Scout wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 8:54 am
I’m not sure Zappa was writing music just to be complicated, but I’m not one for conjecture.
I was specifically referring to the piece titled 'the Black Page', which began as an experiment to make an impossible drum piece. Something a single drummer could not do.
Turns out guys like Terry Bozzio existed, and it was possible, just incredibly difficult.
Just looking at the sheet music makes your brain hurt.
Wasn't implying he took that approach in general, just that he loved to throw out the rules sometimes and go all out with compositions.
Especially when vetting people for his touring band.
His band was very fine tuned like an orchestra. They would drill a single riff for days, if he felt a quarter note somewhere was off by a split second somewhere.
It was hard to work for him, unless you were used to working with a conducter. He made you stay sober and made you practice very challenging drills daily.
The reason so many virtuosos came out of his band or got hired for his band, was due to how challenging and fine tuned his work was.
The average player, even the highly skilled ones would be a fish out of water on day 1 of a Zappa job.
There are countless stories of how intimidating it was to try and keep up with his ideas, even from seasoned guys like Chick Corea.
Complicated isn't the best way to describe this. It was difficult for these guys for many reasons, but much of it came down to how different Zappa's structures and ideas were in comparison to the world his musicians came from.
He hired people from bebop, rock, r&b and jazz, and then had them learn and perform pieces that were absolutely alien to them.
Det er mig der holder traeerne sammen.