LITTLE DOTS

This is the companion piece to Imaginary Diseases, and like that release offers a selection of recordings from the so-called "Petit Wazoo" tour of late 1972. Following the earlier "Grand Wazoo" concerts with a band of 20 musicians conducted by Zappa (who also contributed guitar), the Petit Wazoo segment of the 1972 tour trimmed the numbers back to a leaner but still fairly expansive 10, but the tighter lineup is still able to convey a big, impressive sound.

The opening number is an early pass on Cosmik Debris, which would later get a studio release on Apostrophe, and perhaps this is the hidden key to what was going on with the Petit Wazoo - Zappa was using it to find a means of attaining something like the polished, ornate sound of The Grand Wazoo (and Hot Rats, which via Waka/Jawaka was the immediate inspiration for the Grand Wazoo era) within the confines of a manageable band lineup. From there on out we get into stranger territory, but it's never less than compelling.

Within a few months after these gigs, not only would Zappa feel able to do full rock band-style tours (the Grand and Petit Wazoo tours were constructed in part to allow Zappa to sit down when he needed to, since he wasn't yet fully steady on his feet after his injuries of December 1971) but he'd also have put together a new incarnation of the Mothers and begin the run of albums which, starting with Over-Nite Sensation, really updated his sound for the mid-1970s and added a level of precision and technicality that prior backing bands had struggled to attain. The road there leads through here, and Little Dots illustrates this nicely, as well as being a fine listen in its own right.