THE GRANDE MOTHERS

Signal To Noise Magazine Review January 31, 2004

It's been a slow process, but Frank Zappa's legacy is gradually emerging from the tight grip of a handful of obsessionals, and becoming something which people who like live music might enjoy, and glorious it sounds too. The Zappa Family Trust put their official spotlight on prestigious events such as the London performances of Thing-Fish in August 2003, or the Ensemble Modern's recent staging of "Greggery Peccary", but ex-Zappa alumni (and others musicians touched by Zappa's confront-all universalism) continue to uncork his vintage scintillation's.

Hearing Zappa in this kind of context, the Grande Mothers - demonstrate just how special Zappa's songs are. Never written to a formula, each one presents a musical idea with a specific challenge for an ensemble. If there is a Thelonious Monk in the field of rock it's Zappa. Napoleon Murphy Brock (FZ alumnus 1973 - 1976) is an engaging frontman, bubbling with jokes and bonhomie and messages for the sound mixer.

When the set began with "Florentine Pogen" from One Size Fits All (1975), it was evident straight away that the band was on top of the material. "Florentine" sounds like it was written for Brock's peculiarly elastic voice, and it was a thrill to observe the way his pleading lines invite the purple power chords of the tune.

When the Grande Mothers began operations in 1982, they were simply the ex-Mothers of Invention playing Zappa's tunes. There was a joyful sense of collective liberation from his draconian leadership, but also a certain lack of rhythmic focus. Ken Rosser (guitar) and Christopher Garcia (drums) bring in a precision and sparkle that is distinctly un-60's, almost post Metal. However, keyboardist Don Preston (FZ alumnus 1966-1969, 1974) brought in a magisterial sense of tempo (Zappa's tunes have built in climaxes, they aren't helped by being rushed.)

Seeing Roy Estrada (FZ alumnus 1964-1969, 1975-76) back on stage was likewise a buzz. This reclusive bass player was not only a founding member of the Mothers of Invention, but played with Captain Beefheart (under the name Orejon) on the freak funk classic Clear Spot,(1972) and was an original member of Little Feat- thus triangulating the three greatest West Coast rock bands of all time. He can still unleash the cod operatic caterwaul vocals made famous on Weasels Ripped My Flesh, and his free-form freak-outs, with Preston extracting booms and burbles from his keyboards, were priceless.

When was the last time you watched some "Free Improvisation" with everyone around you cracking up? Yet Zappa's compositions do call for attention and reflection in their own right. Rosser's guitar reached its apogee on "Andy", Zappa's staggering alchemy of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's blues funk and Edgard Varese's cosmo-erotic abstraction. Garcia's drum-solo rendition of "Uncle Meat" caused jaws to drop and Preston invoked the primal impulses of freakdom by reciting "Neon Meat Dreame of an Octafish" and "Evelyn, the modified dog" in the midst of Big Swifty.

In a sequence of songs from Were Only In It For The Money (recorded long before Brock joined Zappa) Brock followed Zappa's own 70's reinterpretations, but also confronted us with the song's biting politics and social commentary. On "Montana" the sheer lunacy of Zappa's autosexual silliness had us all laughing despite ourselves. However, this move towards actual progressive music - away from the "looks-like" fetishism of hi-tech equipment and minimal styling - can only benefit from the doses of heavy musical value prescribed by bands like the Grande Mothers.