THE GRAND WAZOO

After having dissolved the Mothers of Invention, Zappa is back inspired with a series of records that bring to maturity his fusion of rock with jazz and classical music.

In The Grand Wazoo Zappa decides to be the director of an orchestra of about 20 elements that churns out one of the most heterogeneous jam fusion in the history of rock.

Side A

1. For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers) (6:06) It's a sleepy slow-motion demential song. This is one of Zappa's masterpieces, enhanced by the vocals of Sal Marquez and Janet Neville-Ferguson. It is a very relaxed dissonant grotesque piece, driven by the trumpet and the trombone, which tends to slow down more and more in a ramshackle way, until it almost stops around three minutes. Then comes a cacophonous piece, a little clever (in this record the production sometimes exceeds the inspiration). It's a pity that the vocals don't return in the finale. Rated 8.5.

2. The Grand Wazoo (13:20) The mini-suite The Grand Wazoo, in fact instrumental, offers a fluid, magmatic and flowing jam music with a blues guitar a fiatistic big band that crosses retro themes with exotic and Latin rhythms. The trombone solo emerges above a very lively funky rhythm (Dunbar plays with great inventiveness), followed by a phase of dissonance and then another solo of a wind instrument. Towards 10 minutes the rhythm returns to the syncopation as at the beginning and the piece closes more or less as it began. In fact it is a blues-jam with variations on the theme that range towards other styles. It lacks a climax, but it remains remarkable. Rated 8+.

Side B

3. Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus (2:57) Dedicated to a phantom emperor of funk, it is a short instrumental, band piece, characterized by the winds, sometimes distorted, by the jazz liquid piano, and by changes in rhythm and atmosphere. The mood, however, is the festive one of a goliardic party with a refrain that is a recurring musical motif alternating with variations on the theme. There is also a hint of a choir, unfortunately not developed. Notable piece 8+.

4. Eat That Question (6:42) It is the most bluesy and aggressive piece on the album, starting with Duke's keyboards and continuing alternating Zappa's guitar with horns. After a break in the middle it resumes his rhythm, which is always pleasant. Rated 8.

5. Blessed Relief (8:00) It is a slow, nocturnal jam characterized by a jazzy piano and trumpet. Liquid piano, but maybe it's the background because the bass and the drums perform some remarkable jazz phrasing, then comes Zappa's guitar. In the ending, the winds regain control of the piece. Rated 8+.

Total Time: 37:03

The Grand Wazoo is a predominantly instrumental disc of jazz-blues-rock fusion that is characterized by the orchestral arrangement, largely fiatistic that produces a hybrid with big bands and allows you to brush a great variety of themes (in this sense, this jam-blues album reach a prog dimension). It has the advantage of always being smooth, of having a perfect sound and a refined arrangement played by virtuoso instrumentalists. It is a masterpiece where the whole counts more than the single pieces, all notable although none exactly memorable in an absolute sense.

Rated 9+. Five Stars.