Article about the show at Olympia, Paris - October 26, 1968.

Source: Javier Marcote 

The Real Frank Zappa Book, p 106: "The first time we played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk was at the 1968 Boston Globe Jazz Festival. After his performance, when introduced to him backstage, I said I really liked what he was doing, and said that if he felt like joining us onstage during our set, he was more than welcome. In spite of his blindness, I believed we could accommodate whatever he wanted to do. We began our set, wending our atonal way toward a medley of 1950s-style honking saxophone numbers. During this fairly complicated, choreographed routine, Rahsaan, assisted by his helper (can't remember his name), decided to join in."

On page 21 is a picture of FZ, Roy Estrada, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and his helper (Kirk Quartet's drummer Jimmy Hoppes?) on stage. [C. Ulrich : "It was percussionist Joe “Habao” Texidor. See Bright Moments, p. 228"]

Source: Javier Marcote 

On the Newport Jazz Festival FZ and MOI played on Saturday morning, July 5th. Before that in June they participated in a jazz tour.

The Real Frank Zappa Book, pp 106-107 : "In 1969, George Wein, impresario of the Newport Jazz Festival, decided it would be a tremendous idea to put the Mothers of Invention on a jazz tour of the East Coast. We wound up working in a package with Kirk, Duke Ellington and Gary Burton in Miami at the Jai Alai Fronton, and at another gig in South Carolina.
[...]
Before we went on, I saw Duke Ellington begging – pleading – for a ten-dollar advance. It was really depressing. After that show, I told the guys: 'That's it -- we're breaking the bande up.'" 

Source: Javier Marcote  

This article is the "jazz's view" of Amougies Festival.

Source: Javier Marcote  

Source: Javier Marcote  

Article on "Amougies in two films"
There is an interesting phrase when FZ introduced Captain Beefheart show.
"Listen well, even the silence, for fear of missing something important."

Source: Javier Marcote  

Zappa (g. b), George Duke (p, org, tb), Ian Underwood (p, org, instruments à vents divers), Martin Lickert (b), Aynsley Dunbar, Ruth Underwood (dm), Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan (voc + « special material »), Jim Pons (voc) + The Royal Philharmonie Orchestra (leader : Elgar Howarth). United Artists Uas 29 218-219 / 2x30 cm / 33 t.

Tas de Polichinelles, je vais vous confier un secret de Polichinelle : le mec Zappa est un sacré Polichinelle ! C'est comme pour Fu-Manchu et le S.d.e.c.e : le monde entendra encore parler de lui ! Je suis bien sûr qu'il y a déjà des types qui liment des formules sous la lampe, pour les anthologies futures, du genre « le Groucho Marx de la musique vingtiémiste » ou « le Wagner du Dérisoire ». Remarquez qu'ils ne grattent pas en vain, les misérables : il y a des tas de disques pour prouver qu'ils ne racontent pas tout à fait n'importe quoi. Et entre autres ces deux-là, qui en fait de délire et de dérision, n'y vont pas avec le dos de la truelle. On a rarement déconné avec autant de largesse et de somptuosité. Cela dit, il faut bien reconnaître que 200 Motels n'a guère d'intérêt que si on cause parfaitement l'anglais... C'est merveilleux, le sarcasme et la parodie. Mais en étranger sur quatre faces de trente-centimètres avec pas toujours beaucoup de musique autour (et surtout quand on n'a pas vu le film) ça fait un peu léger-léger ! En revanche, on vous file avec les disques une affiche qui est assez marrante.

Automatic translation: Bunch of Polichinelles, I'm going to tell you an Open secret: the Zappa guy is a hell of a Punch! It's like Fu-Manchu and the S.d.e.c.e: the world will still hear about him! I am sure that there are already types who fire up formulas under the lamp, for future anthologies, of the genre "the Groucho Marx of twenty-century music" or "the Wagner of the Derisory". Notice that they don't scratch in vain, the miserable ones: there are piles of records to prove that they do not tell just rubbish. And among other things these two, who in fact of delirium and derision, do not go with the back of the trowel. We have rarely messed around with so much generosity and sumptuousness. Having said that, we have to admit that 200 Motels is of little interest if we talk perfectly about English ... It's marvelous, the sarcasm and the parody. But as a foreigner on four thirty-centimeter sides with not always a lot of music around (and especially when you haven't seen the film) it's a little light-hearted! On the other hand, we give you a poster with the discs which is quite funny.

Source: Fulvio Fiore

Mothers of Invention : Frank Zappa (voc, g, perc), George Duke (claviers), Bruce Fowler (tb), lan Underwood (cl, as, fi), Ruth Under Wood (vib, marimba), Ralph Humphrey (dm) + Jean-Luc Ponty (vln). Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, 27 mars.

A l'entrée, un panneau : « Ne fumez pas... de pot, s'il vous plait ». Dans la salle, on s'aperçoit qu'il serait préférable d'interdire, aussi, de respirer... La densité de gens, de fumée, de bruits et de musique est telle qu'il est difficile de rendre compte avec précision de ce qui se passe sur l'estrade visuellement et musicalement. Après m'être promené dans la foule pendant près de deux heures, j'ai pu constater en tout cas que le nouveau spectacle de Zappa accorde beaucoup moins d'importance au gag et aux effets de « bizarre », au profit d'un travail strictement musical (mélanges de musique « contemporaine », de rock et, pour une large part, de jazz). Outre Ponty, on découvre parmi les nouveaux venus un ex-trombone de Woody Herman (Fowler), un ex-batteur du big band de Don Ellis (Humphrey). Au premier plan sonore : les compagnons habituels de Zappa, responsables de passages collectifs toujours aussi précis et complexes. Mais dans l'ensemble tout se passe comme si les musiciens de Zappa cherchaient à « accrocher> le public plutôt qu'à créer quelque chose de décisif. Fowler et Duke, notamment, se conduisent surtout en showmen. Quant à Ponty, s'il fut à certains moments extrêmement brillant et impressionnant, il se laissa aller le plus souvent à une sorte de tempo « country and western ». A noter aussi : un long duo mélodramatique timbales - batterie par Zappa et Humphrey... De toute façon, et quelle que soit la valeur musicale des nouveaux «Mothers», c'est en d'autres lieux, plus propices à l'audition, que l'on aurait aimé entendre Zappa et Ponty. Souhaitons que le disque (ce « concert > fut enregistré) nous permette d'apprécier ce groupe dans de meilleures conditions.

Automatic translation: At the entrance, a sign: "Do not smoke ... pot, please". In the room, we realize that it would be preferable to prohibit, too, breathing ... The density of people, smoke, noise and music is such that it is difficult to accurately account for what is happening on the stage visually and musically. After walking around the crowd for nearly two hours, I could see in any case that the new show of Zappa gives much less importance to the gag and the effects of "weird", in favor of a job. strictly musical (mixtures of "contemporary" music, rock and, to a large extent, jazz). Besides Ponty, we discover among the newcomers an ex-trombone of Woody Herman (Fowler), a former drummer of the big band of Don Ellis (Humphrey). In the foreground: Zappa's usual companions, responsible for collective passages that are always so precise and complex. But on the whole everything happens as if the musicians of Zappa were trying to "hook" the audience rather than create something decisive. Fowler and Duke, in particular, behave mainly as showmen. As for Ponty, if he was at times extremely brilliant and impressive, he usually indulged in a sort of "country and western" tempo. Also note: a long melodramatic timpani - drums duo by Zappa and Humphrey ... Anyway, and whatever the musical value of the new "Mothers", it is in other places, more conducive to hearing , which we would have liked to hear from Zappa and Ponty. Let us hope that the disc (this "concert" was recorded) will allow us to appreciate this group in better conditions.

Source: Javier Marcote, Fulvio Fiore

The Mothers of Invention Zappa (g, voc), Ruth Underwood (perc), Tom Fowler (b), George Duke (claviers, voc), Chester Thompson (dm), Napoleon Murphy Brock (ts, fi, voc). Paris, Palais des Sports, 27 septembre.

D 'abord le rite désormais classique du réglage de la sono, équilibre, filtrage, branchement de la table de mixage géante, un retour en coulisse le temps que les lumières soient prêtes et c'est parti... On assiste alors au cours d'une sorte de show anti-show de deux heures sans arrêt à un prodigieux nettoyage de tous les faux-semblants et autres mythologies hypnotisantes qui constituent le fond du show traditionnel. De la grosse farce le pianiste George Duke s'absentant par deux fois pour « aller faire pipi » à des moments supposés cruciaux, cassant ainsi la mécanique du concert jusqu'aux parodies plus vraies que nature de la soul music (Have you got a soul ?) ou de la romance amoureuse pour juke-box (We could share our love), tout est mis en ouvre, à tous les niveaux, pour désamorcer et évacuer les sortilèges fascinants de la machinerie habituelle. La dérision féroce et terriblement joyeuse de Zappa est d'autant plus saisissante qu'elle s'exerce à partir des vertus mêmes requises dans la forme de spectacle dénoncée mise en place, qualités techniques, virtuosité. A partir des loques et débris des « objets culturels » donnés à la consommation des « jeunes » par l'industrie du divertissement, Zappa reconstruit un spectacle libéré des tabous et servitudes abrutissantes dans un énorme éclat de rire.

Automatic translation: First of all the now classic rite of sound adjustment, balance, filtering, connection of the giant mixer, a backstage return while the lights are ready and off we go ... 'a kind of non-stop two-hour anti-show show with a prodigious cleansing of all the pretenses and other hypnotizing mythologies that constitute the basis of the traditional show. From the big farce, the pianist George Duke being absent twice to "go pee" at supposedly crucial moments, thus breaking the mechanics of the concert to the larger-than-life parodies of soul music (Have you got a soul ?) or romance for jukeboxes (We could share our love), everything is done, at all levels, to defuse and evacuate the fascinating spells of the usual machinery. Zappa's fierce and terribly joyful mockery is all the more striking in that it is exercised from the very virtues required in the form of the denounced spectacle set up, technical qualities, virtuosity. From the rags and debris of "cultural objects" given to the consumption of "young people" by the entertainment industry, Zappa reconstructs a show freed from taboos and brutalizing servitudes in a huge burst of laughter.

Source: Fulvio Fiore

Automatic translation: Frank Zappa has always said that he has little taste for anything related to jazz. It is however clear that Wes Montgomery and Eric Dolphy, for example, were important landmarks in his personal journey; we also know that youth was rocked by blues and rhythm and blues – from Guitar Slim and Elmore James to Johnny Guitar Watson. But in various interviews the father of the Mothers explained that he had "got angry" with jazz very early on: and at the time, Howard Rumsey and his Lighthouse All Star represented for him the height of sham... (read more)

Source: Jérôme Munnier and slime.oofytv.set

Review of the Carnegie Hall 4 CD box.

Source: slime.oofytv.set and Václav Pěnkava

Source: Vitaly Zaremba, Javier Marcote and Walden Gauthier

Source: scribd.com 

The film Eat That Question - Frank Zappa In His Own Words by Thorsten Schütte is reviewed here.

Beside this article FZ is name-chacked many times all over the issue.

Source: Vitaly Zaremba