On this day in 1940, the late, great multi-instrumentalist and composer Frank Vincent Zappa was born. With a career lasting almost four decades, Zappa was able to release more than 60 albums, design album covers, directing music videos and feature-length films, and write the lyrics to every single one of his songs. Most of his music is extremely hard to categorize, thanks to his diverse musical influences. The Rolling Stone Album Guide, printed in 2004, stated “Frank Zappa dabbled in virtually all kinds of music — and, whether guised as a satirical rocker, jazz-rock fusionist, guitar virtuoso, electronics wizard, or orchestral innovator, his eccentric genius was undeniable.” He was posthumously inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Let’s take a look at his 1969 release Hot Rats.
One of Zappa’s best known songs “Peaches en Regalia” leads off this album, and it’s widely recognized as a jazz fusion standard. The song is even more impressive, when one realizes only four musicians played on the original track, with Ian Underwood doing a lot of the legwork. The only time we hear words on the entire album is during “Willie the Pimp” with Captain Beefheart performing the guest vocals. The song has a blues feel almost throughout, which lends itself to being a perfect jam song. Zappa himself takes advantage with a classic, extensive guitar solo.
“Son of Mr. Green Genes” is actually an instrumental re-arrangement of a Zappa tune from an earlier album by the Mothers of Invention. It also features extended guitar solos, but Underwood’s keyboard work is impossible to ignore. Also pay close attention to the intricate horn lines. As in “Peaches”, the song “Little Umbrellas” is a short, jazzy number that features overdubbed horns. With John Guerin’s almost simplistic drumming and Underwood’s piano, it almost sounds like a Traffic song at points.
The longest song on the album is “The Gumbo Variations,” topping off at just under 17 minutes long (or just under 13 minutes, if you have the vinyl version). To be honest, the tune is a big jam session (almost sounding like free jazz composer Sun Ra) and not only does Zappa solo on guitar, but Underwood solos on tenor saxophone and so does Don Harris on violin. The album ends with “It Must Be a Camel” and it truly shows Zappa’s writing and arranging prowess. The melody itself is very strange, due to its large melodic leaps (which almost look like camel humps on paper). Underwood’s extensive organ work is fantastic, as well as his piano comping over the guitar solo.
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