THE LAST BLUE SKY (STEVE FOWLER)

Steve Fowler is one of the two Fowler brothers (the other was Ed) to not appear on a Frank Zappa album. But from this release, I wonder why this was so. Here, Steve shows to be every bit as talented as his brothers. Perhaps Frank didn't have much use for flute in his compositions.

With all but two of the tracks written by Steve, the music on this album is primarily fusion, unlike the more big band oriented released under brother Bruce's and The Fowler Brothers monnikers. And the fusion is quite good. While using the flute as the primary instrument can often cause a bit too much lightness, Steve manages to curtail this by having quite a few interesting twists and turns to his music.

However good his compositions are, the best songs on the album were written by other brothers. Ed contributed In The Drums, a song that seems like it's going to be a simple samba, except it kepps veering into Zappa-like interludes. And Bruce wrote, May I See Your Cotangent Bundle, Please, which features Ed Mann on percussion.

Zappaphiles should note that aside from Fowlers Bruce, Walt and Tom, the album also features Chester Thompson on drums and Albert Wing on tenor sax. Mike Miller, who played with many Zappa alumni in Banned From Utopia, is also on this album.