The Big Note

The Big Note
A Guide To The Recordings Of Frank Zappa
Charles Ulrich

New Star Books
2018 May 13
ISBN 978-1-55420-146-4
800 pp, paperback, 25 x 17 cm
English

Based on careful listening to authorized and unauthorized recordings, and drawing on hundreds of interviews with Frank Zappa and numerous musicians who worked with him, The Big Note is the complete guide to the music of Frank Zappa.

The product of seventeen years of research by Charles Ulrich, The Big Note provides detailed commentary on 1,663 tracks spanning 100 albums recorded over 35 years, backed up by 1,773 citations. Ulrich’s book provides the liner notes that every album in the protean and prolific composer’s oeuvre cries out for; it is the indispensible resource for any FZ fan or scholar.

Who’s playing what on each track? When was this recorded? How did FZ put this together? Just what is the Apostolic Blurch Injector? What the heck are we listening to, anyway, and why does it sound so familiar?

The Big Note is the indispensible resource for any Zappa fan or scholar.