THANKS
TO ALL OF THE FANS WHO CAME OUT TO
THE LOS ANGELES PERFORMANCES OF THE
GRANDE MOTHERS RE:INVENTED
AT THE REDCAT in the
DISNEY CONCERT HALL COMPLEX
IN LOS ANGELES
BOTH SHOWS WERE SOLD OUT
IT WAS LIKE OLD HOMECOMING WEEK FOR THE GUYS
with friends and fans coming from far and wide
There was a fan who had also been at the premiere performance of the GRANDE MOTHERS
in Leipzig, Germany in 2003 who came to see the LA show(!)
as well as fans who came in from Denver, Croatia
and Vancouver B.C.!!! to see the Grande old men
KUDOS to all of the musicians who participated in the Stravinsky
especially violinist Harry Scorzo, who played violin on Mother People and Peaches in Regalia
and original GM guitarist Ken Rosser who came out and played on San Ber'Dino encore
AND THE CRITICS ROARED..........
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930254?categoryid=34&cs=1
Posted: Sun., Apr. 16, 2006, 2:20pm PT
Grande Mothers Re:Invented
(Roy & Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, 220 seats, $28 top)
Presented by REDCAT.
Performers:
the Grande Mothers
(Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Preston, Roy Estrada, Miroslav Tadic, Christopher Garcia),
and
James Sullivan, Sara Schoenbeck, Amy Knoles, Daniel Rosenboom, Steven Suminski, Harry Scorzo, Joel Hamilton, Lillian Bitkoff. Marc Lowenstein (conductor).
By RICHARD S. GINELL
Current Reviews...
To an outsider, Igor Stravinsky and Frank Zappa seemed to reside on different planets, even though both lived in the Hollywood Hills in the late 1960s. But insiders know Zappa was a serious Stravinsky buff, invoking the Russian's acerbic spirit, techniques and even some of his music in his own gargantuan output. Thus, the teaming of one of Zappa's favorite Stravinsky pieces -- the ever-zesty, ever-acidic "L'Histoire du Soldat" -- with a survey of Zappa's intricate idiosyncrasies for rock band at REDCAT on Friday night was not so much far-fetched as it was far-sighted.
As it happened, though, Zappa came off a lot better than Stravinsky.
There are rumblings of a Zappa revival afoot in the world -- what with his son, Dweezil, preparing to take an authorized "Zappa Plays Zappa" band on the road next month (they'll be at the Wiltern June 23) and this ongoing Grande Mothers project, which was launched in Europe in 2003. The latter group is a quintet containing three alumni of various Zappa bands -- bassist Roy Estrada (an original Mother), keyboardist Don Preston and vocalist/reeds Napoleon Murphy Brock -- plus Eastern European wah-wah guitar wizard Miroslav Tadic and drummer Christopher Garcia.
This outfit was road-tested (their 66th gig), as precise as any of Zappa's bands and able to burn brightly on a wide range of Zappa selections on Friday (the set list was completely different Saturday). With Brock's powerful vocals, physical shtick and ability to double expertly on flute and tenor sax coupled with Preston's and Tadic's electronic salvos, the evening contained a lot of the contradictory eclectic, serious and circusy flavors of a Zappa show.
Indeed, in some cases, the Grande Mothers were able to go deeper into the material, rather than merely parroting Zappa's notoriously tricky composed lines. "The Idiot Bastard Son," for example, revealed some lovely harmonic ideas only hinted at on the original Mothers recording.
All on board were adept at exploring the drumfire jazz-rock riffs of the early '70s, and there was a deftly done sample of Zappa's doo-wop sendups.
All the while, the screen behind the band displayed slides of Stravinsky beaming down paternally -- as if one needed more reminding after the "Rite of Spring" riff in the middle of "Duke of Prunes."
Ironically, the discipline and canny pacing of the Zappa portion of the program were almost entirely missing in the Stravinsky performance. The three Mothers took the roles of the Narrator (Estrada), the Soldier (Preston) and the Devil (Brock), making tedious, hammy work of C.F. Ramuz's playlet, and there were missed cues and outbreaks of scrappy playing in the otherwise high-spirited seven-piece instrumental ensemble. More rehearsal, tighter control of the dialogue, please.
Date in print: Mon., Apr. 17, 2006, Los Angeles
AND THE FANS ROARED..........
we got several reviews like this from fans
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Great Grande Mothers
Had the best concert experience in a long while on Friday night, when I went to see the Grande Mothers at the Redcat Theater. Who are the Grande Mothers, you ask? Zappa alums Don Preston, Roy Estrada, and Napoleon Murphy Brock, plus Chris Garcia and Miroslav Tadic on drums and guitar, respectively.
The first set featured Preston, Estrada, and Brock performing Stravinsky's Histoire de Soldat with a killer chamber ensemble. The second set was a smorgasbord of Zappa tunes. The Stravinsky set was fun (in part because of the Mothers' bad acting), but the Zappa set, which I realized later went on for over an hour, seemed to fly by.
It was just beautiful to be able to hear this music (from the front row, no less) played in the spirit in which it was originally conceived, by some of the guys who were originally involved. And though it wasn't a flawless performance (it was the first of two nights), it had more balls and verve and energy (especially given that these guys are approaching geezerhood) than a lot of the newer music I've been hearing lately. Napoleon Murphy Brock is particularly amazing--there just seems to be no limit to his energy, and I don't think I ever got from the records how truly skilled he is as both a singer and a reed player. But Estrada too was a trip--what fun to hear that wacky falsetto of his live!
There is a tendency with posthumous performances of Zappa's music to err on the "prog rock" side of things--to go for the cleanness of the 80s groups as opposed to the rawer, sloppier sound of the Mothers. That's probably a good thing when it comes to the chamber or orchestral stuff (which was rarely well-performed in Zappa's lifetime), but in a rock or jazz context it's an approach that can be deadly.
The Grande Mothers understand that even though Zappa never embraced rough musics like punk, he knew the value of musical rawness. And though the Redcat show clearly wasn't the sort of carnival experience that it probably would have been if Zappa had been involved, it was pretty damned close--which is good news for shmucks like me who never got to see the real McCoy when he was alive.
ON TO NORWAY
the GMS are on to Norway for 1 week with the Bergen Symphony Orchestra
performing FZ orchestral music
as well as their own 3 1/2 HOUR show
there will also be performances of
RITE OF SPRING - Stravinsky
IONISATION- Varese
THE UNANSWERED QUESTION - Ives
PROJECT X premiere LIVE performance from UNCLE MEAT
transcribed by WHILE YOU WERE ART JARVINEN
among many others
then Canada for 1 week of festivals in July
and
the SARAJEVO JAZZ FESTIVAL
much more info to come stay tuned.........
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WWW.THEGRANDMOTHERS.COM
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