Back in the early 70s, when he was a rock star for the underground, Frank Zappa got confined to a wheelchair after being pushed off stage at a concert in London. Breaking his up and band (which included Flo and Eddie), Zappa decided t try a different route of music, creating an “Electric Orchestra” and composing jazz/fusion music, thus the two classic albums of their kind, the first one of which, Waka/Jawaka, was originally a kind of companion to the other, The Grand Wazoo, and was a major leap forward for Zappa.
This 5 disc set has the entire 1972 with a mix of ex-Mothers and ringers in Mike Altschul/wwinds, Billy Byers/horn, George Duke/p, Aynsley Dunbar/dr, Tony Duran/slg, Janet Ferguson-Chris Peterson/voc, Sneaky Pete Kleinow/pstg, Sal Marquez/fh, Joel Peskin/ts, Don Preston/moog, Jeff Simmons/g and Zappa himself conducting the whole affair as well as playing various guitars.
The album itself is two short and two long tunes, with the 17 minute “Big Swifty” allowing the soloists to really stretch out, while the title tune is a wild and climactic avalanche.
The sister session of The Grand Wazoo has a bit of a different band, with Zappa playing some tasty solos and occasionally singing, but mostly conducting the orchestra through some highly lyrical songs with the 20+ members of this album ranging from chamber jazz to ambitious jazz/rock. The title tune is a tour de force and “Blessed Relief” may be one of Zappa’s most sophisticated charts.
The boxed collection also includes some alternate versions of the songs, alternate mixes and some masters from George Duke’s sessions, including the fun instrumental “Uncle Remus”. Most fun is a live gig from the Winter Wonderland in San Francisco with a 10 member “Petite Wazoo” captured in 1972 performing some exciting versions of “America Drinks”, “Montana” and “Chunga’s Revenge”. There’s also a very rare “live” take of “Approximate” with a 20 piece band that gives a glimpse of Zappa’s musical ambition
The Blu-Ray audio recordings of the albums are stellar, and the music has aged amazingly well, and the accompanying booklet gives much insight and background to the creative mind of one of America’s most iconoclastic geniuses.