Although the comparison might seem to be a strange one at first glance, Duke Ellington and Frank Zappa had an awful lot in common. Obviously both men were composers. Arrangers. Great instrumentalists. And bandleaders.  Another perhaps less obvious talent shared by Ellington and Zappa is that both were fairly shrewd businessmen and promoters. They had to be if they wanted to be able to hear the music they were hearing in their heads played in the real world. Both were right brain-left brain types, a rare trait among artistic people.

But what I find the two uniquely have in common—once all of the above is taken into account, of course—is that both men were incredibly adept at not only finding the right musicians to play their music, but actually composing music which in a real sense played the musicians themselves. Took advantage of all they had to offer, in other words. An obvious example of this in Duke Ellington’s vast repertoire—although there are many—would be his “Concerto for Cootie” written for his longtime trumpet player Cootie Williams to take a featured solo. 

Frank Zappa did something similar. For instance, it’s unimaginable to attempt to mentally subtract what xylophonist‎ Ruth Underwood added to his demanding mid-period music. Or trombonist Bruce Fowler. Have a listen to Sleep Dirt‘s (or Läther‘s if you prefer) “Regyptian Strut.” Fowler is playing all of the brass instruments. Listen to how incredibly slinky sounding his trombone lines are. Thrill to Underwood’s precision mallet work. 
 

 
You see what I mean? Dig how Bruce Fowler’s brass becomes one with the rhythm section. And who else has ever played the xylophone like that? I mean Frank himself is barely present on the track (he’s credited for “percussion”). How is this instrumental clearly recognizable as a Zappa composition despite Frank’s own trademark guitar (and his voice) not being anywhere near it you might ask? Well, it’s due to the particular personalities of the players involved, especially, in this case, Underwood and Fowler’s contributions. What they do is ridiculously distinctive—-it could only be them—and the sounds they make are very closely associated with Frank Zappa’s music. Almost the way actors are connected with certain roles. Think of Zappa as a director then, who would cast his band members, their individual talents simultaneously showcased in, and subsumed by, his vision.
 

 
Another example of Ruth Underwood’s incredible dexterity during “Don’t you ever wash that thing?”:
 

 
Which brings me to the mid-70s version of the Mothers of Invention in which Ruth Underwood and Bruce Fowler performed. After a tour with John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra, Zappa decided he needed to add a second drummer to his band. He hired Chester Thompson a young jazz and R&B drummer to play alongside Ralph Humphrey as well as adding Napoleon Murphy Brock’s sax and smooth vocals to the mix of keyboardist George Duke, Tom Fowler on bass, as well as Ruth Underwood and Bruce Fowler. This lineup is—more or less—featured on the albums Overnite Sensation, Apostrophe, One Size Fits All, Studio Tan, Sleep Dirt and You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore 2. For many Zappa fans, this is their favorite incarnation of the Mothers of Invention and their favorite era of Frank’s career. It’s easy to see why! Frank himself must’ve been proud of this group, too, as this is the band featured on Roxy & Elsewhere, and filmed for posterity (and later released as Roxy The Movie).

If you’re a Zappa fan who cannot get enough of his mid-70s Mothers, the latest release from the Zappa Family Trust and the Universal Music Enterprises, Halloween ‘73 is for you. The source material is two incendiary sets that were performed at Chicago’s Auditorium Theater on, no surprise here, October 31st, 1973. There’s a fourth CD of band rehearsals prior to the Chicago shows that shed additional light on the band’s abilities. At the risk of stating the obvious, this is the Roxy & Elsewhere band just a few weeks prior to the recording of that classic album. Obviously they were TIGHT but not quite as tight as they would be in a few weeks time. You can hear the band’s momentum building towards the Los Angeles concerts.

Taken from the original four-track tapes (of which only three tracks were actually used) tapped at the soundboard, Halloween ‘73 sounds exceptionally good. The four CD set comes with a full color book with essays by Ralph Murphy and Ruth Underwood and is packaged in a Halloween costume type box with the clear cellophane window displaying a “Frankenzappa” plastic mask and a pair of green rubber monster gloves (Look, I don’t pretend to know why. Maybe you’ll use it in an unanticipated Halloween costume pinch one day?) The elaborate packaging aside, the music on these four discs is primo 70s Zappa, an embarrassment of riches. As if the Chicago Halloween sets weren’t enough and you get the band rehearsals, too? Zappaologists will be stunned by this stuff.

I’ve got to hand it to the Zappa Family Trust, they are truly keeping their father’s music alive. It’s really commendable. With the quality being so very high with practically everything they’ve put out in recent years, I am all for them hurling as much product on the marketplace as it is ready to absorb. More please. When Gail Zappa was still living I think her strict fealty to her husband’s art would have prevented a lot of this stuff coming out. There’s a new excitement around Frank Zappa’s music that can only be ascribed to the hefty crop of ZFT releases we’ve seen of late and  Alex Winter’s much awaited Frank doc is going to fan the flames of that even more.
 

 
Listen below as Frank introduces the band and tries to embarass Ruth Underwood as the band hits the stage for the first of their two shows in Chicago on Halloween night, 1973.