WAKA / JAWAKA

Unable to tour due to injuries caused by a fan shoving him offstage during the ill-fated final tour with the Flo and Eddie lineup of the Mothers, Zappa spent a couple of months during his recuperation indulging a fascinating experiment in fusion - taking fusion-based compositional ideas as developed during the Hot Rats session, and applying them not to a rock group-sized band as most fusion artists were doing at a time, but to a "big band" lineup reminiscent of the larger jazz groups of bygone years.

The Grand Wazoo big band yielded two albums, of which this is one, and fans of Zappa's Hot Rats work - featuring minimal lyrics and complex, interwoven soloing between instruments - will find a lot to like here, and whilst it isn't quite the groundbreakingly innovative piece that Hot Rats was, it's certainly a great contribution to the genre. Try Hot Rats first, but give this a go if you liked it.