Frank Zappa Musicological Analysis

Here is a lecture on Frank Zappa I gave to students as part of a musicology class this week.

Comments Welcome!

<div style=”margin-bottom:5px”> <strong> <a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/carrp/session-7-zappa-final-presentation&#8221; title=”Session 7 zappa final presentation” target=”_blank”>Session 7 zappa final presentation</a> </strong> from <strong><a href=”http://www.slideshare.net/carrp&#8221; target=”_blank”>Paul Carr</a></strong> </div>

Read Full Post »

Zappa and the And Published in two weeks

Well – over two years since it was initially announced – Zappa and the And is to published in a couple of weeks. Ashgate  have officially posted my introduction online – you can see it at here There are also links to the Contents Page and the Index. Ashgates’ Home Page about the book is also live – as is the Amazon Link. I get my copies next week – so looking forward to seeing them. Although it was not by design – the fact that the book is being published 20 years after Zappa’s death has a nice resonance about it.

 

 

Read Full Post »

Zappa and the And: Zappa and the Freaks: Recording Wild Man Fischer

Chapter 9 of the Zappa book is by David Sanjek – who sadly passed away only 2-3 weeks after sending me the finished chapter. David was an outstanding academic with an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music. I am really proud that Zappa And The And features a chapter by this fabulous academic. He will be sadly missed.

No one ever accused Frank Zappa of lacking a sense of humour. Most people would characterise the thrust of Zappa’s wit as being, amongst other things, snarky
and sarcastic. Throughout his career, he conducted himself like an equal opportunity
tweaker of taboos and remained convinced that whatever a person’s ideological disposition, all of us potentially can succumb to the batons of those forces of coercion that Zappa dubbed the ‘brain police’.This predilection to interrogate authority potentially met its match when the composer found himself figuratively attached to the establishment: for the first time, he was in a position to call his own shots, rather than simply be an employee of a recording company. In 1968, Zappa left Verve Records and signed a new distribution deal with Warner Brothers/Reprise, one of the preeminent companies of the day and now. Whereas Verve seemed to perceive Zappa as nothing more or less than a marketable reversion from the mainstream, his new employers appeared to believe the composer could potentially disengage from his long-time ‘no commercial potential’ rallying cry, without evacuating his material of the idiosyncrasies that made it stand out from the work of his contemporaries.
Furthermore, an inevitably attractive portion of the contract permitted Zappa to operate two boutique labels that the corporation would promote and distribute; the recordings would feature solo material by the composer as well as the ensemble efforts of Zappa’s band, The Mothers of Invention, in addition to performances by other artists he appreciated and wished to produce and promote. One can only imagine that his choice of names for the concerns reflects Zappa’s recognition of the inescapable ironies embedded in his situation. He named the first, inaugurated in 1968, Bizarre, and the other, initiated the following year, Straight. Not only did the titles evoke his appreciation of his potentially disjointed affiliation with the major players in the record industry, but they also echoed the antagonistic energies unleashed throughout much of society during this tumultuous period of time. Like a number in his audience, Zappa recognised that the country had fragmented along ideological fault lines that appeared incapable of reconciliation. The pressure cooker of polemical contention revealed a society just barely under control, such that when any excess amount of enthusiasm, whether emerging from the right or the left, became unhinged, the consequences could be lethal. The bashing of protestors on the streets of Chicago during the democratic convention or the brutalising of the audience at the Altamont Speedway during the appearance of the Rolling Stones reinforced
Zappa’s admonition that there was, as the title of a song on Freak Out! indicated, ‘trouble every day’ amongst us and we placed ourselves at risk whenever we endeavoured to test the limitations of those opportunities when we inhabit the sphere embodied by the title of The Mothers of Invention’s second album: Absolutely Free.

Read Full Post »

Frank Zappa And The And: Zappa and Technology

Well – after a long break because of Computor problems – here is the intro to the eighth chapter of the Zappa book – my own. It looks like the book will be published around February 2013 – in fact it is possible to pre order it through Amazon. I will try and post the intro of the remaining chapters over the next few weeks, and after that there will be a gap while the ‘real thing’ is prepared m

Chapter 8
Zappa and Technology: His incorporation of Time, Space and Place when Performing, Composing and Arranging Music
Paul Carr
 
Frank Zappa’s ability to amalgamate popular music styles alongside musique concrète, electronic, and serial techniques make him a fascinating case study on the interdisciplinary roles of performer, composer, arranger and producer. One of the earliest musicians to consistently experiment with fusing these skill bases, his resultant stylistic fusion is also arguably one of the most prolific and original in the history of popular music. Using these factors as creative mediums, Zappa can also possibly be considered the only rock musician to consciously and consistently engage with time, space and place throughout his entire career, having a compulsive fascination with ensuring his entire life’s work was considered part of his Big Note philosophy, with many of his performances, compositions, arrangements and productions being part of an overarching Conceptual Continuity. The resultant music often incorporates countless semiological clues alluding to factors such as his politics, sexual tendencies and musical influences, and this chapter proposes to examine how Zappa pushed the boundaries of studio technology to develop compositions, (re)arrangements and (virtual) performances of his work, while creatively engaging with time, space and place. After presenting an overview of his interface with technology throughout the 1960s, the essay will progress to analyse albums such as Sheik Yerbouti and the You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore series (1988 – 1992), cumulating with his work on the Synclavier during the late 1980s – early 1990s with albums such as Jazz From Hell and Make a Jazz Noise Here.

Read Full Post »

Rumer’s New Album: Why Does She Sound Like Karen Carpenter?

I have spent the morning listen to Rumer’s new album – Boys Don’t Cry. It’s a really pleasant sounding record – besides the one factor we all know – she sounds like Karen Carpenter. The 50 Million dollar question is not so much how, but WHY?

Is it -

a) She is plain and simple just heavily influenced by her in terms of vocal style and to a lesser extend image

b) Her record company are aware of the massive ‘Middle America’ market that The Carpenters tapped into – and are attempting to use a similar formula.

The above factor extends beyond the natural tonal qualities of Rumer’s voice, to the instrumentation and production of her music. For example, her new single includes a similar ’70s style’ guitar solo to The Carpenters’ Goodbye To Love, also including similar use of woodwind orchestration.

The reality is that the WHY is probably a mixture of both of these factors – but make no mistake about it, there is a heavy dose of point number 2 – we as audiences are being manipulated via a proven formula!

It’s also interesting to note that listening to artists like Rumer, who are so overtly based on another artist who have proven success (musically and visually), it also has the added dimension of encouraging older and younger audiences to listen to the ‘real thing’ – providing new interest in a back-catalogue that may be forgotten. In many respects this is similar to the process of what happened post British R&B explosion, with The Beatles, The Stones, Clapton, and Beck et al. encouraging many listeners (like me) to listen to Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, etc.

So – thought for today. Enjoy music such as Rumer’s new record. I will continue to listen to it cos it has loads of ‘good tunes’. However – don’t forget to have half an eye on the Simon Cowell factor – our musical preferences are manipulated by THE MACHINE.

Read Full Post »

Pat Metheny: Why is his music so interesting?

 

I have just spent an hour or so listening to a ‘best of Pat Metheny‘ collection on Spotify. Having been listening to this man’s music for around 30 years now, it is crazy to think some of the tracks that impacted me then – still do today. Without getting too involved in the dialogic between philosophers such as Plato (who would have argued that the music that touches us is a physical representation of a perfect/spiritual ‘World of Forms’) and Hagel on the one side (who would have argued that it was part of a disparate chronological system that is moving toward unified perfection), and Husserl and Heidegger on the other (who sort of believed in reality being based on individual perception) – why do I still like this music?? Why does this music mean so much to me??

It seems to me thinking as a musicologist, his music is interesting on both a primary (the formal structures of the music, how it resonates with itself and other music) and secondary (how the music conveys emotion and relates to factors such as technology, visual gesture, etc) level. Jean-Jacques Nattiez has an interesting model which differentiates between these levels. As this is a short post, I will try and explain in as few words as possible.

The Poietic: How the music was constructed. With Metheny, it is possible to consider factors such as the construction of his solos, his sound, the way he uses a band as a compositional tool etc. However, perhaps the most significant and interesting example of late is apparent in his Orchestrion project. Imagine how much depth one could get into talking about this!!!

 

 

The Immanent:The actual structures of the music – it’s descriptive qualities. One of the things I have found most interesting about his music is it sounds so melodic, but it has a sometimes hidden complexity. If anyone has looked at The Pat Metheny Songbook, you will get a feel for how this music works on a notational level. From here you can look at things like the form of the music, the instrumentation, the ways that texture is employed etc.

The Ethesic: The ways in which the music is received. If we do this in a progressive  manner, we can ask questions such as: what impact does the music have on me? why does the music make me feel like this? Does the music have a life that is beyone Metheny’s intentions

Nattiez would argue that in order for the music to have primary signification, it has to resonate with all three of these categories. In other words the music’s making, structure and reception has to be apparent. If one of these areas are missing (how the music was constructed for example) – this has the potential to be signified at the secondary level. For example when writing about Metheny a while ago – I wrote the following – all of which is secondary

“I would suggest that Metheny has done more than anyone to redefine the jazz aesthetic. Almost from his first album in the mid 1970′s, his music not only portrayed a totally identifiable and original guitar style, but also an open-mindedness regarding what jazz can be. I have always been fascinated about the way that he (and other musicians) uses technology to formulate his music both in the studio and live, but his ‘Orchestration’ album takes this process to a new level’. Not only is he able to perform alongside himself in the ‘virtual’ manner he achieved on Watercolours  (1977) New Chautauqua (1979), but this time alongside a more embodied version of himself. Building on the work of guitarists such as John Mclaughlin and Larry Coryell, Metheny’s music and image has created not only a new definition for what jazz can sound like, but also the processes regarding its construction and visuals. To my mind he has to be considered one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, and I can only plead with the people who consider and construct the histories of jazz to give him the great respect he deserves.”

Well that’s it for this post – time to have a rest over the weekend.

 

Read Full Post »

What Am I Listening To? Beady Belle

Thought would be interesting to highlight some of the music I am listening to at the moment by placing a Spotify playlist. Anyway artist for today is Beady Belle

She is one of the many Norwegian bands I am listening to at the moment.  Not only are the compositions very interesting and the vocals great, but I also find it interesting how freely these musicians sing in English – without seeming compromising any ‘Norwegian Identity’.

Anyway  – enjoy the music

Read Full Post »