Guest Playlist: Frank Zappa's Musical Evolution

Guest post from Kris Herbst:

I assembled this playlist of 401 Zappa tracks that, for me, represent his best and most accessible musical compositions (omitting tracks where I find the musical quality is secondary to comedy bits or commentary):  Frank Zappa's Musical Evolution (401 tracks, 19 hours).

To provide a sense of the progression of Zappa’s musical ideas and development, I have arranged the tracks in chronological order, based on when they were first recorded or performed, rather than by release date, with help from the discography and timelines in this site: http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/index.html.

I have grouped together alternative recordings of the same piece, in chronological order, always beginning with the first instance of a piece, followed by alternate recordings of that piece, and then followed by guitar solos from that piece, also in chronological order of performance. This groups recordings of guitar solos (which Zappa often released at later times, as separate pieces, with different names) with the piece in which they were originally performed.

Suggestions to improve it are welcome: kris at globalweb.org.

A little info about me: I became a Zappa fan in 1969, at the age of 13, when I was turned on to the "We're Only In It For The Money" album by my Boy Scout troopmaster. Two years later, I went to my first Zappa concert, when the band included Flo and Eddie and Ian Underwood. Listening to Zappa helped open my mind to exploring a wide range of music, especially jazz. I saw Zappa in concert once more, in 1974, fronting one of his best bands that included Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ruth Underwood, George Duke and Don Preston on keyboards, the Fowler brothers (Bruce, Walt, and Tom on trombone, trumpet, and bass, respectively), Jeff Simmons on guitar, and Ralph Humphrey and Chester Thompson on drums.

Thanks Kris, I look forward to listening to more Zappa using this playlist.

To all the Zappa fans: you can also check out my Zappa as Composer playlist, and follow the revamped Frank Zappa artist page (all albums have the correct original release year now, instead of the 2012 remaster year like in all other music services), so you will get notifications when the Zappa Family Trust makes his posthumous catalog available digitally.

Frank Zappa: Chronological Discography (available soon on Spotify)

Zappa's catalog has been added to Spotify recently, though most albums are currently unstreamable (Waka/Jawaka is available on Spotify UK), various sources (including Digital Music News) suggest that a change is indeed gonna come. Personally I think it will be the greatest addition to the streaming catalog in a long time. For other missing links like Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Metallica, their music is familiar to grillions, and their influence is all over the place. But to average music fans, Zappa's catalog is still largely unknown or misunderstood, and the path he paved is not for anyone to follow. In fact, he went to so many places in the music map as if only to prove that "The Road Is Blocked". His output is so vast and kaleidoscopic that it's almost impossible for even a curious fan to explore, without the help of a subscription service (the man himself proposed this idea in 1983). That's why I am so excited about this news and want to share with you immediately.

I put all Zappa albums into one playlist, sorted by release date. From Freak Out!, debut of the Mothers of Invention, to the posthumous release Mystery Disc. You can subscribe to it now and (hopefully) the tracks will be available as soon as the last license issues are sorted out. If you are a premium user, you can set the playlist, or some tracks, as available offline, so you will know when the playlist/tracks become available (to download) without checking everyday.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Frank Zappa: Chronological Discography (available soon) (917 tracks, 56 albums). Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. To see the full list you need to uncheck "Hide unplayable tracks" in Spotify preferences first.

I discovered Zappa through Wong Kar-wai's 1997 film Happy Together (the scene accompanied by Chunga's Revenge is one of the highlights), and adored the few albums I bought afterwards. Thanks to the Zappa Family Trust, and content team at Spotify, now I look forward to discover more from this monumental catalog on the best streaming service in the world.

P.S. For interpretations of Zappa's works by modern ensembles and orchestras, check out my previous playlist: Zappa as Composer. For 18th century Italian composer Francesco Zappa (apparently not related to Frank, though the latter claimed so), here's a new release of his six symphonies.

Update: All albums are now available on Spotify UK and some other European countries.

Frank Zappa as Composer

"Composer, guitarist, singer, and bandleader Frank Zappa was a singular musical figure during a performing and recording career that lasted from the 1960s to the '90s. His disparate influences included doo wop music and avant-garde classical music; although he led groups that could be called rock & roll bands for much of his career, he used them to create a hybrid style that bordered on jazz and complicated, modern serious music, sometimes inducing orchestras to play along." - AllMusic

This playlist is a collection of Zappa's music played by various orchestras and ensembles. Including:

• Zomby Woof, by Asphalt Orchestra
• A to Z of Jazz – Fine Arts Brass Quintet (2 Zappa tunes)
• Ear Mind I; Prime Meridian; Smart Went Crazy - Meridian Arts Ensemble (3 Zappa suites on three albums)
• Plastic People, by Ron Kobayashi Trio
• The Grand Wazoo, by Bobby Sanabria
• Oh No, by David Kikoski Trio
• The Little House I Used to Live In, by George Winston
• Chunga's Revenge, by Gotan Project
• Help, I'm A Rock, by The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band (The only cover version by a rock group in this playlist)
• Songs And Dances, by Cincinnati Wind Symphony (2 Zappa tunes)
• The Zappa Album, by Ensemble Ambrosius
• Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions, by Ensemble Modern (The ensemble rehearsed with Zappa for this recording)
• Harmonia Meets Zappa
• The Purple Cucumber: A Zappa Tribute
• Strictly off Limits -  Accademia Amiata Ensemble (5 Zappa tunes)
• King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa (A hidden Zappa album by all means. Zappa composed, arranged all tracks and played guitar on one section; various members of Zappa's band were also involved)
• A Captain Beefheart live recording with Zappa and an interview.

Get this collection in one Spotify playlist: Frank Zappa as Composer (93 tracks, total time: 6 hours) Ctrl (CMD) + G to browse in album view. Thank these performers for keeping Zappa's music alive, while The Zappa Family Trust is doing their best to make sure kids today can't hear his original recordings (no Amazon MP3, no iTunes, no streaming). The man himself came up with an idea for music subscription in 1983.