HOT RATS

One of the first jazz-rock albums it's a fantastic masterpiece. I like to say it's inhuman to dislike even one second from Hot Rats. The fresh air which explode from the first chords and a sentiment of madness will lay upon you at the end. Zappa is not only a multiinstrumentist but also the producer and the arranger. The entire music depend on his way of been. Hot Rats it's well balanced, every song have his touch and like an whole the sum is something very compact. On Peaches En Regalia we hear an exotic sax play, an example of free modern jazz. Willie The Pimp have the rebel artist Captain Beefheart on voice, and a lead guitar which lead the rhythmic section aggressively. No wonder why this disc is so influentially! All that distortions were so originals. The most complex song is Son Of Mr Green Genes, maybe because is a re-working of Mr. Green Genes from Uncle Meat, so based on his old composition, Zappa put together new ideas to upgrade it. Keyboard and horn by Ian Underwood on Little Umbrellas. The short tune have a happy mood, been some kind of classic jazz sax work but placed in the present of Zappa. The Gumbo Variations it's chaotic, and the experimental nature of variations built a only-studio work. Jean- Luc Ponty appear on It Must Be A Camel, and for me this tell a lot about the jazz-rock oriented album.

We are in 1969 and we faced a great change in musical world. Jazz and rock are finally in fusion, speaking about a mainstream world, and if Miles Davis put rock to jazz, Zappa is the one who put jazz to rock. Canterbury Scene is placed somewhere in the middle.