Zappa Kick

[Mister Triscuits]

Frank joined *their* band, turned it into his compositional tool (while supposedly incorporating some of their ideas),

OTOH, some of them had a slightly inflated idea of the nature of their contributions. Jimmy Carl Black complains more than once in his book about not getting a writing credit or royalties for saying "Hi, boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group." (He has a somewhat better case for "If We'd All Been Living in California.")

[Baribrotzer]

Apparently, Ellington did something similar. He kept his band on the road and paid them well, but took entire credit for an awful lot of work that was really collaborative. I recently read an account of him working with them: He put some fairly simple harmony parts in front of several of the sax section, then verbally told Johnny Hodges and a couple of the other horn players what kind of lines and what kind of feel he wanted in the melodies over and under them. For them, he didn't write out a note.

[Reid]

Apparently, Ellington did something similar. He kept his band on the road and paid them well, but took entire credit for an awful lot of work that was really collaborative.

And Ellington had Irving Mills claiming co-composer credit and siphoning off 50% of the profits.

[Zeuhlmate]

Norske Blåseensemble plays Frank Zappa

[Baribrotzer]

Norske Blåseensemble plays Frank Zappa

Very enjoyable. One thing I've realized more and more: Frank was a jazz composer. Not really a jazz musician - although some of his band members were - but definitely a jazz composer. His habit of constantly redoing his own material, his writing for specific players, his love of the blues, the conducted improvisations he did with some of his longer-term bands, his willingness to work without a net if the musicians were up to it - you never see that sort of thing in the classical world, it's rare in rock or pop, but Ellington and Mingus did it all the time. And I think that's how he'll be remembered: as one of the leading jazz composers of the Sixties and Seventies, and possibly as the leading figure of that time in that idiom.

[Blah_Blah_Woof_Woof]

I came across a blurb online that said Frank Zappa was banned from Saturday Night Live because he made note that they used cue cards and did not get along well with the cast because of his anti-drug stance. Only John Belushi would stand next to him at the end of the show. Ironically, and hypocritically, Cypress Hill was banned for lighting up a joint on the show. (Lorne does not approve of 'improv' or deviating from the script). I remember how excited I was to see Frank on national TV.

[Baribrotzer]

And Ellington had Irving Mills claiming co-composer credit and siphoning off 50% of the profits.

Although, from what I've read, he also gave Mills a great deal of credit for winning him the prominence he enjoyed. At the time, no other African-American musician had been positioned in the market as a major artist in the way Duke was. He apparently wasn't happy about Mills's theft - which I think often involved writing his own lyrics to the published versions of instrumental compositions, and thus actually being "entitled" to that 50% - but he put up with it. Of course, Duke was such a smoothie it was very hard to tell exactly what he thought of anything.