WAKA/JAWAKA - THE GRAND & PETIT WAZOO: THE JAZZ BAND

Confined to a wheelchair at the beginning of 1972, Zappa returned to the idea of composing jazz music, that had worked out well on "Hot Rats". Meanwhile Flo and Eddie, with no new projects announced for them, left the group and started touring on their own.

In 1972, following upon "Hot Rats", two other jazz albums were released as "Waka Jawaka" and "The Grand Wazoo", the last one using a big band, with which Zappa also made a short tour. These albums have extended solo's as well as large composed sections, that like "King Kong" are more stable in their use of keys than the modernistic "Uncle Meat main title" and the "It must be a camel" section from above. Despite of the quality of these albums, Zappa has not become well known as a jazz arranger. Wolfgang Ludwig has transcribed the majority of the composed parts from Zappa's jazz music in his study, using them frequently for his analysis. Especially "Big swifty" from "Waka Jawaka" gets a lot of attention. Here are two points taken from Ludwig's analysis of "Big swifty" concerning the use of metres and rhythms:

- Changes of metres as well as tempo changes are characteristic of the opening block. Given here are the first two themes that are using a 7/8 and 3/4 alternation.

Big swifty opening (midi file)

Big swifty opening, first two themes of the opening (transcription)

- During the outchorus a simultanuous use a two different tempi occurs beginning at 13:40. While the drummer keeps beating the tempo from the beginning of the outchorus, followed freely by the base guitar, the brass holds back at a 2:3 tempo. The transcription below contains two notational variants.

Big swifty outchorus, fragment (midi file)

Big swifty outchorus, fragment (transcription)

The two tempi cause some polyrhythmic interaction between the brass and the rhythm section.

The following examples are more stable in the use of their meters. "It just might be a one shot deal" consists of three theme blocks with two intermezzi along the way. It structure goes as:

0:00 Theme A
1:13 Theme B with vocals
1:24 Intermezzo I
1:47 Theme B with guitar solo
3:18 Intermezzo II
3:38 Theme C

Intermezzo I however moves on in a peculiar way. Zappa recorded an early rehearsal on an ordinary cassette tape (mono and dim sound), probably to get an impression of the result that far. The band had been studying the scores and were now playing through the parts with Zappa present in his wheelchair and a guitar on his lap to demonstrate things. They were already able to play the music at a demo level and what Zappa basically does is some extra explaination and sharpening the accuracy of the performance. The Zappa Family Trust has put the tape on CD as "Joe's domage", that includes this piece as the rehearsing of the "Frog song". It's not much of public interest the way it has been brought out. It would have been a lot better to help people follow the process by including the scores that Zappa had handed over in a booklet. Now you get only half of the picture, but it did help me out to get an idea of this intermezzo I. Straight from record and without any clue it's sort of a jigsaw puzzle. The photo to the right shows Zappa sitting in his wheelchair during a rehearsal session in 1972 (source: "Joe's domage" CD cover, copyright ZFT).
"The grand wazoo" opens with "For Calvin", a gentle melody in 12/8. The same meter appears in "Your mouth". The element of improvisation is handled differently in both songs. "For Calvin" begins with the main theme, prescribed for all, returning at the end. In between there's an interesting experimental improvisation block. "Your mouth" has just the melody prescribed, but this melody lasts all through. All instruments are playing freely around this theme. There's no improvisation block in this song.

It just might be a one shot deal, opening (midi file)
For Calvin, opening (midi file)
Your mouth, section (midi file)

It just might be a one shot deal, opening (transcription)
For Calvin, opening (transcription)
Your mouth, section (transcription)

"Eat that question" from "The grand wazoo" (1972) has a four bar riff in E Dorian. It introduces a keyboard solo, followed by Zappa on guitar, and it returns at the end of the song. Here it is represented with the brass harmony during the closing of this piece.
The "Waka/Jawaka" and "The Grand Wazoo" albums were recorded during the same sessions. About every song has a different group of people playing and/or overdubbing. The number of persons employed is less than you might expect from the sound, that can be like a big band. Apart from the overdubbing Zappa used his musicians efficiently in the sense he give each one a different instrument with it's own part or - when he doubled a part - the instruments would have to be indivually audible rather than melt together. In the transcription of "The grand wazoo" section below it's mostly one dot one instrument. This is his normal approach to rock bands. Many producers however choose to record the same part with the same vocalist/instrument more than once, and then overdub it, or use a group of players to do exactly the same. It makes the sound more voloptuous, like the Abba singers becoming something like a two member choir. There's no right or wrong here, it's more a matter of taste. Paul McCartney hated what "wall of sound" producer Phil Spector did to "Let it be", whereas John Lennon stated he made something out of nothing.
Novelties on "Joe's domage" are "The grand wazoo" with lyrics and a second theme Zappa had in mind for this title track. He introduces it as "Another whole melodic section" before playing it on guitar with Aynsley Dunbar on drums, and considers writing out a sketch for the next meeting. As it turned out, it went unused for "The Grand Wazoo" album. Exposed below is a part of this theme, containing the central riff in bars 9-10, an irregular syncopic figure. Also presented is a section from "The grand wazoo" that starts with the tail of Zappa's guitar solo over the main vamp, that precedes the main theme. This central theme starts in bar 13; the corresponding lyrics on "Joe's domage" are "If something gets in your way, just think it over". The transcription depicts four different harmonisations of this theme, not indicating the instrumentation. Because it's led over various instrument combinations the actual sound of its performance on "The grand wazoo" is of the big band type.

Eat that question, riff, end of the song (midi file)
The grand wazoo, section (midi file)
Another whole melodic section, section (midi file)

Eat that question, riff, end of the song (transcription)
The grand wazoo, section (transcription)
Another whole melodic section, section (transcription)

When hiring the players for the "Waka/Jawaka" and the "Grand wazoo" sessions they were informed that it was Zappa's intention to do a small tour afterwards. It proved to be difficult to find a suitable time schedule for everybody taking part. All players were session musicians who had to take their other contractual obligations into consideration as well. The only possibility for a big band tour proved to be eight venues in Europe and the U.S. in September 1972. Twenty musicians took part of it. The ZFT released the final Boston concert with this group in 2007 as a double CD, called "Wazoo". Just for its sound and composition of the band it's unique. At the time the audiance got presented with music mostly unknown to them ("The grand wazoo" album was still upcoming). The majority of the material has become known in other versions afterwards. Today there are no unreleased compositions in the setlist; it's the different arrangements and settings that make it an interesting show. In the case of "Greggery peccary", the music got played in four movements of modern music. Most rock band parts, to be found on "Studio tan" (1978), aren't included here, though the booklet accompanying the CD makes clear that the story of "Greggery peccary" was completely existent in 1972. The fact that the version here lasts 32 minutes, a lot longer than the "Studio tan" track, depends upon the two third component with improvisations. These improvisations are taking place in prearranged environments. Zappa himself describes the second half of the first movement as an interlude with 16th notes. It's made up of variations upon a theme given by Zappa, strictly in 4/4 and indeed with 16th notes. It starts softly with just two instruments playing around the theme and ends with the whole band all doing their own variations. The example below is taken from somewhere in the middle starting at 3:46.

Greggery Peccary mvt. I interlude, fragment (midi file)

Greggery Peccary mvt. I interlude, fragment (transcription)

In the second movement the climate for the improvisations is determined by an accelerated bolero type vamp, to be followed by a tango vamp. In the third movement the improvisations start off with something that gets called circular breathing: everybody playing slowly in the same key, thus forming coincidental harmonies, that keep shifting. Gradually a minor second movement moves in as a vamp, best known from the James Bond theme. Next this movement itself gets varied upon on guitar.
For the remainder of the fall of 1972 Zappa continued with a small tour with a selection of ten persons from the previous "Wazoo" band, visiting a dozen cities in Canada and the U.S. He selected and mixed the recorded material between 1972 and 1977. These pieces by what has become known as the Petit Wazoo band only recently got released by the Zappa Family Trust in 2006 as "Imaginary diseases", filling in a conspicuous gap in the Zappa history (CD cover to the right). Listening to it, it becomes peculiar why Zappa himself has released nothing of it. It was all new compositions at the time in 1972-1973, and partly still is today. There would have been enough on the tapes for editing a single album, and why not a single part of it got included in the YCDTOSA series from the eighties is even more inexplicable. Next are two sections from "Imaginary diseases", consisting of a two minute theme for brass players and rhythm section followed by a five minute guitar solo before the theme gets repeated.

Imaginary diseases, section #1 (midi file)
Imaginary diseases, section #2 (midi file)

Imaginary diseases, section #1 (transcription)
Imaginary diseases, section #2 (transcription)