Tom Fowler's Alembic with Zappa

[xlrogue6]

This has been on YT since 2013, just saw it for the first time tonight. Fowler's Alembic sounds utterly magnificent, and his playing, as well as all of the rest of the ensemble--wow, just wow.

[gearhed289]

Love it!

[keith_h]

This is all music from my high school and post high school my most active musical years. I think this time frame was where he had his best work (though I may be biased). My friends and I would go to his concerts whenever he was in the Chicago area.

The full show this clip is from was never shown here in the US due to how uptight US TV networks were/are. I believe it showed in a few countries in Europe. I had looked for the DVD but it appears to be out of print but all of the individual songs are on YouTube.

[rv_bass]

Loved Zappa and his band, would go see them in the NY and New England areas, they tended to play fairly small venues, which was great.  I saw them at the Providence Civic Center once.  They curtained off a small section of the floor area. It was a great show and a bit comical when we got yelled at by other fans for standing up and dancing!  What can I say, I’m a Deadhead, gotta move and shake it to the groove! 

[David Houck]

Yes; that was a great concert and a great lineup.

[xlrogue6]

Then there's this one, from 1973, with Jean Luc Ponty and Fowler playing a J-bass, also stunning.

[cozmik_cowboy]

Great vid!  I recall seeing the claymation (or some similar) on _Midnight Special_ right about then (and Frank, being Frank, spoke in the interview part with the Wolfman of appearing on "a loathsome little TV show).

Peter

[mica]

My dad finished the electronic restoration of this very bass last night.

[JimmyJ]

The Fowler brothers are all monsters.  (Traveling with brother Walt at the moment).  As are all the Zappa alum - Chester Thompson and George Duke in that 1st clip, yes sir!  Truthfully, I've always appreciated the amazing musicianship of his bands but never really fell in love with the music or the mostly silly subject matter.  No disrespect intended, he was certainly an innovator.

Jimmy J

[pauldo]

Veering slightly off-topic. (cause I do that regularly…  )
Dweezil tours with an amazing band and if his father is listening he must certainly be proud.


Paul (seen Frank 0 times, seen Dweezil 3 times and was flabbergasted each time)

[cozmik_cowboy]

The Fowler brothers are all monsters.  (Traveling with brother Walt at the moment).  As are all the Zappa alum - Chester Thompson and George Duke in that 1st clip, yes sir!  Truthfully, I've always appreciated the amazing musicianship of his bands but never really fell in love with the music or the mostly silly subject matter.  No disrespect intended, he was certainly an innovator.

Jimmy J

The "mostly silly subject matter" is one of the reasons I love FZ!

As to his innovation - Leonard Bernstein called Frank "the most important composer of the second half of the twentieth century".

Peter

[hammer]

I learned quite early that the only way to maximize my enjoyment of Zappa was to focus on the musicianship of Frank and those with whom he played and ignore the words including the titles of the large majority of his efforts. Once that was accomplished I could enjoy his innovativeness at a much different level. It was at a Frank Zappa concert in Boston and a conversation I had with the fellow music lover sitting next to me that I was introduced to the work of Anthony Braxton. Now his stuff makes Zappa's work seem tame.

[peoplechipper]

the musicianship was always top notch, but at periods his music was too potty humour, and I'm fine with potty humour...in a comparison with Zappa and Don Van Vliet, I always go with the captain...

[keith_h]

I recall reading in an interview that Zappa said part of the reason for his adolescent lyrics was his main audience was teenage boys. I have also read that Zappa believed vocals were nothing more than another instrument and the words themselves were only important for they way they sounded not what they meant. Whether he was being Frank with his sarcasm or being serious I have no idea as the sands of time have dulled much of my memory of the articles.

As an aside there is a video clip of Ruth Underwood where she divulges the "secret" of Zappa's sound.