ORCHESTRAL FAVORITES - STUDIO TAN: CLASSICISM
In 1975 Zappa hired a group of session musicions to form the 37 piece Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Orchestra
with Michael Zearott conducting (photo to the left taken from the "Quaudiophiliac" DVD by the ZFT).
He did two live concert evenings with them including himself on guitar and the rhythm section
of his rockband. The recordings landed mostly on "Orchestral favorites", but some sections also on "Studio tan". Their
release got delayed because of his clash with Warner Bros. (see the New York
section). "Studio tan" appeared in 1978 and, when he was back in business again in 1979 with "Sheik Yerbouti",
Warner Bros. released these last "Orchestral favorites"
tapes they had in their closet
with a non informative low budget album cover, four years after
their recording. Zappa himself
called the album "ill fated". With this CD he mostly returned to earlier compositions from
"200 Motels" as he would do again later on with the "LSO Vol. II" album of 1987. "Orchestral favorites"
never has received much attention, partly because the compostions all returned on later albums
with a higher sound quality (except for "Duke of prunes"). But by itself there is nothing wrong
with this album, quite the contrary.
On "200 Motels"/"Orchestral favorites"/"LSO Vol. II" there are some examples of the use
of forms that you might call "classic". We'll take a look at a sonata movement, a rondo and
the variations form. The term sonata form can either refer to a piece for one or two instruments
made up of several movements
or to the construction of a single movement. Zappa didn't do the first,
but "Duke of prunes" ultimately developped into something of a sonata movement in the second meaning of the word in
three stages. Theme A of the 1975 movement is the "Original duke of prunes" from the "Run home
slow" soundtrack for a small chamber ensemble. "Duke of prunes" returned twice. On "Absolutely
free" in a rock band version with additional themes and lyrics
like the section below, that represents half of the B theme. Then in 1975 it's turned into
an instrumental sonata movement with some freedom. Here it's played by wind instruments, brass
and a rock combo of four persons (guitar, bass, percussion
and drums). The third section below is from this 1975 execution, beginning with one of the guitar
intermezzi from the block in the middle, followed by the orchestra playing.
Original duke of prunes, 1963 (midi file)
The duke of prunes regains his chops, 1967, section (midi file)
Duke of prunes, 1975, 2:55 till 3:20 (midi file)
Original duke of prunes (transcription)
The duke of prunes regains his chops, section (transcription)
Duke of prunes, 1975, 2:55 till 3:20 (transcription)
The construction of the 1975 version goes as:
- 0:00 Theme A
- 0:41 Theme B
- 1:16 Theme C
- 1:28 Middle section, guitar solo
- 2:07 ,, , orchestra and guitar intermezzi
- 3:24 Theme A returns
- 4:03 Coda
At the beginning theme A is played over a little vamp with G and A alternating as bass
pedal notes. These two alternating bass notes return as the accompaniment basis for the guitar
solo,
one of Zappa's favorite undergrounds for playing a solo (see also the "Shut up 'n' play yer
guitar" section). Other examples that relate the middle block to the opening themes are
for instance:
- The motif E-G sharp-F sharp of theme B ("And I know,...") returns at 2:45.
- The opening motif of theme C (F-G-A flat, "And so my darling...") returns slowly at 3:05, followed by a downgoing
fourth, that's so characteristic of theme A.
- The triplet time at 0:59 returns at 3:17.
On "200 Motels", disc 1, tracks 14-18, the rondo set up is used with "She painted up her face"
as the central theme. Musically as well as lyrically this is a clearly rounded off story about a groupy
preparing herself for going out:
- 14. 0:00. Theme A: She painted up her face.
- 14. 1:06. Theme B: The secret stair she could use.
- 15. 0:00. Theme C: Janet's big dance number.
- 16. 0:00. Theme A: The clock upon the wall.
- 16. 0:45. Theme D: Half a dozen provocative squats.
- 17. 0:00. Theme E: Mysterioso.
- 18. 0:00. Theme A: She chooses all her clothes.
- 18. 1:00. Theme F: Shove it right in.
In the "200 Motels" closing piece "Strictly genteel" the variations form is used with "Lord have mercy..."
as the central theme. See the counterpage section for a variation with counterpoint upon this theme.
"Strictly genteel" reappeared on "Ochestral favorites" and "LSO vol. II" albums, as well as
the "Tuna sandwich" suite (disc I, tracks 4-8 from "200 Motels"). The latter in a new jacket with additions and a different sequence.
It got renamed as "Bogus pump"; the LSO version also includes the "Overture" and "Centerville". I'm taking some sections from this composition to give some
examples how Zappa could use variations. The main theme below, "This town is a sealed tuna sandwich
(prologue)", is introduced slowly with lyrics as song 4 on disc I of "200 Motels". It gets varied upon on several
occasions. Beneath are three of its reappearances in "Bogus pump": first its reintroduction, then an atonal
piano variation and thirdly how it's used during the coda.
This town is a sealed tuna sandwich (midi file)
This town is a sealed tuna sandwich (transcription)
Bogus pump, tuna sandwich theme (midi file)
Bogus pump, tuna sandwich piano variation (midi file)
Bogus pump, tuna sandwich coda variation (midi file)
Bogus pump, sections (transcription)
"Studio tan" was recorded during 1974-1975 with pieces by the rockband and
sections with the above orchestra. The next example stems from the introduction to "Music
for a low budget orchestra". The chronology of this piece goes as follows:
- Composed in the late sixties at the time of the "Lumpy gravy" sessions.
- Premiere recording on a Jean-Luc Ponty album of 1970 (Jean-Luc Ponty plays the music of Frank Zappa).
- In 1971 the intro was part of the touring program with Ian Underwood playing the melody on clarinet.
- The score of the intro is published in 1973 in The Frank Zappa songbook, vol. I.
- In 1975 it was recorded in total in the studio by a small orchestra
plus some electric instruments (the same ensemble that did the "Orchestral favorites" tracks).
- This 1975 recording premiered on the 1978 release "Studio Tan", the official Zappa version.
- The 1971 live version of the intro in 1992 became included in "Playground psychotics".
- The complete score is nowadays available via Barfko Swill (see the scores section). The Ensemble Modern included this piece in their 2003 CD "Greggery Peccary and other persuasions".
The bars here contain two ninetuplets; it's a jazz
styled figure with the piano playing eight notes just behind the third beat of the
accompaniment. These bars are the 1971 version from "Playground psychotics" as printed in the Songbook (Ian Underwood on sax and with the
keyboard accompaniment), in 1975 the melody
was played on piano solo.
Music for low budget orchestra, bars 9-15 (midi file)
Music for a low budget orchestra, bars 12-14 (notes).
From the start of his career Zappa was interested in combining music and literature in the shape of opera's, movies and
stories set to music. In 1964 he was busy with the little opera "I was a teenage maltshop" and the "Captain Beefheart vs. the Grunt
people" movie. Both projects remained unfinished. Such ideas of combining music and texts exist in classical music in various
forms as for instance in symphonic poems, but are rare in rock music. Zappa did two stories
put to music as one bigger piece, namely "Billy the mountain" from "Just another band from L.A." and "Greggery Peccary"
from "Studio tan". Both have one ongoing story, but musically they are constructed completely different. Whereas "Billy
the mountain" has central returning themes, "Greggery peccary" is a sequence of some 25 short individual compositions,
that are mostly unrelated. Both pieces have their advantages and disadvantages. "Billy the mountain" is the
better unity, but "Greggery Peccary" has far more music to it. There are quite some things that Zappa did once and
only once in his career and "Greggery Peccary"
is one of them. Included below are two transcribed fragments. The first one is modern atonal music with two and three part
counterpoint. The other one includes the New brown clouds central theme, that lasts 10/8 and gets repeated three
times over a two bar vamp in 6/8. So you get these two melodies gliding over each other. The sequence of the little compositions in this piece generally goes as below, and can roughly be grouped into
four blocks.
Image to the right:
part of the 1995 drawing by Gary Panter for the current CD release, copyright ZFT.
I Greggery on his way to office. This block opens with the "Greggery Peccary" theme, that returns twice. It's
about all modern music in this block.
- 0:00 "Greggery Peccary" theme.
- 0:18 Introduction of "Greggery Peccary" with modern music.
- 1:08 Modern instrumental section I.
- 2:28 "Greggery Peccary" theme, variation I.
- 2:38 Modern instrumental section II.
- 4:08 "Greggery Peccary" theme, variation II.
- 4:15 Narration about trendmongers with modern music.
- 4:49 Narration about trendmongers continues with a medley.
- 5:19 Modern instrumental section III.
Greggery Peccary, modern music fragment (midi file)
Greggery Peccary, modern music fragment (transcription)
II Big Swifty and associates. This block is rock music througout.
- 5:52 A normal rock vamp with Zappa talking.
- 6:23 "Swifties, such big swifties...", pop themes.
- 7:42 Second rock vamp with Greggery taking over the narration.
- 8:06 "We've got the little answers...", pop themes.
- 8:31 Third rock vamp with a text about inventing the calender.
III The response to the calender. This part has no specific musical tendencies, it's the story about
how people are effected by the calender with all kinds of styles.
- 9:07 "Sunday, saturday...", narration with modern music.
- 10:47 "Unfortunately some people...", narration with a medley of rock phrases.
- 12:37 Modern instrumental section IV mixed with jazz.
IV New brown clouds. This part has a central "New brown clouds" riff and theme.
- 14:52 "New brown clouds" riff with narration.
- 15:32 "New brown clouds" main theme.
- 15:48 Rock progression with Greggery calling a philosopher.
- 16:22 Zappa takes over introducing Quentin Robert Denameland.
- 16:45 Quentin speaks with some modern music.
- 17:09 "New brown clouds" riff with a mix of modern music and jazz.
- 18:00 Modern instrumental section V, the riff has vanished and the modern music continues.
- 19:04 "New brown clouds" variations.
Greggery Peccary, New brown clouds fragment (midi file)
Greggery Peccary, New brown clouds fragment (transcription)
- 20:34 End.
"RDNZL" was written in 1972 and first released on "Studio Tan" in 1978, renamed by Warner Bros. as "Redunzl". An early
studio recording is included on "The lost episodes" with Jean-Luc Ponty and Bruce Fowler doing a few solo bars.
Later on the composition became more elaborate and usually included a guitar and a keyboard solo. The main theme
got transcribed by Wolfgang Ludwig in his study. For the "Studio tan" version this theme, on beat in 3/4, gets interrupted
several times by off beat piano solo bars. The section below contains a second theme, that precedes the guitar
solo. The progression, that accompanies the solo, starts alone gently for 16 bars with the marimba gliding
over it with held notes. It's one of Zappa's archetype progressions
of two alternating bass notes/chords, this time in A Lydian.
RDNZL, section (midi file)
RDNZL, section (transcription)