FRANK ZAPPA — Waka/Jawaka

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FRANK ZAPPA - Waka/Jawaka cover
4.11 | 31 ratings | 2 reviews
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Album · 1972

Tracklist

1. Big Swifty (17:22)
2. Your Mouth (3:12)
3. It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal (4:16)
4. Waka/Jawaka (11:18)

Total Time: 36:09

Line-up/Musicians

Frank Zappa – guitar, percussion, electric bed springs
Tony Duran – slide guitar, vocals
George Duke – ring-modulated & echoplexed electric piano, tack piano
Sal Marquez – trumpet, vocals, flugelhorn, chimes
Erroneous (Alex Dmochowski) – electric bass, vocals, fuzz bass
Aynsley Dunbar – drums, washboard, tambourine
Chris Peterson – vocals
Joel Peskin – tenor sax
Mike Atschul – baritone saxophone, piccolo, bass flute, bass clarinet, tenor sax
Jeff Simmons – Hawaiian guitar, vocals
Sneaky Pete Kleinow – pedal steel guitar
Janet Ferguson – vocals
Don Preston – guitar, Minimoog
Bill Byers – trombone, baritone horn
Ken Shroyer – trombone, baritone horn
Gerry Sack - muted maracas

About this release

Bizarre MS 2094

Thanks to EZ Money, js, snobb for the updates

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smartpatrol
Frank Zappa made so much music in his lifetime. Each album was differant and varied, bringing new styles and genres into the mix. In the early/mid seventies, Zappa made two very Jazz-infulinced albums; Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazzo. Waka/Jawaka is my favorite of the two. The album opens with "Big Swifty", an 18 minute long big-band swing piece full of improv and solos. After losing yourself in the opening tracks, you find yourself in "Your Mouth", a slow, odd Jazzish rock ballad. Then comes my favorite Zappa song, "It Just Might Be a One Shot Deal". It starts off as a slow country song with teird-sounding, mumbling vocals. After a serise of time signature and theme changes, it's back to a country song, but fast this time. After an instumental passage, Zappa breaks in with the final line of the song, which abrutptly ends and goes straight into the title track, an eleven minute big-band swing song, much like the opener. Favorites from the album:

"Big Swifty" "It Might Just be a One Shot Deal" "Waka/Jawaka"

This is a fantastic album, especialy if you're looking for something jazzy and avant. 4/5
Warthur
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.

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