jamming and skips the composed ending of the tune. This is a very weird, but always enjoyable version of one of my favorite FZ compositions, and well worth a listen.
Dupree’s Paradise – Another classic of the 1973 and 1974 bands. This tune would become a true monster improv song by the end of next year, but at this stage of development it was primarily a George, Jean-Luc and Frank solo spot. Occasionally other band members would get a spot in this tune but it unfortunately wasn’t often. In a regular performance we get a long, jazzy piano introduction from Mr. George Duke, with regular hand signal improv from the whole band, before he takes us into the beauty that is the theme of Dupree’s Paradise. Frank would regularly introduce George by saying ” Ladies and gentleman, for your dining and dancing pleasure…”, like an old lounge act. These intro improvisations frequently veered off into other wild directions, including more free improv, a performance of Uncle Remus, and a Godzilla story. But in a regular take, following the theme we get inspired solos from Jean-Luc and Frank over a spacey, jazzy vamp. The very first known performance was a little different. It featured no Duke intro, but instead George solos over the chords from Blessed Relief to wrap up the tune. Not quite the beast from following tours, in my opinion the more solos in this tune the better, but it’s still a good time. Frequently, but not always, preceded by Montana
Eat That Question – This Grand Wazoo classic appears a handful of times across this tour, in a somewhat unique appearance in each spot. Each performance consists of some kind of improvised intro followed by the main theme of the tune and, strangely, the coda of the song before going into the solo section. We get a repeat of the composed section after the solos to end the tune, often with a live fade out. In its first appearance, on the terrible sounding Rochester tape, the song is played standalone, with George somewhat recreating his intro from the studio album. The tune emerges from a jam in Pittsburgh, Passaic and Annapolis, and starts cold at the end of the Demise of Catherine The Great story Frank told in Chicago. George has the sole solo in Rochester, Frank takes the whole spot in Pittsburgh, and they each get a shot in Passaic and Annapolis. The Chicago tape unfortunately misses everything but the first 30 seconds and last 10 seconds of the song. These takes of Eat That Question are fiery and fantastic and are some of the best moments of the Ponty era.
Farther O’Blivion – This classic tune reappears in April of this year (Though the Be-Bop Tango is played on its own in one of the early March shows). This song is actually the original form of three different pieces of music from Frank’s career: The Steno-pool section from Greggery Peccary, The Be-Bop Tango and Cucamonga. The tune starts with an instrumental Steno-pool and is followed by a beautiful, violin solo from Ponty. Additionally, Frank would often play his guitar between the composed lines of the Steno-Pool segment, creating a very pretty and calming soundscape. Following the violin solo, there’s then some unique transitional music between the first solo section and the astonishing Be-Bop Tango. Then, after the most insane tango known to man, we get an equally mind boggling Bruce Fowler trombone solo. This is followed by a typically great Humphrey drum solo and the tune ends with an instrumental take of Cucamonga. Except for its first performance this year, this piece would always follow the Yellow Snow Suite, with a short section of wild instrumental music called Join the March and Eat My Starch (later heard in Greggory Peccary) connecting the two pieces. These performances are always out there and wonderful, even if Ponty’s solo rarely changes from night to night.
Fifty/Fifty – Performed as an instrumental and with a funky improvised keyboard intro, this Overnite Sensation song is one of my personal tour favorites. This tune was only ever played immediately following the Dog/Meat medley, though the Uncle Meat songs were occasionally played without Fifty/Fifty. There were three solo spots in the middle of the tune, and through April it was always George, Jean-Luc, and Frank. Starting in May the tune was played more sporadically with Jean-Luc, Ian, Sal and/or Bruce taking the first two solos and George returning to end the tune. The theme is one of Frank’s best and Ralph’s excellent march-esque drumming never fails to delight me. Another tour highlight.
Inca Roads – This piece premieres on this tour, but it has a long way to go before it reaches the tune we know and love. It debuts basically as heard on the Lost Episodes, an instrumental rundown of just the main theme (“did a vehicle”) followed by what’s essentially the post-guitar solo section of the One Size Fits All version. The very earliest takes features a more stilted ending with a totally different drum beat. In February and March, In what would become the second solo spot we get two great solos from Bruce and Ian (flute). Starting in April, Frank adds a cocktail lounge introduction crooned by Sal and gives the solo spots to Sal and Jean-Luc. The swanky beginning adds familiar lyrics to the piece and totally changes the feel of the song from an art jazz number to a goofier, sleezy vibe. In Pittsburgh, Sal starts singing I Left My Heart In San Francisco before Frank’s lyrics. These performances, especially the lounge takes, are always fun to hear and a highlight of this new band.
Improvisations/Jams – These shows have a lot of complete improv and it’s often very inspired. It can range from jamming funk to tweaky free jazz. These moments also force Jean-Luc out of his comfort zone and usually gets some great solos out of him. There was more free improv in the earlier months of the tour, possibly due to the band’s smaller repertoire. The group still improvises constantly in the later shows, just more so in the context of composed songs. Frank would typically pick one mother to start or lead the improv and have the rest of the band slowly come in. In Hollywood we get some tremendous improvisations coming out of a monster Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing. Ricky Lancelotti makes a special guest appearance, where he scat sings and improvises lyrics, eventually creating a song known to fans as Smog Sucker (and released on Over-Nite Sensation 50th as Palladium Jam). At the Pittsburgh show Frank decides to “unleash” Ponty and we get 20 minutes of fantastic violin led jamming. At the Chicago show there are two unique improv moments, The Down Beat Award Ceremony Ballet and The Demise of Catherine The Great (See show notes for more). Many times on this tour Frank would regularly cue the group with a new hand signal and various band members would play these quick descending scales, creating a very unique and interesting soundscape. At the Arlington show, Frank harkens back to the 60s and conducts the audience with some hand signals. Additionally, the spacey George Duke intros to Dupree’s Paradise are often listed as just “Improvisations” or “Duke Improvisations”, but I think they’re more of an introduction to Dupree’s. Overall, this is a great tour for improv.
I’m The Slime – This fan favorite first appears on this tour, and is unfortunately quickly dropped by the end of March. Usually following Dupree’s Paradise, this tune skips the frenzied guitar intro heard on the studio cut and jumps right into the following bouncy riff. Frank spews out the pernicious lyrics and then delivers a tasty guitar solo. Frank had a few different working titles for this tune, including “Face Down” in late ‘72, and he introduced this song as “The Curse Of The Zomboids” at the Palladium show in late March. This is a personal favorite FZ tune of mine, one of the first songs that got me into his music, so I’m always glad to hear it pop up. This song is usually followed by Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing, in a weird but neat segue.
Medley: Son of Mr. Green Genes/King Kong/Chunga’s Revenge – This fantastic medley shows up early in the year and continued to be played until December. It jams together three of the best instrumentals of the first chunk of Frank’s career with a different band member contributing a great solo in between each piece. Ian gets the solo in Green Genes, I assume harkening back to his role in Hot Rats. Jean-Luc and George get solos in King Kong (the first and third themes) and Frank wraps up the affair with a usually tremendous solo in Chunga’s before bringing us back to the end of Mr. Green Genes. To close the tune, the band would segue into a quote from Also Sprach Zarathustra and some fast percussion fills. And on top of that, starting in April, Frank added a blues walk down and a frantic Midnight Sun quote to the wild ending (Though, for some reason, Frank drops the Midnight Sun quote from the Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago performances). Occasionally Tom, Bruce or another Mother would get a solo spot in King Kong too, possibly in place of Jean-Luc and/or George. Sometimes the medley would start with King Kong, dropping the first song from the set. I love the performances of these tunes from 1973, yet another reason to return to tapes from this year.
Montana – This classic about a dental floss farmer is in top form on this tour. It’s played pretty much as on Overnite Sensation, but without the non-Frank sung lyrics. At the Kent show you can just barely hear Vassey singing the “tiny horse” section, but no one would replace him on that section until October. Frank’s solos are always hot and delectable on this tour, definitely worth a listen. Often followed by Dupree’s Paradise.
Pygmy Twylyte – This tune makes it’s premier on this tour, sung by Kin Vassey and dropped from rotation once Kin gets ejected from the band. It starts with a long funky improvised guitar into before smoothly morphing into a slow, somewhat trudging Pygmy Twylyte theme, which is played once instrumentally and then sung by Kin, with parts sung by Frank. This is followed by a long funky guitar solo before Kin returns to sing the chorus. Frank speaks a couple lines before Kin improvises some vocals in a super early Dummy Up. Frank then lectures the audience about the story of the song. Kin then comes in with more improv, Frank drops more hot licks and the song ends with another repetition of the chorus. There’s only two known performances, from Princeton, NJ and Kent, OH. The Princeton tape is longer but full of audio problems. At the Kent show we get way less improv from Kin (probably because he left the stage) and way more guitar. Kin’s hollering is fun and Frank is on fire for these performances, all Roxy fans should check these ones out.
RDNZL – This tune premieres on this tour, but in pretty different state compared to what appears on Studio Tan. Ruth’s beautiful composed solo hadn’t been written yet, and we get four shorter improvised solos interspersed throughout the song, from Jean-Luc, Frank, Bruce and George. It’s also missing the “We can share a love” swinging section and the Dupree’s Paradise lick ending heard on the studio take and 74 performances. On future tours, this short version of RDNZL would come at the end of the Dog/Breath Medley, but on this tour it’s typically played standalone. I think that these later takes are generally better because their placement at the end of the medley would usually pump more energy into this little song. Though I prefer the finished RDNZL, I have a soft spot for the 73 version. These performances are always energetic and fun, and rarely skipped when listening to a show, even if there are better takes out there.
Uncle Remus – Played on one occasion in Columbus of all places. George begins playing the start of this tune during his intro to Dupree’s Paradise, and after an instrumental run through Frank begins to sing. His vocals are a little stilted and he messes up a line or two, but it doesn’t take away from the performance as a whole. In place of the guitar solo from the studio take, Jean-Luc beautifully plays the main theme. Once the song ends Frank quickly brings the band into the start of Dupree’s. All in all a wonderful performance. Additionally, at the Indianapolis show, George plays the vamp of this tune for the intro to that nights 50/50.
Willie the Pimp – Played one time at the fantastic Passaic show. Frank very slowly starts playing the iconic riff, almost as if he’s unsure they’ll even play the full song, before blasting into the song proper. It’s an instrumental this time round. Ponty plays a shorter solo first, like in the original take on the Hot Rats sessions, and Frank follows with many minutes of guitar heaven, before eventually returning to the Willie riff along with the horns. A great take on a classic tune.
Zomby Woof – This Overnite Sensation classic shows up a few times on this tour, in various stages of completion. It gets quoted in two different improvisations early in the tour before making it’s full debut in May. The piece is basically complete when it premieres, the only thing missing is certain lyrics that Frank hadn’t written yet. FZ sings the tune and delivers a hot guitar solo in the middle. A delectable treat at the three shows it appears. Top moments of the tour right here.
Solo Table:
Life On The Road 