TEN CENTER - WHY CAN'T I PLAY IT ?

• ten center: why can't i play it
      (1995, k7, usa, private release)

This release had been on my list for quite a number of years. OK, so I wasn't able to locate an original copy of the cassette, but I did find the digital version and all of the info that I needed for the United Mutations Archives.

From 1995 and only five tracks, but Ten Center (featuring Russ Stedman) does cover Frank Zappa's 'Go Cry On Somebody Else's Shoulder' !!

TEN CENTER - SNAZZED OUTTA YER DRAWERS

• ten center: snazzed outta yer drawers
      (1995, k7, usa, private release)

Ten Center was Russ Stedman (guitar, vocals), Michael Myers (drums, vocals) and Aric Pringle (bass, vocals).
Uncompromising rock. Sounds great.
"Snazzed Outta yer Drawers" got released on cassette in 1995. It has been made available in a digital format very recently.

On Autoreverstoinfinity,
https://autoreversetoinfinity.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/interview-russ-stedman-epic/
Russ Stedman adds:

Ten Center (1995-1996) – The first “real band” I was in. Played about 50% my originals and 50% covers so obscure that no one probably knew the difference. We played a ton of shows, but no one ever liked us or came to see us because we weren’t alt-country, which was the big trend in town at the time.

ISHRAQIYUN - PERICHORESIS

• ishraqiyun: perichoresis
      (2014, cd, usa, mimicry)

Ishraqiyun is (one of) Trey Spruance's project within Secret Chiefs 3.
In the mood for an oriental and microtonal escapade ? Try Perichoresis !

MICHAEL KENYON SEIZURE - PLANET OF THE STARS / PINK FLOYD TOUR BOOK

• the michael kenyon seizure: planet of the stars / pink floyd tour book
      (1995, k7, usa, private release)

Russ Stedman's Michael Kenyon Seizure project released this Pink Floyd tribute in 1995.
Psychedelic stuff, including tapes being playing backwards...
Adding data to the United Mutations Archives while I'm enjoying this.

RUSS STEDMAN - ORCHESTRAL FAKES

• russ stedman: orchestral fakes
      (1995, cdr, usa, private release)

"Orchestral Fakes" presents 11 sequencer pieces, composed by Russ Stedman.
Originally released in 1995, the album has been made available on Bandcamp a little while ago.

THE MICHAEL KENYON SEIZURE - S/T

• the michael kenyon seizure: the michael kenyon seizure
      (1993, k7, usa, private release)

The Michael Kenyon Seizure is non other than guitarist, composer and Do It Yourself artists Russ Stedman.
This 1993 cassette release might well have been the first release by The Michael Kenyon Seizure.

The K7 (cassette) has Russ playing guitar over various audio fragments. Mostly of people talking.
As the K7 cover suggests, a couple of these fragments are samples of Frank Zappa. One of those is FZ saying that there is no 'obscene' music. There's at least one musical snippet as well.

Very recently, this release has been made available in a digital format.
Check it out !

THE FIDO UPDATE

Fido Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa,
and will be doing two more shows this year :

Nov 27, 2017 at Wheit Rabbit in Freiburg, Germany

Dec 1, 2017 at Atlantis in Basel, Switzerland
feat. Renate Knaup (Amon Düül II)
The show will be recorded for a future CD-release

KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD

The latest album by King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, "Polygwondanaland", has been made available for free by the band.

"This album is FREE. Free as in, free. Free to download and if you wish, free to make copies. Make tapes, make CD’s, make records."

Not only can it be download for free, the band encourages everyone to make copies, to distribute, or even make CD and/or vinyl copies.
All the material that you need can be found on the website.

http://kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com/

I'm listening to the .wav download and I like what I hear.

There's a kickstarter campaign running for vinyl copies and at least one label has announced a CD release...
Check out :
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/howlinwolf/king-gizzard-andthe-lizard-wizard-polygondwanaland




-- info: Philippe Lamoot

PHOENICIAN DRIVE - DEMOS

• phoenician drive: demos
      (2016, download, bel, bandcamp)

Brussels-based sexted Phoenician Drive has two released out on Bandcamp.
The first one is from 2016 and is entitled "Demos".
If you like rock music with Eastern, North African and Mediterranean influences (think Secrets Chiefs 3), you most definitely have to check this out !!


-- info: Philippe Lamoot

PANZERBALLETT - X-MAS DEATH JAZZ

• panzerballett: x-mas death jazz
      (2017, cd, ger, gentle art of music)

To be honest, I'm quite fond of christmas music mutations. Take Vince Guaraldi's jazz approach in "A Charlie Brown Christmas", or the Steve Vai compiled "Merry Axemas" albums where various guitar players do classic christmas tunes.
And now there's "X-Mas Death Jazz" where a fine selections of Christmas songs get the Panzerballett treatment. Arranged by (guitarist and composer) Jan Zehrfeld and performed by Jan Zehrfeld, Sebastian Lanser, Heiko Jung, Alexander von Hagke and Joe Doblhofer.
I love it.

Special guests include two of my musical heroes : Mattias 'IA' Eklundh who adds vocals and a number of fine guitar solos, and Mike Keneally who does some great vocals on 'Let It Snow'.

Brilliant !!

I loved the idea of a "X-Mas Death Jazz" album when I first heard about it, and I love the final result even more.

http://www.panzerballett.de/

LISA POPEIL ON CKCUFM RADIO ON NOVEMBER 29

Pure Radio Kaos will feature an interiew with Lisa Popeil, who performed and recorded with Frank Zappa in the early eighties.

29 november - 15:30 EST
www.ckcufm.com

KING CRIMSON TO TOUR YURRIP IN 2018

With three drummers, Pat Mastelotto, Gavin Harrison and Jeremy Stacey, as well as the return of multi-instrumentalist Bill Rieflin on keyboards, guitarist and original founding member, Robert Fripp states that this “double quartet formation” is likely to make more noise than ever before. Rounding out the eight piece line-up are guitarist and vocalist Jakko Jakszyk, long-time bassist Tony Levin, and saxophonist and flautist Mel Collins, who was a mainstay of Crim from 1970-1972. The band’s packed three-hour shows draw on material from all periods of their history, including six historic tracks that Crimson have never played live before, as well as new arrangements of Crimson classics – “the music is new whenever it was written” – and, of course, a healthy dose of new material, including the compositions for three drummers, which are a regular highlight.

King Crimson 2018 European tour dates:

13th June Poznan, Poland Earth Hall
14th June Poznan, Poland Earth Hall
16th June Krakow, Poland ICE Congress Hall
17th June Krakow, Poland ICE Congress Hall
18th June Krakow, Poland ICE Congress Hall
20th June Essen, Germany Lichtburg
23rd June Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
24th June Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
26th June Prague, Czech Republic Forum Karlin
27th June Prague, Czech Republic Forum Karlin
1st July Berlin, Germany Admiralspalast
5th July Stockholm, Sweden Cirkus
6th July Stockholm, Sweden Cirkus
8th July Oslo, Norway Sentrum Scene
9th July Oslo, Norway Sentrum Scene
10th July Oslo, Norway Sentrum Scene
13th July Amsterdam, The Netherlands Concertgebouw
16th July Munich, Germany Philharmonie
19th July Pompeii, Italy Teatro Grande
20th July Pompeii, Italy Teatro Grande
22nd July Rome, Italy Auditorium Cavea
23rd July Rome, Italy Auditorium Cavea
25th July Lucca, Italy Piazza Napoleone
27th July Venice, Italy Teatro La Fenice
28th July Venice, Italy Teatro La Fenice
29th Oct Bournemouth, UK Pavilion Theatre
31st Oct Cardiff, UK St Davids
2nd Nov London, UK Palladium
6th Nov Birmingham, UK Symphony Hall
9th Nov Manchester, UK Bridgewater Hall
12th Nov Glasgow, UK Royal Concert Hall
15th Nov Paris, France L’Olympia
16th Nov Paris, France L’Olympia

THE INSIDIOUS RAYS - MORE SONGS ABOUT SEX, LOVE, DEATH AND SEX

• insidious rays: more songs about sex, love, death & sex
      (2003, cd, usa, insidious music)

Matt Juknevic's Insidious Rays recorded their first album in 2003. The band was based in Bethlehem, PA, and featured David Johnson on bass, who at the time was also playing Frank Zappa's music with Project/Object.
Special guest on lead guitar on one of the tracks on "More Songs About..." is none other than Robbie 'Seahag' Mangano, who was also part of Project/Object...

The band recorded a second album in 2005 and released another album (with another line-up)  in 2015.

I don't know when the below clip got recorded, but it looks like the band also had Frank Zappa's 'Magic Fingers' on their setlist.

BONDAGE FRUIT - VI

• bondage fruit: VI
      (2005, cd, japan, maboroshi no sekai)

Hirohiko Otsubo's Bondag Fruit released six albums between 1994 and 2005.
Their latest (last?) album, "VI", which got released a bit over ten years ago, is a superb modern jazz release.
Guitar, bass, drums, violin, marimba.
It's great to hear how the band transformed from Zeuhl offspring on their first album, over more experimental stuff on their latest albums, to this excellent modern jazz.

Love it.
Those who want to hear more of Hirohiko Otsubo should check out early Korekyojinn or Kazutoki Umezu Kiki Band.

DWEEZIL ZAPPA ON DUTCH NATIONAL TV

Dweezil Zappa will play G-Spot Tornado tomorrow 26/11 in Podium Witteman at 18.05 on NPO 2!

Sunday 26 nov 18:05 • NTR • 60 min
With Peter Brunt, Didier Lockwood, Dweezil Zappa, het Nieuw Amsterdams Klarinet Kwartet and Fuse.

-- info : Aad Meijer

THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND - THE ADVENTURES OF ZODD ZUNDGREN

• the ed palermo big band: the adventures of zodd zundgren
      (2017, cd, usa, cuneiform records)

Quality assured when Ed Palermo releases a new album.
On "The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren" Ed pays tribute to two of his musical heroes: Frank Zappa and Todd Rundgren.
I just keep on playing this album. It's great.

I'm not that familiar with the music of Todd Rundgren, but this might just be one of the most impressive introductions that one could get.

Love it.
Out on Cuneiform.
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

Bought my copy at Mandaï.
www.mandai.be

BONDAGE FRUIT - IV

• bondage fruit: IV
      (1999, cd, japan, maboroshi no sekai)

There's nothing wrong with some Bondage Fruit.
Album number 4, aptly called "IV".
Bizarre artwork and great music.

Intense.
Incorporating blues and world music elements.
Love it.
Data have been added to the United Mutations Archives.

BONDAGE FRUIT - SELECTED

• bondage fruit: selected
      (1999, cd, japan, pangea)

The Japanese Pangea record label released this Bondage Fruit compilation album in 1999, the same year that the Maboroshi No Sekai label released the fourth album by Bondage Fruit.
Five tracks, taken from the first three albums.

No new material, but pretty exciting music.
Data has been added to the United Mutations Archives.

ABSOLUTELY FREE, NOT

The 2LP reissue of Absolutely Free has some bonus stuff, a copy of the original booklet, and a laser etching on side four.

Unfortunately, lots of (all ?) copies, like mine, have a white label on side four, ruining the etching.
Futhermore, the booklet has the pages in the wrong order.
Talking about a mess...

THE HALLOWEEN 77 BOX UPDATE

Track 15 on Show #2 from Frank Zappa's The Haloween 77 Box has an error.
There's two or three seconds somewhere in the track that are repeated, making the track two or three seconds longe than it should be.

Those of us / of you who bought the box directly through Zappa dot com will receive a message with a link to a download of the correct track.

GERARDO TRIPOLI

Musa Fusa guitar player (and composer) Gerardo Tripoli plays a Frank Zappa inspired guitar solo.

MISSING PERSONS - LIVE IN NEW YORK 1981

• missing persons: live in new york 1981
      (2017, cd, ??, air cuts) 

It looks like a radio broacast of a Missing Persons' concert found its way to a CD-release.
"Live In New York 1981".
Semi-official release on the Air Cuts record label.
Missing Persons = Dale Bozzio, Warren Cuccurullo and Terry Bozzio

-- info: Danny Mathys

DIMITRI VERHULST / CORRIE VAN BINSBERGEN - GODVERDOMSE DAGEN OP EEN GODVERDOMSE BOL

• dimitri verhulst / corrie van binsbergen: godverdomse dagen op een godverdomse bol
      (2017, lp, nl, rubinstein)

Writer Dimitri Verhulst plus ten musicians, lead by guitar player and composer Corrie van Binsbergen who took care of the soundtrack.
I was very happy to attend the concert in Herentals a little while ago. Nice. Very nice.
Released on vinyl.

If you're able to attend one of these concerts, don't hesitate.

20/11/2017 - 20:15 @ de kleine komedie, amsterdam, NL
22/11/2017 - 20:30 @ theater de vest, alkmaar, NL
29/11/2017 - 20:15 @ muziekgebouw, eindhoven, NL
30/11/2017 - 20:30 @ cacaofabriek, helmond, NL
17/12/2017 - 16:00 @ lux, nijmegen, NL
19/12/2017 - 20:30 @ theater, heerlen, NL
20/12/2017 - 20:30 @ tivolivredenburg, utrecht, NL
22/12/2017 - 20:00 @ lantarenvenster, rotterdam, NL
23/12/2017 - 20:30 @ toneelschuur, haarlem, NL

MAGNUS - THE BODY GAVE YOU EVERYTHING

• magnus: the body gave you everything
      (2004, cd+dvd, bel, bulbus) 

Belgian duo Magnus consists of CJ Bolland and Tom Barman.
(Tom Barman = dEUS, = Barman / Van Nueten, = TaxiWars)
Magnus is some sort of dance music project.
This first album, however, might be classified as some sort of rock album with dance beats.

It has been entered into the United Mutations Archives because it features Peter Vermeersch, Mauro Pawlowski and Tim Vanhamel.

VIDEO RECORDING OF THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND 2017 06 30 CONCERT

In concert at the World Café.
Performing the music of Frank Zappa and Todd Rundgren.
The Ed Palermo Big Band !!

SOUNDTRACK - HEARING IS BELIEVING

• soundtrack: hearing is believing
      (2017, cd, usa, private release)

The soundtrack of the documentary about Rachel Flowers has been made available on CD.

Rachel became known through a number of YouTube movies where she performed some great music, including a couple of Frank Zappa tunes.
Shortly thereafter, she got invited on stage during a Zappa Plays Zappa concert.
The recording of Rachel with the Dweezil 'ZpZ' Zappa band perfoming 'Montana' is the closing track on this soundtrack.
Nice.

BUBBLEMATH - EDIT PEPTIDE

• bubblemath: edit peptide
      (2017, cd, usa, cuneiform records)

It must have been June when I wrote: "Rhythmically challenging, melodically impressive and vocally top notch, "Edit Peptide" is sure to make some eyebrows move. The music is could be considered experimental progressive, yet it sounds so poppy."

Bubblemath's "Edit Peptide" has been on my playlist ever since. This is one great album so I thought I should mention it again.

Give it a listen !!
Out on Cuneiform.
I got my copy at www.mandai.be

JOE DENINZON & STRATOSPHEERIUS - GUILTY OF INNOCENCE

• joe deninzon & stratospheerius: guilty of innocence
      (2017, cd, usa, melodic revolution records)

About two years ago, Joe Deninzon made two tracks from their at-the-time upcoming album available : 'Guilty Of Innocence' and 'Take Your Medicine'. Both tracks sounded great. I couldn't wait for the album.
Luckily, I'm a patient person as it took Joe two more years to release the final album.
And patience pays off as this brand-new disc is superb.

"Guilty Of Innocence" has a great rock vibe. It is a very energetic album.
9 excellent original tracks and one coverversion.
Check it out.

It's available from CDBaby.

Here's Stratospheerius' version of 'Hysteria', originally recorded by some band called Muse.

BONDAGE FRUIT - SKIN

• bondage fruit: skin
      (2002, cd, japan, maboroshi no sekai)

For some reason, Bondage Fruit left out the number "V" in the album title of "Skin", their fifth release.
Bondage Fruit had never been afraid to change course and shows this again on "Skin".
Two pieces. Two gigantic soundscapes.

Data has been added to the United Mutations Archives.

BONDAGE FRUIT - III RECIT

• bondage fruit: bondage fruit III - récit
      (1997, cd, japan, maboroshi no sekai)

Keeping up the tradition of numbering their album, Bondage Fruit released "III - Récit" in 1997.

I like Bondage Fruit's first two albums, but I like "III - Récit" even more. It has a more progressive rock sound. With the guitar, the violin and the marimba up front in the mix, this is right up my alley.

Recorded live in concert, presenting 6 impressive compositions and fine improvisations.
Love it.

TODD RUNDGREN & DONALD FAGEN

THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND

from Glass Onyon PR

The Ed Palermo Big Band Releases The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren, a Dizzying and Ingenious Reinvention of Music by Frank Zappa and Todd Rundgren!

Featuring Zappa Vocal Legend Napoleon Murphy Brock!

Ed Palermo may have gained an international following with his ingenious orchestral arrangements of Frank Zappa tunes, but he’s hardly a one-trick pony. Earlier in the year, the saxophonist released an uproarious double album The Great Un-American Songbook Volumes 1 & 2, a project celebrating an expansive roster of songs by successive waves of British invaders, from the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck to King Crimson, Traffic, and Jethro Tull.

With his new big band project, slated for release on Cuneiform Records on October 6, 2017, Palermo is back on his home turf, but the landscape feels strange and uncanny. He’s reclaiming the Zappa songbook, filtering Frank through the emotionally charged lens of the polymathic musical wizard Todd Rundgren in a wild and wooly transmogrification, The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren. Working with the same stellar cast of players, Palermo somehow captures the essence of these iconoclastic masters, making Zappa Zappier and Todd more Rundgrenian.

He sees the Zappa and Rundgren as embodying a ying and yang approach to life that played an essential role in helping him navigate the minefields of teenage angst in the 1960s. “For most of my high school days my favorite musicians were Zappa and Todd Rundgren,” Palermo says. “Rundgren had his songs about self-pity, which were exactly what I needed back then. I’d go out with a girl and whatever party I brought her to she’d go and hang out with another dude. Todd understood. At the same time, Zappa had these snarky songs like ‘Broken Hearts are for Assholes.’ It was tough love. You gotta broken heart? Deal with it. Todd Rundgren’s music was there to give you a hug. I wanted to contrast the hard-bitten Zappa followed by a bleeding heart Rundgren ballad.”

Though the title suggests a forced merger, The Adventures of Zodd Zundgren doesn’t mashup the oeuvres of the two masters. Rather, the album mostly alternates between the composers, creating a deliciously dizzying whipsaw as the two diametrical stances sometimes blur or even switch. Zappa’s soaring fanfare “Peaches En Regalia” is more inspirational than smarmy, with a particularly eloquent alto sax solo by Cliff Lyons, while a brisk and forthright version of Rundgren’s “Influenza” showcases the muscular lyricism of violinist Katie Jacoby, one of the orchestra’s essential voices.

Palermo reaches deep into the Rundgren songbook for “Kiddie Boy,” a stinging blues from 1969’s Nazz Nazz, the seminal second release by his underappreciated band Nazz (an album which originally bore the Zappaesque title Fungo Bat). Drawing directly from the maestro’s original horn arrangement, Palermo displays some impressive guitar work on a vehicle for Bruce McDaniel’s blue-eye vocals. Napoleon Murphy Brock delivers a poker-faced rendition of Zappa’s surreal “Montana,” the tune that turned a generation on to the lucrative potential of floss farming, and McDaniel and Brock join forces on Rundgren’s deliriously silly “Emperor of the Highway,” an homage to Gilbert and Sullivan.

The contrasting sensibilities of the Zundgrens comes into sharp focus in the center of the album. While Palermo has recorded Zappa’s “Echidna’s Arf (Of You)” this time he replaces the horns with McDaniel’s intricately layered vocals via the miracle of multi-tracking. From Zappa’s playfully odd metered work out the big band saunters into Rundgren’s greatest ballad “Hello It's Me,” an arrangement for McDaniel’s most impassioned crooning based on the original version from 1968 album Nazz (not the hit from his solo Something/Anything? album).

Tenor saxophonist Bill Straub swaggers through Rundgren’s “Wailing Wall,” which is sandwiched between two slices of Zappa at his snarky best, “Big Swifty Coda” and “Florentine Pogen,” another superb feature for Brock. Palermo spotlights a dark and wondrous Zappa obscurity with “Janet's Big Dance Number,” a brief piece recovered from 200 Motels featuring Ben Kono’s noir tenor solo. From that unified hedgehogian arrangement Palermo unleashes the multifarious fox on Rundgren’s “Broke Down and Busted,” a portmanteau arrangement that touches on Rundgren’s “Boat on the Charles,” the Ramsey Lewis hit “The ‘In’ Crowd,” Zappa’s “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It,” and even traces of Steely Dan’s “Pretzel Logic.” It’s a tour de force that feels like stream of consciousness journey, though the id truly emerged on the closing hidden track. In what has become a Palermo tradition, he includes yet another version of an enduring lament about the difficulties of relationships, arranged this time in Nazzian style by McDaniel.

The seamless ease with which Palermo and his crack crew navigate between the Zappa and Rundgren shouldn’t come as a surprise. Over the years Zappa’s music has proven supremely pliable in Palermo’s capable hands, as evidenced further by a recent concert at Iridium that paired his songs with standards indelibly linked to Ol’ Blue Eyes (is there an album The Adventures of Zinatra in the future?). Everything he brings into the big band is a labor of love.

“Todd Rundgren holds a very special place in my heart,” Palermo says. “I realized I was in love with my girlfriend (now wife) listening to his album Something/Anything? It was about 2 years ago doing our regular hit at The Falcon that I decided to have Zodd Zundgren night. A lot of people who like the music of Zappa also like Rundgren and Steely Dan, but there are enough Steely Dan cover bands out there.”

Born in Ocean City, New Jersey on June 14, 1954, Palermo grew up in the cultural orbit of Philadelphia, which was about an hour drive away. He started playing clarinet in elementary school, and soon turned to the alto saxophone. He also took up the guitar, and credits his teenage obsession with Zappa to opening his ears to post-bop harmonies and improvisation.

Palermo caught the jazz bug while attending DePaul University, and took to the alto sax with renewed diligence inspired by Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley, and Edgar Winter (the subject of an upcoming EPBB project). Before he graduated he was leading his own band and making a good living as a studio player recording commercial jingles. But like so many jazz musicians he answered New York’s siren call, moving to Manhattan in 1977. After a year of playing jam sessions and scuffling Palermo landed a coveted gig with Tito Puente, a four-year stint that immersed him in Afro-Cuban music.

An encounter with trumpeter Woody Shaw’s septet at the Village Vanguard in the late 1970s stoked his interest in writing and arranging for larger ensembles, and by the end of the decade he had launched a nine-piece rehearsal band with five horns. Between Don Sebesky’s well-regarded book The Contemporary Arranger and advice from Dave Lalama and Tim Ouimette, “I got a lot of my questions answered and I’ll love them forever,” Palermo says. “Then the real education was trial and error. I lived in a little apartment with no TV or furniture. All I had was a card table, and once a week I’d rehearse my nonet, then listen to the cassette of the rehearsal and make all the changes.”

Palermo made his recording debut in 1982, an impressive session featuring heavyweights such as David Sanborn, Edgar Winter and Randy Brecker. As a consummate studio cat and sideman, he toured and recorded with an array of stars, including Aretha Franklin, Eddie Palmieri, Celia Cruz, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Lou Rawls, Melba Moore, The Spinners, and many others. As an arranger, he’s written charts for the Tonight Show Band, Maurice Hines, Eddy Fischer, and Melissa Walker. Employed frequently by bass star Christian McBride for a disparate array of projects, Palermo has written arrangements for a James Brown concert at the Hollywood Bowl, a Frank Sinatra tribute featuring Kurt Elling, Seth McFarland, and John Pizzarelli, and a 20-minute medley of Wayne Shorter tunes for the New Jersey Ballet.

Palermo had been leading his big band for more than a decade before the Zappa concept started coming together. Inspired by electric guitar master Mike Keneally, who performed with Zappa on some of his final concerts before his death in 1993, Palermo decided to arrange a program of 12 Zappa tunes. When the time came to debut the material at one of the band’s regular gigs at the Bitter End in early 1994, a sold-out crowd greeted the band.

He earned international attention with the ensemble’s 1997 debut The Ed Palermo Big Band Plays Frank Zappa on Astor Place Records, which received a highly-prized 4-star review from DownBeat. With Palermo’s brilliant arrangements and soloists such as Bob Mintzer, Chris Potter, Dave Samuels, Mike Stern, and Mike Keneally, the album made an undisputable case for the Zappa jazz concept. In 2006 he released another collection of Zappa arranged for his jazz big band, called Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance, on Cuneiform, thus beginning an ongoing collaboration with that label. While Palermo has written more than 300 Zappa charts, he’s cast an increasingly wide net for material. Recent releases like 2014’s Oh No! Not Jazz!!, 2016’s One Child Left Behind and 2017’s The Great Un-American Songbook Volumes 1 & 2 - all on Cuneiform and all recipients of DownBeat’s coveted 4-star ratings - featured a bountiful selection of his original compositions and material by composers not named Frank Zappa.

Nothing demonstrates the ensemble’s ongoing vitality better than the stellar cast of players, with longtime collaborators such as violinist Katie Jacoby, baritone saxophonist Barbara Cifelli, drummer Ray Marchica, and keyboardist Ted Kooshian. Many of these top-shelf musicians have been in the band for more than a decade, and they bring wide-ranging experience, expert musicianship and emotional intensity to Palermo’s music.

The band’s following continues to expand with its monthly residency at Iridium and bi-monthly gigs at The Falcon. In addition, performances (some headlining) at jazz festivals across the USA are winning new fans of all ages for the band. Palermo’s profile in the jazz press is also rising fast, with articles and feature stories appearing this past year in such publications as Jazz Times and Jazziz. Regarding recordings, albums by The Ed Palermo Big Band have been critically acclaimed and also embraced by the general public-jazz and rock fans alike. Palermo has already recorded dozens of new tracks for The Great Un-American Songbook Volumes 3 & 4, and is hoping Zodd Zundgren helps introduce Rundgren’s ingenious, heartfelt music to a new generation.

THE GRANDMOTHERS OF INVENTION & SHENKAR

Shenkar, or L.Shankar when he recorded an album with Frank Zappa, will join The Grandmothers Of Invention at their Oslo concert during their last tour.

May 12, 2018, at the Rockefeller / John Dee / Sentrum Scene in Oslo, Norway.

As you could have thought, it's a ZappaUnion Event.

http://rockefeller.no/jd120518.html?bb=R

MIKE KENEALLY UPDATE

Mike Keneally Joins The Oracle Cast!

Posted by Carl King (Creator)
I’ll make this one quick.

MIKE KENEALLY has joined the cast of The Oracle Of Outer Space!

Ok, I won’t make it quick.

Mr. Keneally is currently in Joe Satriani’s band, and has in the past played with other music composition legends like Steve Vai and Frank Zappa. And of course he also played in Dethklok with Brendon Small.

While I was editing The Making Of Grand Architects Of the Universe (my previous album that he did voice acting on) I realized what a perfect fit he was for this — he had such an intuitive understanding of our bizarre Outer Space dialogue. I of course loved his acting performance on the album, but in reviewing the video footage of the session, I realized how expressive he was and how quickly he understood and adapted to each line in the script, even as multiple characters, in a cold and improvisational reading. He just immediately got it.

Our plan is to record Mike’s character acting for THE ORACLE OF OUTER SPACE in December.

Welcome, Mr. Keneally!

The writing team is full speed ahead on the script. I just spent many hours today doing a massive restructuring. Brain fried.

Thanks to everyone who has pledged, and keep helping to get the word out! More news soon...

-Carl.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/carlking/the-oracle-of-outer-space-animated-tv-show-pilot

NONA HENDRYX AND GARY LUCAS

New album by Nona Hendryx and Gary Lucas, performing the music of Don Van Vliet / Captain Beefheart.
Out on the Knitting Factory record label.

-- info: Jan van Kemenade / Danny Mathys

JOE SATRIANI UPDATE

Joe Satriani's touring band for the upcoming G3 tour will consist of :

• Joe Satriani
• Mike Keneally
• Bryan Beller
• Joe Travers

The G3 tour will kick off in in the US of A in January 2018 and continue in Europe in March.

Joe Satriani / John Petrucci / Uli Jon Roth.
Each of them will play about half an hour and they'll do another set together afterwards.

-- info: Philippe Lamoot

INSIDIOUS RAYS

Robbie 'Seahag' Mangano is featured on the 2003 Insidious Rays album, entitled "More Songs About Sex, Love, Death & Sex".

Album cover has been added to the Robbie Mangano discography over at the United Mutations Archives.

THE ORACLE OF OUTER SPACE

Six days to go for the latest Carl King project, the animated tv-series that will be called "The Oracle Of Outer Space".

Read all about it here :

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/carlking/the-oracle-of-outer-space-animated-tv-show-pilot

With Dweezil Zappa doing one of the voices,
and music composed by Carl King.

SUN RA UPDATE

The latest newsletter from the Roaratorio record label says :

Next up will be another Sun Ra archival LP entitled Sun Embassy, about which I'll say more in due time...

NEW BEEFHEART RADIO SHOW ALBUM

Announced on Keyhole :

A 2CD set : "My Father's Place, Roslyn, '78".

STEVE VAI UPDATE

My Favorite Riff with Nikki Sixx: Steve Vai
Talking about the 'Jazz Discharge Party Hats'...



2017 Loudwire Music Awards: Steve Vai Interview
And gets asked a question about the Zappa hologram tour...

GEOFF & MARIA MULDAUR - POTTERY PIE

• geoff & maria muldaur: pottery pie
      (1968, lp, usa, reprise) 

Former Mothers Of Invention drummer and percussionist Billy Mundi is featured on the first album by Geoff and Maria Muldaur, "Pottery Pie", from 1968.
Re-released on CD in 1990.

More info at :
http://therockasteria.blogspot.be/2017/11/geoff-and-maria-muldaur-pottery-pie.html


-- link : Jan van Kemenade

THE ITALIAN PACKAGE

I received this package from Italy a little while ago.
It contained a couple of books.
I can't read one word of Italian but they look great in the library.
Pictures have been added to the United Mutations Archives.

• zappa (è piû duro di tuo marito)
  by massimo bassoli
      (1982, book, italy, gammalibri)
   = First edition. The second edition got released in 1984.

• frank zappa testi con traduzione a fronte
      (1981, book, italy, arcana editrice)

• freak out! - la mia vita con frank zappa
  by pauline butcher
      (2013, book, italy, arcana)
  Italian translation of the 2011 "My Life With Frank Zappa" book.

SLABDRAGGER / WREN - MOTHERS OF BEEF AND THE MAGIC OF INVENTION

• slabdragger / wren: mothers of beef and the magic of invention
      (2017, 12", uk, hrrzozv)

= 1 000 copies on cream coloured vinyl;

• slabdragger / wren: mothers of beef and the magic of invention
      (2017, cd, uk, hrrzozcd) 

= the CD-version;

• slabdragger / wren: mothers of beef and the magic of invention
      (2017, 12", uk, hrrzozv)

the black vinyl version of the 12".

Three times the same music, but in a beautiful package.
10 minutes of Muffin Man by Slabdragger,
and an 8 minute version of Electricity by Wren.

Excellent.

Slabdragger explore their most carefree, fun side, turning Frank Zappa’s ‘Muffin Man' into a 10 minute-plus quagmire of sludge. Wren meanwhile make Captain Beefheart’s ‘Electricity’ bristle with a cold, almost mechanical, Krautian post-metal edge.

BONDAGE FRUIT - S/T

• bondage fruit: bondage fruit
      (1994, cd, japan, isis)

Japanese band Bondage Fruit released their first album in 1994.
Led by guitarist Kido Natsuki (Kiki band, Korekyojinn), the band released six albums between 1994 and 2005.
These albums are not really easy to find, but they're worth your while.

This is pretty amazing music.
Data of this first album has been added to the United Mutations Archives.

THE RESIDENTS - RALPH RECORDS ARTWORKS 1972 - 2015 - BUY OR DIE !

the residents * ralph records artworks 1972 - 2015 - buy or die
by matteo torcinovich
(2017, book, italy, goodfellas)

Here's another gem that I brought home from Leuven (= Residents concert at Het Depot on November 8, 2017).
Superb 400-page full colour picture book with lots and lots of Ralph Records artwork.

Great stuff !

http://www.goodfellas.it/index.php/2017/05/22/the-residents-ralph-records-artworks-1972-2016-di-matteo-torcinovich-libro-dedicato-alla-ralph-records-label-e-studio-grafico-fondato-dai-the-residents/

THE RESIDENTS - SANTA DOG 17

• the residents: santa dog 17
      (2017, 7", ger, psychofon records pro016)

Ding-ding-ding, dong-dong-dong...
He's back.
Santa Dog 17.

Released on 7" by the German Psychofon Record label.
Available in different editions, I brought the black vinyl copy home after enjoying the fabulous Residents concert in Leuven last week.

More Santa Dog, you say?
http://dieordiy2.blogspot.be/2013/12/the-residents-complete-santa-dog-72-78.html

BONDAGE FRUIT - II

• bondage fruit: II
      (1996, cd, japan, maboroshi no sekai)

Japanese band Bondage Fruit released their second album, "II" in 1996. It was their first album on the Maborosi No Sekai record label. Actually, it was one of the first albums on the Maborosi No Sekai label altogether.

The band's influences are obvious : experimental music, Zeuhl (Magma), Zappa and fusion jazz.
Not a bad mixture, if I may say so.
Add to this the compositional skills of Kido Natsuki (who one should also know as the guitar player of Kazutoki Umezu's Kiki band) and the amazing technical capabilities of the bandmembers and you get Bondage Fruit.

Recommended listening.

COR VAN DIEJEN - EEN MODDER VAN INVENTIE * CVD OVER FZ

• een modder van inventie - cvd over fz
  by cor van diejen
  (2017, book, the netherlands, drekwerk publicaties)

Cor van Diejen might / should be known by the Dutch-speaking Zappaheads as he was a contributor to the Dutch Frank Zappa fanzine 'The Black Page'.

At the time, Cor wrote short essays on various Frank Zappa related topics. Not always easy to comprehend, but great fun to read.
The demise of Black Page magazine (in 1999) meant a temporary stop for Cor's FZ related literary output, but he did pick it back up around 2010 when he started publishing new pieces (about FZ) at www.itmustbeawinston.nl.

"Een Modder Van Inventie" (A Mud Of Invention) collects essays from both Black Page magazine and from Itmustbeawinston, and it includes some new material.

It's available in both a softcover and a hardcover edition.
I'm not sure about the softcover edition, but the hardcover edition is a print-on-demand book.

Available through most of the Dutch bookshops.

CARL KING

Carl King has made a number of his soundtrack compositions available as download and on CD.

Carl King (The Arcanosis! And Other Sci-Fi / Fantasy / Horror Music)

https://shop.carlkingdom.com/

SOFT MACHINE

Here's the perfect introduction to the various Soft Machine incarnations that released albums on the MoonJune Records label :

https://softmachine-moonjune.bandcamp.com/album/moonjune-years-2002-sampler

THE ALCATRAZZ FLASHBACK

Cherry Red records released a 3 CD set that combines the 'very best of'' Alcatrazz with numerous demos and live recordings as bonus material.

Features Steve Vai on a number of tracks as he recorded "Disturbing The Peace" with the band in 1985.

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/breaking-the-heart-of-the-city-the-very-best-of-alcatrazz-1983-1986/

A CHARLES OWENS UPDATE

Charles Owens toured and recorded with Frank Zappa.
He can be heard playing saxophone on Frank Zappa's "Wazoo" album (that got released in 2007).

More recently he can be found / heard on :

• the clayton-hamilton jazz orchestra: the l.a. treasures project - live at alvas showroom
      (2014, cd, usa, ??)

http://exystence.net/blog/2015/08/23/the-clayton-hamilton-jazz-orchestra-the-l-a-treasures-project-live-at-alvas-showroom-2014/

or on

• kenny burrell & the los angeles jazz orchestra unlimited: unlimited 1, live at catalina's
      (2016, cd, usa, ??) 

http://exystence.net/blog/2017/05/02/kenny-burrell-the-los-angeles-jazz-orchestra-unlimited-unlimited-1-live-at-catalinas-2016/

Read more about Charles Owens here :
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-musiccharles-owens-20171107-story.html


-- album links: Jan van Kemenade

JOE SATRIANI'S PLEDGEMUSIC CAMPAIGN

Joe's new album: "What Happens Next", at Pledgemusic.

https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/joe-satriani

KING CRIMSON UPDATE

King Crimson is about to release another album in their 40th anniversary edition series, combining the original album with extra material, released on a CD and an audio DVD.

Boz Burrell: vocals, bass
Robert Fripp: guitar, mellotron
Mel Collins: saxes, flute
Ian Wallace: drums

• king crimson: earthbound
      (2017, cd + dvd-audio, uk, discipline global mobile kcsp)

13th release in the King Crimson anniversary series.

THE RESIDENTS PRESERVED

Deep in a San Francisco basement, lost in time and space and long-forgotten by their masters, lay over a hundred tattered boxes dating back to the early 1970s. Buried beneath layers of dust and rubble, these cardboard coffins had all but given up on ever being called into active service… Until now.

Containing master tapes, demos, curios and acres of unreleased material, these time-capsules were recently rediscovered by their creators - The Residents - who, contemplating their own existence for the first time in decades, had begun to wonder just who they were, and what they’d done with their lives. Torches were taken up, a base camp established, and the eyeball enigmas went to work.

The Residents pREServed proudly presents the results of those long, uncertain months spent exhuming their own pasts - a series of archival, deep excavation Residents reissues. Beginning at the beginning – with ‘Meet The Residents’ and ‘The Third Reich N Roll’ released in January 2018 – and working chronologically through the mire, these long-awaited sets will include newly remastered albums and singles, live recordings, alternate versions and, of course, as much long-lost and unreleased material as The Residents’ can bear to part with.

Accompanied by in-the-know essays by established experts from both sides of the Atlantic and detailed sleevenotes from The Residents’ mysterious archivist, each set will explore and contextualise its parent album – from conception to recording and on into its place in the ever evolving world of the legendary, unpredictable and much-loved quartet.

As ever with The Residents, users are advised to expect the unexpected and put their faith in the unknowable.

Is this the Real Residents? Find out for yourself in 2018.


to be released in January 2018 :

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/meet-the-residents-2cd-preserved-edition

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/the-third-reich-n-roll-2cd-preserved-edition

MAGNUS

Magnus, the band of Tom Barman and CJ Bolland, have decided to call it a day, largely because of Tom's commitment to TaxiWars a new film and of course the planned return of dEUS.

However the band have a final new EP 'Look At Us Now' to be released on 24th November on CD only.

PURE FOOD AND DRUG ACT - CHOICE CUTS

• pure food and drug act: choice cuts
      (1972, lp, usa, epic)

Although he can also be heard on at least four or five Zappa albums,.Don 'Sugarcane' Harris is most famous for his contribution to Frank Zappa's "Hot Rats".

Pure Food And Drug Act was a blues-rock project by Harvey Mandel and Don 'Sugarcane' Harris that happened in the early seventies.
They released one album, "Choice Cuts", in 1972.
Those who want to check out the PureFood And Drug Act "Choice Cuts" album, can find the album here :
http://madshoesmusicology.blogspot.be/2017/11/pure-food-drugs-act-choice-cuts-1972.html

or here:

-- link: Jan van Kemenade

HÖRENSAGEN FESTIVAL

Hörensagen Festival

17.11.1 7 Kaschemme Basel, Switzerland

Doors 21h

• Hl Bimbam
• The Universe By Ear
• Yolk
• Zaperlipopette!
• Rocco Raul

POIL - BROSSAKLITT

Can't stop listening to the latest PoiL album, "Brossaklitt".
Added PoiL data to the United Mutations Archives.

• poil: brossaklitt
      (2014, cd, france, dur et doux)

ADRIAN BELEW - LIVE AT THE PARADISE THEATER BOSTON

• adrian belew: live at the paradise theater boston
      (2017, 2cd, uk, air cuts ac2cd8001)

This is a recording of the radio broadcast of the July 18, 1989 concert at 'The Paradise Theater' in Boston.
Originally broadcast on WBCN-FM radio.
Semi-official release.

Featuring Mike Hodges on drums and Rick Fox on keyboards, plus Adrian Belew on guitar and vocals.
The recording sounds pretty good and the show is superb !!

GENE PRITSKER - RITE THROUGH AN ECLECTIC SPECTRUM

• gene pritsker's sound liberation: rite through an eclectic spectrum
      (2017, cd, usa, composers concordance records comcon041)

Gene PritSker has a huge admiration for Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite Of Spring’. Not only for the, at the time, revolutionary compositional aspects, but also for the stir that it caused at its premiere performance. Guided by Stravinsky’s avant-garde piece, Gene wrote 8 new pieces for his Sound Liberation ensemble.

The result is quite energetic (that's probably where the 'riot' part comes in) and the influence is obvious.
In his typical eclectic style, mixing hip-hop and beats with jazz, Gene Pritsker gives ‘The Rite Of Spring’ a contemporary twist.
"Rite Through An Eclectic Spectrum".
I like it.

http://www.genepritsker.com/

THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND UPDATE

The CD Release Party of the Century!!
THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND presents THE ADVENTURES OF ZODD ZUNDGREN

Iridium Jazz Club NYC Nov. 13th, 2017

http://theiridium.com/events/6690/ed-palermo-big-band-cd-release-concert-25/

WHEN ZAPPA CAME TO SICILY

https://www.spacelandpresents.com/event/1573781-frank-zappa-summer-82-los-angeles/

Spaceland Presents
Frank Zappa - Summer of '82 - When Zappa Came to Sicily
& Q&A with Dweezil & Moon Zappa & Steve Vai

Mon November 6, 2017
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
The Regent Theater
Los Angeles, CA

-- info: Zappateers

LES YEUX DE LA TETE - L'OEUF DU CYCLONE

• les yeux de la tête: l'oeuf du cyclone
      (2017, cd, france, petit label pl kraft 009)

"L'Oeuf Du Cyclone", the excellent debut release by Les Yeux De La Tête, got released in 2007 in a limited edition of 100 numbered copies.
It recently got re-released as 100 extra (numbered) copies were fabricated.
The album includes LYDLT's fine version of Frank Zappa's 'Cleetus Awreetus-Awrightus'.

YOUR OLD DROOGS - PACKS

• your old droog: packs
      (2017, cd, usa, droog recordings fatbeats fb5181)

I mentioned Your Old Droog a couple of months ago already as I had found out that he sampled Frank Zappa's 'The Pig Music' in his 'G.K.A.C.' song on his "Packs" album.
In the meantime, data of this CD have been added to the United Mutations Archives.
On an additional note, I'd like to mention that the album has been released on vinyl as well.

Sample appears at 03:35.