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Music / Musik » alt.fan.frank-zappa » Review: Terrific Zappa tribute - House of Blues, Anaheim
| Review: Terrific Zappa tribute - House of Blues, Anaheim [message #283572] |
Sa, 24 Juni 2006 01:31 |
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June 23, 2006
Terrific Zappa tribute
Review: What might have been an iffy enterprise winds up a
tremendous salute to Zappa.
By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/music/art icle_1191254.php
http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages/show/2006/06/24zappa.jp g
Terry Bozzio, left, and Dweezil Zappa at the Anaheim House of Blues.
Zappa Plays Zappa
• With: Dweezil Zappa, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Steve Vai, Terry
Bozzio and more
• Where: House of Blues, Anaheim
• When: June 22
On paper the intriguing concept is so potentially problem-fraught
that even hard-core Zappatistas who have waited more than a
decade for something like this must have thought twice about
whether it could actually be pulled off.
Even as the tribute "Zappa Plays Zappa" began Thursday night at
the Anaheim House of Blues some must have still been wondering
what in the world it would be.
All anyone knew was that Frank's son Dweezil, under the auspices
of the Zappa Family Trust, had dreamt up this salute with his
younger brother Ahmet and would play ringleader to an aggregate
featuring former Zappa fixtures such as soul man and sax player
Napoleon Murphy Brock, six-string wizard Steve Vai and drummer
Terry Bozzio.
Yet, though Dweezil is an accomplished guitarist in his own
right, he's surely not the equal of his father – so would he
really be capable of properly resurrecting this material?
Could he even put together a band that could play it?
Frank Zappa's music is arguably the most complex ever to be
branded as some form of rock. It knew no boundaries, taking in
everything from doo-wop, R&B and reggae to funky jazz-fusion and
strains of Stravinsky and Varese.
Zappa, an avant-garde composer above all else, delighted in
making his pieces as tricky as possible, cramming them with
unusual chord structures, off-kilter time and tempo changes, and
difficult, dizzying, rapid-fire passages, often played by several
instruments simultaneously.
There's a reason Zappa's myriad backing bands were comprised of
the highest-caliber talent he could find: None but the finest
could deliver the nuance and dexterity and precision that his
work demanded.
Dweezil's determination to do this music justice, however, should
never have been in doubt. Surely he wouldn't assemble a pick-up
band of less-than-capable support. As it is, I'm told he put his
group of mostly unknowns through three months of rehearsals
before unveiling this beast.
And it shows. The results, in fact, are phenomenal.
Often striking poses similar to Frank's, shredding on the same
Gibson model (an SG) that Zappa preferred yet never referring to
him as "Dad" or "my father" (the better to respect his stature as
an original artist), Dweezil led an astonishingly skilled
seven-member outfit through three hours of primo material.
No weak link could be found. Several key musicians clearly could
have held their own in a proper Zappa outfit – namely unerring
drummer Joe Travers, gifted vibraphonist Billy Hulting and
supremely talented utility player Scheila Gonzalez, who shifted
from alto sax to flute to keyboards while also providing backing
vocals.
Other band members look too young to have even heard a Zappa
album before the master died of cancer in 1993, which makes you
wonder how they came to be so enthusiastically adept at such
unusual, rarely-aired music. Radio hasn't touched Zappa in years,
and though bands as varied as Phish, Primus and Red Hot Chili
Peppers owe or openly admit an influence, that hasn't made
Zappa's work any more commonplace. You have to seek this stuff out.
For the longtime enthusiast, though – and Thursday night that
appeared to include everyone in attendance – "Zappa Plays Zappa"
is heaven, a career-spanning celebration unlike anything the man
himself would likely have attempted.
Whenever Zappa toured, he did so to introduce, promote and often
record new material, not bask in past glories. Plus, he was a
disciplined taskmaster, applying an almost martial attitude to
his exacting compositions (even the sillier ones) and, in the
process, focusing the spotlight on his conducting and soloing.
But this tribute – and it's so tremendous, it seems an insult to
call it that – is far more joyful, with Dweezil a more convivial
team leader.
His playing was unexpectedly brilliant, jaw-dropping in spots.
But his finest trait is his willingness to let other players
shine or turn the spotlight over to Brock (still hearty and
infectious after all these years) or Vai (who was stellar and
less showy than usual on "Black Page #2," "Peaches en Regalia"
and "Village of the Sun," the latter ending with an amazing
trade-off with Dweezil).
Bozzio, having pulled a bicep, was unable to drum, but still
surfaced to scream his way through snarkier bits like "I'm So
Cute" and "Punky's Whips."
Other joke numbers were gratefully kept to a minimum; "Don't Eat
the Yellow Snow" being the most obvous). The highlights, however,
are too numerous to mention, though I won't soon forget the run
that concluded this audacious performance, from "Zomby Woof" to
"Cosmik Debris" and a lengthy but never meandering encore of
"Trouble Every Day" and "Sofa No. 2."
Simply put, it was one of the greatest concerts I've ever seen. I
suspect such strong feelings would be echoed by others who
witnessed this. Rarely have I seen a capacity crowd at this venue
be so reverent during songs, then respond so intensely. And never
have I seen standing ovations from insiders in the upstairs pews.
I assume I won't be the only one scrambling to find FZ albums I
must hear immediately, to be better prepared for the next gig.
"We don't know that many songs yet," Dweezil told the crowd after
hearing scores of shouted requests. "We're hoping we get to do
this annually. After all, we have at least 70 albums to choose from."
Indeed, this one-of-a-kind experience could return again and
again and be different every time. Here's hoping Dweezil and Co.
get that chance.
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