Waka/Wazoo

Product Information

During this time, he managed, among other things, to assemble an ensemble that quenched his thirst and desire to work with a large “Electric Orchestra.” Ultimately, he contracted a 20-piece group for recording sessions and an eight-city tour. Shortly thereafter, a scaled down 10-piece configuration, now popularly known as the “ Petite Wazoo” toured for almost two months. After all was said and done, Zappa finished the experiment with two albums in the can — Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo — plus two tours and an archive of show masters in his vault. It was a monumental feat for a guy with a cast on his leg and a conductor’s baton in his hand. Tony Duran - slide guitar ( "Your Mouth", "Big Swifty", "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)", "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal"), vocals ( "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal"), rhythm guitar ( "Blessed Relief")

hours ago Two Door Cinema Club have announced a massive concert for summer 2024 with a show at Custom House Square, Belfast on Thursday 15th August 2024. The eventual centerpiece of Waka/Jawaka, "Big Swifty," filled all of Side One of the original record. It's heard here in a slightly shorter alternate take recorded on April 10. The performance is Zappa at his most intricate and fusion-minded, with Marquez playing "many [overdubbed] trumpets" alongside FZ, Tony Duran on slide, George Duke on electric piano, Alex Dmochowski on bass, and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. The central theme is played in alternating time signatures, with breathing room for scorching solos throughout. This is adventurous, amplified, improvisational jazz, not too far-removed from the style Miles Davis was exploring at the time. Malcolm McNab - brass ( "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)") Zappa planned that following the Waka/Wazoo sessions, a touring version of what he dubbed the “Mothers of Invention/Hot Rats/Grand Wazoo” would perform a short eight-date tour in September of 1972. As Travers writes in the illuminating liner notes, “once the Wazoo project was set in motion, the first thing Frank did was hire Kenny Shroyer to help enlist and contract the musicians. 20 of them were eventually hired, and new musical relationships were created. In celebration of half a century of this pioneering phase of Zappa’s peerless career, Zappa Records/UMe will be releasing Waka/Wazoo, a five-disc multi-format box set that features a complete historical rundown of the entire project, on December 16th, just ahead of what would have been the Maestro’s 82nd birthday. Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, the comprehensive 4CD + Blu-Ray Audio set boasts unreleased alternate takes of almost every composition recorded during the album sessions, Vault mix session outtakes and oddities, and also includes the full final show of the 10-piece tour, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on December 15, 1972. Additionally, the collection includes a set of demos for George Duke’s solo material that Zappa produced and played guitar on during the album recording sessions at Paramount Studios. Although Duke would go on to re-record the compositions for his own albums, the versions with Zappa have never been officially issued until now.Bob Zimmitti - percussion ( "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)") Although he was confined to a wheelchair and in immense pain, his work ethic could not be tamed, and he would end up having one of the most prolific years of his hugely prolific career. During this time, he managed, among other things, to assemble an ensemble that quenched his thirst and desire to work with a large “Electric Orchestra. Waka/Wazoo” is a Comprehensive 4-CD + Blu-ray Audio box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mothers Of Invention/Hot Rats/Grand Wazoo experience from 1972. Zappa created Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo under extenuating circumstances. After being pushed offstage by a fan during a concert at London's Rainbow Theatre, he spent months recovering at his Los Angeles home. The wheelchair-bound Zappa assembled a 20-piece group of musicians known as the Electric Orchestra for recording sessions and an eight-city tour. He later scaled down to a 10-piece Petite Wazoo orchestra and launched another nearly two-month tour with the group.

In fact, Zappa was able to bring together a 20-piece ensemble, comprising mainly musicians he was unfamiliar with – such as brass/woodwind players Sal Marquez, Malcolm McNab, Kenny Shroyer and Earle Dumler, alongside more familiar faces like drummer Aynsley Dunbar, bassist Alex “Erroneous” Dmochowski and keyboardists George Duke and Don Preston. In a contemporaneous interview, Zappa commented: “It’s a group you’ve never seen before – 20 pieces including six reeds, six brass, two concert percussionists, one drum set, one electric bass, two guitars, keyboard and synthesizers, and an electric cello. It’s really nice. The only names people will recognize from past associations will be Ian Underwood on keyboard and Ruth Underwood playing percussion one. Most of the people who are on the Waka/Jawaka album are in this group. We’ll probably be billed as The Mothers . What we really have here is an electric symphony orchestra…” Frank Zappa had spent the early weeks of 1972 in hospital, recovering from the injuries he sustained after being pushed from the stage at London’s Rainbow Theatre by a crazed fan on 10 th December 1971. He spent the first half of 1972 in a wheelchair, constrained in a leg brace and, confined to his home in Los Angeles, he started to set out the framework for the next stages of his career, including producing doo-wop band Ruben And The Jets (named after Zappa’s own 1968 doo-wop project) and taking steps to realise his dream of working with a large “Electric Orchestra.” T HE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In 1972, following the aftermath of being pushed off stage at the Rainbow Theatre in London by a crazed attendee, Frank Zappa found himself recuperating for months in his home in the hills of Los Angeles. Although he was confined to a wheelchair and in immense pain, his work ethic could not be tamed, and he would end up having one of the most prolific years of his hugely prolific career. In celebration of half a century of this pioneering phase of Zappa’s peerless career, the box set Waka/Wazoo — a five-disc multi-format box set that features a complete historical rundown of the entire project — is being release just ahead of what would have been the Maestro’s 82nd birthday. Produced by Ahmet Zappa and Travers, the comprehensive four-CD / Blu-Ray audio set boasts unreleased alternate takes of almost every composition recorded during the album sessions, Vault mix session outtakes and oddities, and also includes the full final show of the 10-piece tour, recorded at the famous Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Dec. 15, 1972. Additionally, the collection includes a set of demos for Duke’s solo material that Zappa produced and played guitar on during the album recording sessions at Paramount Studios. Although Duke would go on to re-record the compositions for his own albums, the versions with Zappa have never been officially issued until now.amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;<br />
Mike Altschul - woodwinds ( "Eat That Question", "Blessed Relief", "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)", "Cleetus Awreetus-Awrightus"), baritone saxophone and piccolo ( "Your Mouth", "Waka/Jawaka"), bass flute, bass clarinet and tenor sax ( "Waka/Jawaka") hours ago LIES!: Dutch metallic hardcore gang drops video for “Propaganda” (ft. Hugo Zerrad – Worst Doubt) via Invisible Oranges; 2nd album comes early December Mastered By [Hi-Res Stereo]: Robert Hadley ( Blu-ray Audio), Sangwook "Sunny" Nam ( Blu-ray Audio), Doug Sax ( Blu-ray Audio)

To form the "electric orchestra," Zappa called on some old cohorts (drummer Aynsley Dunbar, keyboardists George Duke and Don Preston, percussionist Alan Estes, guitarist Jeff Simmons), along with many new faces (bassist Alex "Erroneous" Dmochowski, guitarist Tony Duran, percussionist Bob Zimmitti, and horn players Sal Marquez, Malcolm McNab, Kenny Shroyer, Earle Dumler, and Tony "Bat Man" Ortega). Tony "Batman" Ortega - woodwinds ( "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)") amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;gt;&amp;lt;br /&amp;gt;&lt;br /&gt;<br />

Credits (37)

Joann Caldwell McNab - woodwinds ( "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)") Matrix / Runout (Disc 3): 4859463 [2 x Universal Logo] AM83837-01 manufactured by optimal media GmbH By the time the band arrived in San Francisco, the next phase of Frank Zappa’s life was already beginning to unfold and selections such as Montana, Father O’Blivion and Cosmik Debris, from 1973’s Overnite Sensation album, had found their way onto the setlist. No moss ever grew on Frank Zappa! Matrix / Runout (Disc 2): 4859462 [2 x Universal Logo] AM83836-01 manufactured by optimal media GmbH The April 11 take of "Blessed Relief" is one of this collection's most glistening highlights. The soft, languid piece in waltz time lives up to its name, showcasing some particularly lovely playing from Marquez, burbling keys from Duke, and a slow-burning groove. The song would end up as a subtle respite on The Grand Wazoo. It's contrasted here by the freer jazz of "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)." This April 13 version has been cobbled together from remaining outtake source material, with its different sections not yet melded into a final form.

Also, an important note of warning as you start to explore this disc: the 96 kHz, 24-bit Stereo (original album) mix is set significantly louder than the surround mixes. So if you are switching in real time between the different options (as I frequently do), be sure to lower your volume settings accordingly before switching to it! That is a disc mastering issue which probably should be fixed for subsequent pressings. Even more elevating is the Dolby Atmos mix characterized by the creative use of space that richly and dynamically broaden the soundstage. Using of reverb, echo, and other effects, both audio engineers Karma Auger and Erich Gobels have ignited a sense of depth and dimension that draws the listener into the music. Careful attention has been given to the overall balance, allowing each instrument to have its own place in the mix that contributes to the overall atmosphere. BLU-RAY AUDIO DISC PRESENTS ORIGINAL ALBUMS IN IMMERSIVE DOLBY ATMOS, 5.1 SURROUND SOUND AND HI-RES STEREO MIXESSal Marquez - trumpet ( "Your Mouth", "Big Swifty", "Think It Over (The Grand Wazoo)", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)", "Waka/Jawaka", "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal"), brass ( "Eat That Question", "Blessed Relief", "Cleetus Awreetus-Awrightus"), vocals ( "Your Mouth", "For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers)", "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal") In celebration of half a century of the pioneering early 1970s phase of Frank Zappa’s peerless career, which resulted in the two albums, Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, Zappa Records/UMe will be releasing Waka/Wazoo, a five-disc multi-format box set that features a complete historical rundown of the entire project, on December 16, just ahead of what would have been the Maestro’s 82nd birthday. After all was said and done, Zappa finished the experiment with two albums in the can – Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo – plus two tours and an archive of show masters in his Vault. It was a monumental feat for a guy with a cast on his leg and a conductor’s baton in his hand. In 1972, FZ experimented with an “Electric Orchestra” concept which resulted in two albums: Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of this endeavor, Waka/Wazoo documents the recording sessions with outtakes & oddities. Also included is a live show from the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on 12/15/72 + the unreleased FZ-produced George Duke demos. A Blu-ray Audio disc features both albums with brand-new Dolby Atmos & 5.1 mixes + the 96/24 high-res stereo remasters.