Frank Zappa - Waka Jawaka
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Free Music Notes for Waka Jawaka
Free Music Review: One Of Zappas Best Albums Ever!
Hit: 5 Stars
Frnak Zappa-Waka/Jawaka *****
I just want to start off by saying I love Frank Zappa. The man was a genius, there was no style of music the man didnt make at one time or another and he did them all brilliantly. While he has ventured into all teritorys of music he still can't be placed into a genra of his own. The ever changing chamillion of music finds himself here making a Big band and swing album, but not just any bug band and swing album, "THE" big band and swing album.
For Waka/Jawaka brought in a phenomonal horn players, well what else would you expect you have to be the best ot play with Frank Zappa. And while I love this album I was shocked to find then many others did as well. Big band isnt really something people listen to anymore, I know I dont but for some reason I feel that this is a fantastic album, infact it is one of my all tiem favorites from the man himself. But I didnt think many otehrs would share my passion for this album, but then I saw that it has a four and a half star rating and so it should, it's a masterpiece.
'Your Mouth' and 'It Just Might Be A One Shot Deal' are the only two songs on the record with lyrics and they are great songs. 'It Just Might Be A One Shot Deal' is amazing, the trumpet is out of this world. 'Your Mouth' has some humorous lyrics and is actually a really good song when you jsut listen to the music and the lyrics are good when you want a good laugh.
The two instrumentals 'Big Swift' and the awesome title track 'Waka/Jawaka' are both great. The album starts out on top with 'Big Swifty' which is one of the very bets songs that Frank Zappa ever wrote and recorded. It is easily one of my all time favorites. Much like the albums starts out on top it really goes out with a bang. The amazing title track 'Waka/Jawaka' is classic. One of the best compositions ever recorded in the history of music.
So while I am usualy and fan of guitar driven music and since that is the soul reason why I got into Frank Zappa in the first place I never thought I would like this album. I eventualy gave it a try and fell in love with it at my very first listen. This is a fantastic album with superb musicianship. You will never find this album in a record store, trust me I searched and searched, it's not there. You can only order it off the internet, so please, please do you wount be sorry, this is an amazing record that needs to be heard by all. For anyone who was willing to even look at this album and read this review then by the album I recomend it to you and you wount be dissapointed.
Free Music Review: All That Brass!
Hit: 5 Stars
Although I had heard "Freak Out," "We're Only in it for the Money," "Just Another Band From L.A." and several other Mothers albums, this - along with "Hot Rats" - was the first Zappa album I ever purchased. I was a trumpet player and this recording had a lot of horns, played primarily by Sal Marquez, so, for a 16 year old looking for cool music for horns, this was the album. "Big Swifty" takes the entire Side One of the album, something I hadn't heard in rock music up to that time. On the other hand, this recording was so far beyond the "progressive" rock bands of the day; others began to play catch up with Zappa.
Listen to the guitar solo in "Big Swifty" with Sal Marquez's muted counterpoint scratching just beneath the guitar, and it is really apparent Zappa was the preeminent composer of the day. The rhythm section of Erroneous on bass, Aynsley Dunbar on drums and George Duke on electric piano keep the piece on a single track without becoming monotonous metronomes; indeed, as others have stated, Dunbar gives a clinic in polyrhythmic percussion. Back in the day, people were talking about Bill Bruford and Ginger Baker - both great percussionists - but Dunbar was the real cutting edge of the drum kit.
The next three songs need to be listened to in succession, from "Your Mouth" to "It Just Might Be a One Shot Deal" to the title track, "Waka Jawaka," which, after 34 years, still stands as my all time favorite Zappa recording. All that brass! The pedal steel guitar solo (Sneaky Pete Kleinow) in "It Just Might Be a One Shot Deal" is one of the more awesome moments in Zappa music, not just for the solo, but the backing music as well. But once you get to "Waka Jawaka," you're taken on a totally different trip, yet, it seems like the logical extension of the preceding song. All that brass - and a Don Preston Moog solo to boot.
Most of the other reviewers speak of this and "Grand Wazoo" in the same vein, which is stylistically accurate, but when I listen to this, I almost always listen to "Sleep Dirt," "Orchestral Favorites" or "Studio Tan" as well, three later albums that have Zappa dipping deep into his instrumental bag, but in a very different direction.
Truly, one of Zappa's greatest recordings. Buy this one.
Free Music Review: Very Difficult To Pin Down
Hit: 5 Stars
This is one of the "Big Band" records of the early 70's, very jazzy. The "Vaudville Era" had recently ended, tragically, with the unhappy "fan" from the Rainbow Theater's audience rushing the stage and physically attacking Frank Zappa, leaving him with lasting injuries, a year's inconvenience, and medical problems for the rest of his life. A year in jail wasn't enough for this guy, but it did bring in the next phase of FZ's catalogue. Of course, there were some people from before who kept it going, Don Preston, George Duke, and Aynsley Dunbar, all from the days of "The Mothers," but this isn't a record by The Mothers. It is, of course, a crossover project, traditional big-band jazz, with a hard edge found in more popular music, but not really a rock recording.
"Big Swifty" is an extended jam, made up of mostly free improv, but with the some of the most incredible, intricately crafted, tightly played arrangements in the whole Zappa catalogue, even more so, considering the size of the band at this point. And here, one can see, Zappa, as a guitarist, was chiefly a jazz player. "Your Mouth" is somewhat silly and preachy, filler by some standards, but, as usual in this music, a little concentrated listening will show there was, of course, more work involved than what's on the surface. The same can be said of "It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal," a surreal, goofy, off-key sing-along style song with a beautiful pedal steel solo by "Sneaky Pete."
And of course, the title track, "Waka/Jawaka," is purely big-band jazz for it's own sake. The assembled players work together as a unit, with plenty of room to do what they do well, and that's to play the music in front of them, as well as letting it fly when the time comes.
"Waka/Jawaka" is a 180 degree turn from what was being performed and recorded for the previous two years, and some would call this a welcome change. But it really is a shame how it all came about, in a path of petulance from band members, production hassles, morons who think they know how to handle pyrotechnics, and loose cannons with violent tempers.
But a pretty good effort, nonetheless.
Free Music Review: zappa shines again
Hit: 5 Stars
Some VERY good jams are featured on this Frank Zappa masterpiece. So much creativity was involved in making these jams, and such special attention to make sure the listener is satisfied the entire way, that I'm completely at a loss for words when I hear the 20 minute "Big Swifty" jam. MAN is that some good stuff!
Let's talk more about "Big Swifty", since it takes up half the album. The first minute or so is some typical heavy fast-paced jazzy goofiness, which is what we've come to expect from Zappa. Then we get serious in a hurry, and these AWESOME keyboard swirls come in and this is probably my favorite part of the entire instrumental jam. Jazzy, melodic, and wonderful.
Around the six minute mark some of Zappa's very best guitar playing can be heard. These are NO ordinary guitar solos- they are played in such a way that demands the listener pay close attention to the different melodic ideas that constantly shift around. This is the kind of music that's so good it's IMPOSSIBLE to explain in words.
10 minutes in, everything changes again, and now we're treated to some Allman Brothers-like guitar jamming and it's really freakin' awesome. This is some of the most challenging stuff I've ever heard Zappa do (yes, even more challenging than the "Gumbo Variations").
I can't remember much about the last five minutes or so- the music is so challenging that I haven't been able to focus on the final few minutes at the moment, even after hearing the song 20 times so far!
Waka/Jawaka is just a highly experimental album with jazzy influences and I totally agree with the people who believe it's Hot Rats Part II. It feels so much like a continuation from that classic album. Frank Zappa is a musical genius, and here's your proof. The only complaint is that it's a pretty short album overall. Still, it's worth the price. In fact, it's worth a lot, because it's an album I believe I will be playing 20 years from now.
Free Music Review: Waka Jawaka is the best (just after Wazoo)!
Hit: 5 Stars
Waka Jawaka, the tune is Zappa. As Big swifty equally is of course. Take a brief listening to these tunes. You will find that awkward (but extremely beautiful) sense of melody that is completly his own. The very start of these tunes. Those melodies, that unique sense of orchestration.. That is Zappa, at least to me. Zappa of course was a kaleidoscopic, complex and quite unique figure and his musical universe is the perfect representation of his mind and very wide creativity. So saying that he was just "this thing" (instrumental jazz fusion) would be going far away from the reality. But I mean that these tunes where Zappa fused jazz, with instrumental rock and with his own sense of melody are to me what will remain of his musical legacy. Certainly not his weird sense of grotesque and irony (that is delightful sometimes, awful others), his lyrics which by the way were very often been related to the strictly contemporary issues ... so the present was their time, not the future. Music instead is eternal if it's beautiful! And when Zappa wrote instrumental music he was always right, his music is always beautiful if not sublime! This to say that I really love this album and his perfect companion The Grand Wazoo, probably his overall best works (but I don't own his complete discography). Anyway Zappa was a true musical genius. This almost full instrumental album is extremely lovely, just a little step behind the Wazoo in my polls (and even after the marvellous Hot rats probably). Yes Frank, music is the best! Waka Jawaka is music! WJ is the best!