I think this is probably the best thing on youtube. Apparently it’s been on their six years but I’ve never seen it. Totally absorbing. Great sound too. Have I said enough? I think I said too much. Consider this.
Zappa – Duprees Paradise
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Why doesn’t that stupid url box work?
Thanks for this clip, it’s ace. His leg might have been fooked but Zappa hit a peak of recruiting musicians in the two years after he jettisoned those two bloaters rom The Turtles.
There’s always someone who says “Hey! The Flo n’ Eddie period is my favourite Zappa!”, but it’s not me. I remember the relief of being able to buy a Zappa album without buyer’s remorse when Waka Jawaka/Grand Wazoo came out in ’72. Gawd – he released three albums that year.
What a phenomenal band. Hadn’t seen this clip before – thank you!
EDITH: Great suit the man’s wearing.
As Roxy proved, the humour wasn’t the problem. It was… them
Bizarrely, The Turtles were bloody brilliant in the 60s.
They were, too. But I’ve never been able to get into the (non-Zappa) Flo n’ Eddie albums, either. I know they’re good, but somehow …
Thanks for posting that Diddley. Quality footage of FZ is always welcome. Good to see JL Ponty in full flow, Zappa too. At the four minute mark, Frank strikes a match to light his cigarette and then appears to cup the match in his hands. It can’t be that cold in Stockholm in August. Maybe that was just his way of extinguishing it. Hey, these things are important!
I saw Ponty in France in about 1995, he was magnificent. Princely, wild, insane. Equal parts Grapelli and Rostropovich.
PS cupping your hand isn’t about heat, it’s about wind – you’ve forgotten the lost art of fag-lighting.
From a YouTube comment: At 3:45 while Jean-Luc Ponty is wailing away on the fiddle, Zappa lights up a Winston. If you watch closely, after lighting the cigarette, he doesn’t put the match out. He cups his left hand over it for warmth. This was, after all, the concert where he said his (their) fingers were “just a twitchin’ and a throbbin'” during the performance. Very resourceful guy, he was!
Ralph Humphrey’s drumming is superb with this band. Really keeps it all moving along.
Saw this band. Was 16, went by myself. Didn’t fully appreciate it then, but knew I would in due course. Certainly do now. I think this is the line up.
Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals)
George Duke (keyboards, vocals)
Tom Fowler (bass)
Bruce Fowler (trombone)
Ruth Underwood (percussion)
Ian Underwood (woodwinds)
Ralph Humphrey (drums)
Sal Marquez (trumpet, vocals)
Jean Luc Ponty (violin)
Erratum (ffs): it’s been on there, Dupree’s.
It can be cold in Stockholm in August (especially back then). Zappa seems well clad though. However, a man in the crowd appears briefly who is without shirt. I guess he was possibly too out of it to care, or a tough Swede.
Thanks for the interesting comments.
Just brilliant. A great FZ band.
Full concert here in slightly less pristine quality than the clip up there ⇑.
Worth persevering past the satin-shirted nincompoop MC.
Highlights: George Duke’s amazing keyboard history lesson intro to Dupree’s Paradise, further Ponty and Zappa solos, Ian Underwood’s wah-wah clarinet, Ralph Humphrey’s drum solo and loads of superb Ruth Underwood percussion magic – mostly off-camera, sadly.
There’s a banner ad on this for me headlined “Node sprawl got you down?” which sounds like the name of a Zappa chamber piece.
Thanks for this clip, and the entirely warranted use of the word nincompoop.
And here, from a 1974 concert with a slightly-reduced and amended lineup (Chester Thompson instead of Ralph Humphrey on drumkit, Ian Underwood replaced by Napoleon Murphy Brock, Jean-Luc Ponty and Bruce Fowler no longer in the band) is Inca Roads. George Duke and Ruth Underwood are the stars. George as lead vocalist and synth wizard, Ruth’s percussion on the outro particularly good.
“Interesting” Bruce Bickford claymation too.