Ran across these guys today:
They're called the Ed Palermo Big Band, and they do an awful lot of Zappa covers. This is Toads of the Short Forest from the appropriately-named album The Ed Palermo Big Band Plays The Music of Frank Zappa -- sadly out of print, but fortunately there are more albums where that came from.
Has it really been over two years since my last Zappa post? Well, time to dust off the most-used tag on this here blog.
If you're a Zappa fan, you've probably already heard about the Who the Fuck is Frank Zappa? Kickstarter. But in case you haven't:
Alex Winter (best-known as Bill from the Bill & Ted movies, but more frequently a director these days) is making a documentary about Frank. And as part of the process, he's helping Joe Travers to preserve and digitize the Zappa Vault.
Winter recently explained in Update #18 that the first million dollars raised in the Kickstarter campaign will all go to preserving the Vault, and that he won't put any Kickstarter dollars toward the documentary until and unless it passes $1 million. I think this shows he's got his priorities in order; I definitely want to see the documentary, but I agree with him that the most important step in preserving Zappa's legacy is preserving his work and making sure we don't lose it to degrading tape and film.
The Kickstarter runs through April 8. There are add-on rewards available, too, which don't require you to pledge to the Kickstarter and which will still be available after it ends.
You know, I've always wanted a Zappa for President T-shirt.
Duke tells some stories, Holland, 2009.
Skipping straight to the Zappa post tonight, which isn't even really a Zappa post but another one of former bandmates George Duke and Napoleon Murphy Brock. In the studio circa 1978, with Sheila E on drums. Uploaded by zappainfrance.
Duke and Brock in a weird, fun little interview that appears to have been filmed by cellular telephone, spending a lot of words saying not very much about funny turns of phrase that also say not very much.
(When I was in high school, our equivalent of "That's what she said" was "Bend over and I'll show you." Which I believe is a Christmas Vacation reference. Good times.)
North Sea Jazz Festival. Uploaded by Radio6NL.
A bit about Frank, and some interesting talk about the difference between a piano and a synthesizer, and '80's-vintage synth and how far it had come by 1999.
St. Paul, 1974; soundboard recording uploaded by YourArf.
A 2008 interview with George Duke -- this one's got little directly to do with Zappa, but he gets a namedrop and there are certainly moments that are Zappa-esque.
Uploaded by HeadsUpRecords.
A clip from a 1973 appearance on Australia TV, used in Bodgie Dada, a documentary on the history of Australian jazz. Uploaded by Brian Smith.
Sydney, '73.