LogFAQs > #916372951

Zappa In New York capped off a terrific year for the ever-prolific and always-moving musician which included shows around the globe including his second Australian tour and one and only Japanese jaunt, the release of his album Zoot Allures and Grand Funk Railroads record Good Singin Good Playin, which he produced, a string of Halloween shows and a performance on Saturday Night Live which ended up having a profound impact on the Palladium shows. Following an on-air collaboration with SNLs announcer Don Pardo and the shows house band, Zappa invited them to be a part of the shows after three of the horn players so loved playing with Zappa that they asked if they could be involved. As Travers and Brown write in the illuminating liner notes: Out of nowhere, the concept of adapting horns to the scheduled concerts became a reality. Frank was immediately swept up in the pleasure and challenge of writing and arranging parts for the existing material.The collection showcases some of Zappas most masterful guitar playing and electrifying arrangements as he leads an exceptional band featuring Ray White on vocals and guitar, Terry Bozzio on drums and vocals, Eddie Jobson on keyboard, Ruth Underwood on percussion and synthesizer, Patrick OHearn on bass and vocals and David Samuels on timpani and vibes. Don Pardo provided sophisticated narration and the brass section, featuring jazz duo the Brecker Brothers with Randy Brecker on trumpet and Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone, was rounded out by the SNL players: Lou Marini on alto sax, Ronnie Cuber on baritone sax and Tom Malone on trombone.

I don't have much to add to this but I will say that the Zappa in New York band is actually my favorite Zappa lineup of all time (why did they only play 4 shows?! We needed a whole tour with these guys!). So yeah, the fact that we're finally getting all of the full concerts they played - plus a bunch bonus content - is awesome news to me. Pretty high chance I will be buying the 5CD box set version of this.

I take issue, however, with the notion that "nobody knew" "Any Kind of Pain" existed way before the 1988 tour. We diehard Zappa fans have known this for ages! Speak for yourself, news article writer person!!
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