I’ve wanted to do a Frank Zappa tribute show for a long time. Since his 75th birthday was last week (December 21) I figured now is the time. I got a show time slot for the following Sunday night—an hour on “Community Air.” One hour to pay tribute to Frank Zappa. Not much play time, so I decided to focus on his brilliant guitar improvisations.
We could argue who is the greatest guitar player of all time, but we would have to argue about what judging criteria to use for determining “guitar-playing greatness” before we could even begin the argument. And we would certainly argue about who is even qualified to judge such a thing. Fans? Other guitar players? Music critics? Personally, I’m not really sure if I’ve ever heard anyone as good as Frank Zappa. But it’s an apples vs. oranges thing.
Let me explain.
Obviously, there is great disagreement among critics who is historically the “greatest” of the great (and there should be), especially once we get past the first five on anyone’s list. On Rolling Stone’s guitar-God worshiping list (no surprise that Hendrix is number 1 and Clapton is 2) of the “100 Greatest Guitarists,” Zappa isn’t even in the top ten; in fact, he isn’t even in the top twenty. In Spin’s list Frank manages to move up to 16, surrounded by punk and metal guitarists. He doesn’t even show up on Guitar World’s “Thirty Great Guitarists.” And on Gibson guitar’s Top Fifty list, Frank is a lowly 39th.
Herein lies the problem for critics: Placing musicians on lists like these requires the comparison of things which are not comparable—e.g., apples vs. oranges—and then drawing conclusions around the results of these false comparisons. False comparisons result when the criteria for judgment are either too vague or too broad. But fans want to know who the “greatest” guitar player is/was without having to deal with the faulty logic of making such a choice. They/we want to know now. Such mental shortcuts are more supportable with opinions than with verifiable facts. Fact: Frank Zappa was a self-trained, highly skilled, and classically-influenced composer as well as a virtuoso guitar player. Fact: Jimi Hendrix was a brilliant guitar player who died from a drug overdose at the age of 28, and whose most popular repertoire include songs he did write—“Purple Haze” consistently one of his most popular self-penned songs—as well as those he did not—“Hey Joe” for example.
Two points here: Many have claimed Hendrix as a virtuoso, but one of the most common (see Wikipedia) reasons given for this claim is that no one had ever heard anything like his playing before. I would argue also that much of his iconic status came from his unfortunate death. A famous musician’s untimely death tends to make him or her (e.g., Janis Joplin) more revered for it. Hendrix just did not live long enough to fulfill and live up to his promise. I would also suggest that it was this very iconic status and the impossible expectations from fans, promoters, and record producers that may have contributed to his death. Much of Frank Zappa’s career entailed steering away from this kind of commercial fame and fan adulation, which impacted his commercially appeal. Zappa had a way of sneering at those who would criticize the unmarketability of his music (see We’re Only in it for the Money).
Frank would be indifferent about being on any kind of list. “Rating guitarists is a stupid hobby,” he once said. Frank would argue that he shouldn’t even be rated as a guitarist. “I’m a composer and my instrument is the guitar,” Zappa once told a British interviewer (Guitar World, 1 Oct. 2002). I know next to nothing about music theory and composition, but I sense that because he does, he’s able to experiment with the rules of composition, breaking some of them, making up new ones. I think this explains why I like his music so much; first and foremost he is a composer.
Here’s the playlist for my one hour Zappa tribute show:
Frank Zappa’s 75th Birthday Show (Music) with Chris 2015-12-27 19:00:00 to 20:00:00
Frank Zappa “That ole G minor thing_interview disc” composed by Zappa from Guitar (1988) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Treacherous Cretins_Disc II” composed by Zappa from Shut up and play yer guitar (1981) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “mom & dad_Disc III” composed by Zappa from We’re only in it for the money (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Dogma inerview to Cosmik Debris_Interv. Disc.” composed by Zappa from You can’t do that on stage anymore #3 (1988) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa and John Lennon “Well_Extras Disc” composed by Ward from Playground Psychotics (1992) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Stuff up the cracks_Disc III” from Cruisin with rueben and the jets (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Zappa on Schools to St. Etienne_Interv. Disc” composed by Zappa from Jazz from Hell (1986) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “What’s the ugliest part of your body_Interview Disc” composed by Zappa from We’re only in it for the money (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Black Napkins_Disc I” composed by Zappa from Zoot Allures (1976) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Trouble every day” composed by Zappa from Freak Out (1966) on Verve
Frank Zappa “Let’s make the water turn black” composed by Zappa from We’re only in it for the money (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Peaches en regalia” composed by Zappa from Hot Rats (1969) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Montana” composed by Zappa from Overnite Sensation (1973) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Opus I and IV Minuet” composed by Francesco Zappa from Francesco Zappa (1984) on ryodisc
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Call and Response
Frank Zappa’s 75th Birthday Show
Posted in Jazz Playlists, Music, Social Commentary, tagged Best Guitarist Lists, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix on December 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »
I’ve wanted to do a Frank Zappa tribute show for a long time. Since his 75th birthday was last week (December 21) I figured now is the time. I got a show time slot for the following Sunday night—an hour on “Community Air.” One hour to pay tribute to Frank Zappa. Not much play time, so I decided to focus on his brilliant guitar improvisations.
We could argue who is the greatest guitar player of all time, but we would have to argue about what judging criteria to use for determining “guitar-playing greatness” before we could even begin the argument. And we would certainly argue about who is even qualified to judge such a thing. Fans? Other guitar players? Music critics? Personally, I’m not really sure if I’ve ever heard anyone as good as Frank Zappa. But it’s an apples vs. oranges thing.
Let me explain.
Obviously, there is great disagreement among critics who is historically the “greatest” of the great (and there should be), especially once we get past the first five on anyone’s list. On Rolling Stone’s guitar-God worshiping list (no surprise that Hendrix is number 1 and Clapton is 2) of the “100 Greatest Guitarists,” Zappa isn’t even in the top ten; in fact, he isn’t even in the top twenty. In Spin’s list Frank manages to move up to 16, surrounded by punk and metal guitarists. He doesn’t even show up on Guitar World’s “Thirty Great Guitarists.” And on Gibson guitar’s Top Fifty list, Frank is a lowly 39th.
Herein lies the problem for critics: Placing musicians on lists like these requires the comparison of things which are not comparable—e.g., apples vs. oranges—and then drawing conclusions around the results of these false comparisons. False comparisons result when the criteria for judgment are either too vague or too broad. But fans want to know who the “greatest” guitar player is/was without having to deal with the faulty logic of making such a choice. They/we want to know now. Such mental shortcuts are more supportable with opinions than with verifiable facts. Fact: Frank Zappa was a self-trained, highly skilled, and classically-influenced composer as well as a virtuoso guitar player. Fact: Jimi Hendrix was a brilliant guitar player who died from a drug overdose at the age of 28, and whose most popular repertoire include songs he did write—“Purple Haze” consistently one of his most popular self-penned songs—as well as those he did not—“Hey Joe” for example.
Two points here: Many have claimed Hendrix as a virtuoso, but one of the most common (see Wikipedia) reasons given for this claim is that no one had ever heard anything like his playing before. I would argue also that much of his iconic status came from his unfortunate death. A famous musician’s untimely death tends to make him or her (e.g., Janis Joplin) more revered for it. Hendrix just did not live long enough to fulfill and live up to his promise. I would also suggest that it was this very iconic status and the impossible expectations from fans, promoters, and record producers that may have contributed to his death. Much of Frank Zappa’s career entailed steering away from this kind of commercial fame and fan adulation, which impacted his commercially appeal. Zappa had a way of sneering at those who would criticize the unmarketability of his music (see We’re Only in it for the Money).
Frank would be indifferent about being on any kind of list. “Rating guitarists is a stupid hobby,” he once said. Frank would argue that he shouldn’t even be rated as a guitarist. “I’m a composer and my instrument is the guitar,” Zappa once told a British interviewer (Guitar World, 1 Oct. 2002). I know next to nothing about music theory and composition, but I sense that because he does, he’s able to experiment with the rules of composition, breaking some of them, making up new ones. I think this explains why I like his music so much; first and foremost he is a composer.
Here’s the playlist for my one hour Zappa tribute show:
Frank Zappa’s 75th Birthday Show (Music) with Chris 2015-12-27 19:00:00 to 20:00:00
Frank Zappa “That ole G minor thing_interview disc” composed by Zappa from Guitar (1988) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Treacherous Cretins_Disc II” composed by Zappa from Shut up and play yer guitar (1981) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “mom & dad_Disc III” composed by Zappa from We’re only in it for the money (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Dogma inerview to Cosmik Debris_Interv. Disc.” composed by Zappa from You can’t do that on stage anymore #3 (1988) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa and John Lennon “Well_Extras Disc” composed by Ward from Playground Psychotics (1992) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Stuff up the cracks_Disc III” from Cruisin with rueben and the jets (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Zappa on Schools to St. Etienne_Interv. Disc” composed by Zappa from Jazz from Hell (1986) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “What’s the ugliest part of your body_Interview Disc” composed by Zappa from We’re only in it for the money (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Black Napkins_Disc I” composed by Zappa from Zoot Allures (1976) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Trouble every day” composed by Zappa from Freak Out (1966) on Verve
Frank Zappa “Let’s make the water turn black” composed by Zappa from We’re only in it for the money (1968) on Hippo Zappa
Frank Zappa “Peaches en regalia” composed by Zappa from Hot Rats (1969) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Montana” composed by Zappa from Overnite Sensation (1973) on ryodisc
Frank Zappa “Opus I and IV Minuet” composed by Francesco Zappa from Francesco Zappa (1984) on ryodisc
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