For those of you who are intimately familiar with Zappa................

not intimate, but I did see Zappa once. He played 2 concerts at McAlister Auditorium at Tulane when I was in school, back to back (either the same night or back to back). I went to one, and while it's hazy in the 30+ years, I remember loving it. He played a rousing version of this cool song that I remember because we used to listen to the album in the dorm.

LINK

I don't know anything about his orchestra work.

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I would like to get into some Zappa. Anyone have recommendations on albums to get started with. Maybe stuff not so weird as to turn me off from the start. I'm a huge fan of great musicianship though.

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Do what I did today and You Tube Zappa and watch the documentaries on the man, the documentaries take you through Zappa's career and talks about the different lineups in his band.
Also some great interviews with Zappa, he was really a funny dude, just listen to the lyrics in his songs, it's like he was really serious about the musicianship but through the lyrics you could see he was letting you know he had a real insightful sense of humor and not to take this complex music to seriously.

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some of the layered orchestral stuff was pretty heady shite and will stand the test of time, his use of shifting time meters is what all the prog metal and djent bands are doing today and he was using it 35-40 yrs ago.

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I'm not disagreeing with you but just playing devil's advocate. What he was doing was innovative in the pop/ rock music world. But modernist composers had been using shifting time meters for 50 years or more before Zappa. There were other guitarist/ composers around at the same time bringing a more "modernist classical" approach to rock. Robert Fripp comes to mind. And there were a lot of Jazz guitarist doing amazing stuff in the 40s and 50s.

Hot Rats
Roxy & Elsewhere
One Size Fits All
You wanna get weird? Zappa Claymation.


Franks son Dweezil is going on trrr with Zappa Plays Zappa playing the entire One Size Fits All album during one set. Dweezil gets criticized a lot for not having original material, but he does a tremendous job celebrating his father's creations. I am looking forward to their Jazz Fest night show 5/2 at Tipitina's.

3/31 - Buffalo, NY @ University of Buffalo Center For The Arts
4/1 - Terrebonne, QC @ Theatre du Vieux-Terrabonne
4/2 - Mississauga, ON @ Living Arts Centre - Hammerson Hall
4/3 - Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
4/4 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
4/6 - Munhall, PA @ Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
4/7 - Albany, NY @ The Egg
4/8 - Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theatre
4/9 - Portland, ME @ State Theatre
4/10 - Ridgefield, CT @ Ridgefield Playhouse
4/11 - Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
4/12 - Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center
4/14 - Alexandria, VA @ Birchmere
4/15 - Knoxville, TN @ US Cellular Stage at Bijou
4/16 - Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
4/18 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
4/20 - St. Louis, MO @ Plush St. Louis
4/21 - Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
4/23 - Denver, CO @ Colorado Symphony
4/24 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
4/25 - Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas
4/26 - Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
4/28 - Oklahoma City, OK @ UCO Performance Lab
4/29 - Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
4/30 - San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
5/1 - Austin, TX @ Emo's Austin
5/3 - Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
5/5 - Jackson, MS @ Duling Hall
5/6 - Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
5/7 - Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
5/8 - Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre
5/9 - Richmond, VA @ The National
5/10 - Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live

Thanks. Gonna checkout the Nashville show