COMPOSER TO COMPOSER TALKS - CARL STONE WITH FRANK ZAPPA (1988)

Recorded in 1988 in Frank Zappa’s home, this conversation was originally commissioned by a Japanese magazine and was to this day never broadcast. Covering a wide range of topics from compositional methods, issues in the music industry, to the rise of the religious right, the conversation holds a surprising contemporary relevance. Recorded shortly after the release of Zappa’s album Jazz from Hell (1986), the conversation addresses various compositional and instrumental particularities of the work. The two specifically talk about the use of the Synclavier, an early digital synthesizer and digital sampling system. They also talk about the parameters outside of composition that have to be taken into consideration, like how the music is going to be performed and in what context it is going to be experienced. Leading to a discussion on creativity and freedom in creativity, Zappa places the reception of the audience as a key element in composition choices. From that follows a harsh critique of music schools, the state of contemporary music at large, and the emphasis put on avant-garde for the sake of avant-garde. Switching to the world of pop music they raise the constraints imposed on musicians by the music industry, whose interest is more often than not in the money than in musical innovation. They further chat about issues of creative control in the industry, and the notable exception of Prince with Warner Bros. In the last part of the conversation Zappa shares his feelings on receiving the 1988 Grammy Award for the Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the song “Jazz from Hell”. The conversation then leaves the strict musical realm and unfolds into politics, and ends with Zappa posing a Japanese kanji quiz.