Frank Zappa. Start behind the drums, guitarist becomes sublime, distinctive personality, composer, conductor; he write avant-garde music, stupid songs and experimental. In 1966 he made "Freak Out", the first "concept album" of rock music, the first double-lp; career mixing all genre, before fusion, before crossover. And even before "Freak Out", on March 14 1963 to show part of Steve Allen and there, with an orchestra jazz in the background, "plays" a bicycle (a Schwinn, for fans, borrowed from his sister Candy). The sounds are produced by blowing the handlebars, pedals running plucked rays as harp or playing it with a bow.
It's interesting that he had asked repeatetly to participate in the show presenting his jazz compositions, but only when propose to play "Cyclophony" Steve Allen showed some interest.
Here's how to remember the events organizer of the show:
... I got a call from a young man who identified himself as Frank Zappa. He said he wanted to teach Steve (Allen) how to “blow bicycle.” “Blow bicycle,” I repeated.
“Yeah, you know, like, the bicycle is a musical instrument.”
(…) I asked Frank to come in and a couple of days later he arrived with his old Schwinn. He was wearing a black suit (all three buttons buttoned), a white shirt, and a black knit tie. Still in his early 20s—and years before he became a pop music icon who bridged the gap between classical music and rock—he looked like a small town bank teller trainee. He put his bike on its kick-stand in the lobby of the Hollywood theater where we video taped the show and plucked the spokes as if they were the strings of a harp, pitter-pattered on the seat as if it were Buddy Rich’s tom-tom, and, removing the hand-grips, blew across the hollow chrome handle bars, creating the sounds of a wind instrument. He then played a short, improvisational piece and upon its completion, stood waiting for my reaction.
I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding,” I said.
“You didn’t like it?” he said, seeming genuinely wounded. “I can play another song.”
more
The show:
part one:
http://it.sevenload.com/video/v1OpHOs-Frank-Zappa-on-the-Steve-Allen-Show-Part-One-1963
part two:
http://it.sevenload.com/video/p9GHKiV-Frank-Zappa-on-the-Steve-Allen-Show-Part-Two-1963
It's interesting that he had asked repeatetly to participate in the show presenting his jazz compositions, but only when propose to play "Cyclophony" Steve Allen showed some interest.
Here's how to remember the events organizer of the show:
... I got a call from a young man who identified himself as Frank Zappa. He said he wanted to teach Steve (Allen) how to “blow bicycle.” “Blow bicycle,” I repeated.
“Yeah, you know, like, the bicycle is a musical instrument.”
(…) I asked Frank to come in and a couple of days later he arrived with his old Schwinn. He was wearing a black suit (all three buttons buttoned), a white shirt, and a black knit tie. Still in his early 20s—and years before he became a pop music icon who bridged the gap between classical music and rock—he looked like a small town bank teller trainee. He put his bike on its kick-stand in the lobby of the Hollywood theater where we video taped the show and plucked the spokes as if they were the strings of a harp, pitter-pattered on the seat as if it were Buddy Rich’s tom-tom, and, removing the hand-grips, blew across the hollow chrome handle bars, creating the sounds of a wind instrument. He then played a short, improvisational piece and upon its completion, stood waiting for my reaction.
I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding,” I said.
“You didn’t like it?” he said, seeming genuinely wounded. “I can play another song.”
more
The show:
part one:
http://it.sevenload.com/video/v1OpHOs-Frank-Zappa-on-the-Steve-Allen-Show-Part-One-1963
part two:
http://it.sevenload.com/video/p9GHKiV-Frank-Zappa-on-the-Steve-Allen-Show-Part-Two-1963
No comments:
Post a Comment