For me this is the real Frank Zappa,i will giggle along with his silly comedic albums but the real genius of FZ is in his jazz & modern orchestral pieces ,i spent just over $12,000 on the best Mcintosh hifi i could afford to hear every note on this album .
WOW, OW >>>OUCH!!! 8>[ That sure is one almighty expenditure, right there Levi, $12,000 is outrageous in pursuit of sonic media perfection, must have been a real compulsive interest to gain sonic paradise, all for the soundwave sorcerer, the wizard of sound sculpture, Frank Zappa. Respect mate, you went all out, to say the least.
I was a little taken back at the time going from Hot Rats and Mothers Live to Waka Jawaka. Wasn't expecting this the first time I heard it. But from the early '70s to today I'm glad I did.
i love how it returns for a restatement of the original theme at 13:19. but then at 16:12 you can hear them almost return again, but never quite get there. the suggestion is unmistakeable, the four descending horn notes signal it, but it never materializes. a masterpiece of improvisational composition. bravissimo, maestro, bravissimo.
That's called an isomelody or isomelism. The same sequence of notes (modulo any transposition in the vertical) but the time-values are different. They're all over FZ compositions, although the recapitulation is usually too fast notes to recognise as a recapitulation.
Who is here in isolation wondering what Frank may have meant when he decided to call a song Big Swifty? Frank was a master of the absurd and insane, but he was also an extraordinary commentator of the late twentieth century. Thank you Frank. We love you
It's initially a very fast (swift) tune played by a (relatively) big band...hence "Big Swifty". I might be wrong but that's what I assume the title means. I don't think you need a "secret decoder ring" to figure it out. A friend of mine once told me I had a "profound grasp of the obvious". It wasn't exactly a compliment but I'll take it as such....LOL.
Hi mate, Big Swifty is a reference to the record industry dickhead pencil pushers who are only in it to rip you the FUQ off., FZ didn't care much for composition names, it was mostly what was happening at the time either with the members of the group, the band or basically whatever, and sometimes tributes to composers like Varese...yours Pipco
@@pipco121234 radical. You speak as if you knew him personally. He also connected with his audience in a very real and in the moment kind of way, so in saying that even though I'm a green horn I feel like I know Zappa personally. Thanks for the input
From 2:19 anyone would be forgiven for thinking they were listening to a newly discovered version of Pharaoh's Dance, on the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, they could also be mistaken further from 3:29, when the trumpet enters the ensemble, into thinking that it was Miles.
This arrangement, certainly opulent for rock bands, leads to a jewel of jazz-like improvisations. Certainly George Duke is without a doubt the well-known absolute great, the trumpeter Sal Maques in the mixture of casualness and laissez-faire is a surprising feature that gives this piece its distinctiveness. So Frank, that's how big it has to be: Sal, it's your piece...
Did you fellow cyber voyagers { with one mighty fine taste for music } already know, that Frank Zappa produced Waka Jawaka, along with The Grand Wazoo, from a position of incapacity, in a wheelchair, after a crazed jealous in love person knocked him into a fifteen foot deep orchestra pit, beneath the stage where he was performing, in the Rainbow Theatre in London confining him to a wheelchair for most of 1972, now that does seem incredible, producing two fantabulous fusion oriented studio albums, whilst in pain, unable to do what you can do usually, restricted in many ways as a temporary cripple. I reckon that Zappa simply re-channeled his energies, put all the verve and movement he was denied into producing two great albums.
wow! thank you for reminding me - i had read that a long time ago, but forgotten... well, i just came out of a severe cancer operation and before i went into that it was not clear, if it would work out well - it did so far and when i came home i recorded new music in my little, humble home studio as soon as i could - out came a small series of tracks, that were definitley different from my stuff before - a new energy and power showed up that was not there before - somehow we humans seem to need a little damper from time to time to mobilize and focus our energies anew, no? when i listened to the two mentioned records for the first time, i was surprised to hear the sessionwise, jazzy feeling of them, which is a bit different from his otherwise very carefully composed music - i like it... :-) cheers tom....
@@friesiamans1966What inspires, motivates us, can be entirely unspecified, really deep, profound sources, yet, sometimes it can come from the most unexpected of places.
@@tomschooner1161 well said and very true! i´m a musician since the early 70s and my first instrument was the old zither i inherited from my grandpa - you know, many of my friends had wealthier parents and so they got fender guitars and marshall amps and i confess, that i envied them a lot - but then my brother built me a little amplifier from his physics learning kit and we took the little plastic microphone from my cassette recorder and connected it to that zither and all that made a cool distorted sound - not loud, but very inspiring - soon i was proud to play the riff of black sabbath´s "iron man" and was the king, haha... :-) hwhn i look back, now that i´m much older, i´m sometimes amazed from what crazy things and coincidences i learned and was inspired - i think it´s quite helpful to have an open mind and eyes and ears... if you find the time, check the short film "foli (there is no movement without rhythm)" - it´s about african pereption of music - it´s very nice and you can find it here on youtube... i think on his very first album frank zappa showed a long list of names on the cover, names of artists that had inspired him - i always found this very impressive and it shows, that he was honest enough, not to hide his inspirations away... greetings from germany 🙋♂️
@@friesiamans1966 My first instrument was a 5 piece Premier drum kit, it was white, n I had a Paiste ride cymbal, a Zildjian crash cymbal, and some Paiste hi-hats, I loved it, to the max, I was on that kit straight after school, those were the days. Greetings from England!!!
@@tomschooner1161 well, we (my older brother and me) never had the luxury of owning something like that, i merely had some mixed up second hand stuff, but heading to the drum kit right after school was due, haha, i hear you! one day i came home and heard some strange, shy kind of military drumming on the snare in the cellar - hmm, i went down there and to my surprise found my father sitting at my drum kit, way cool - otherwise he never showed any interest in our activities - my mother was a fan of glenn miller and classical music, but by and by began to love our music - her faves: certain songs by ccr - "looking out my backdoor", doors "why don´t you love her madly", who - "summertime blues" from "live at leeds" a.s.o. we then went into prop- and jazz-rock, which she didn´t like so much, but when we came up with the sex pistols she said: "oh, something new at last"... :-) in 72 we founded our first band, my brother on bass and one of his class mates, who played a really cool guitar, gallagher/winter style and me on drums - that guy also introduced us to the real blues daddies like robert johnson, howlin´wolf, sonny terry and many others - it was a cool time and i learned a lot... what were your faves? what style did you play?
Zappa himself certainly wouldn`t have been a "Swifty" if the latter is the word by which supporters of a female singer named "Taylor Swift" like to refer to themselves.
some say Zappa was taken out by the tipper gore gang hence Carlin and many many others . with the country in peril by the horrible left that probably took some of our greatest entertainers nothing more be said but you can not be a good person or a decent human being or a CHRISTIAN and be a democrat. Keep love in your heart and faith in our President and good will prevail over the evil doers . the klinton crime family and the obama regime destroyed much of the country but somewhere in all of this we may pull through , but not without a fight I am sure ,,, so ammo up protect your loved ones and don't travel to Europe well don't travel at all out of the states , there is plenty of big beautiful country to see right here in the USA
I will listen to F.Zappa until the day I die!
For me this is the real Frank Zappa,i will giggle along with his silly comedic albums but the real genius of FZ is in his jazz & modern orchestral pieces ,i spent just over $12,000 on the best Mcintosh hifi i could afford to hear every note on this album .
Us wannabe music artists appreciate your commitment.
WOW, OW >>>OUCH!!! 8>[ That sure is one almighty expenditure, right there Levi, $12,000 is outrageous in pursuit of sonic media perfection, must have been a real compulsive interest to gain sonic paradise, all for the soundwave sorcerer, the wizard of sound sculpture, Frank Zappa. Respect mate, you went all out, to say the least.
Frank Zappa's music does not really require any snake oil to be fully enjoyed.
I was a little taken back at the time going from Hot Rats and Mothers Live to Waka Jawaka. Wasn't expecting this the first time I heard it. But from the early '70s to today I'm glad I did.
A very stable genius! Thank you Frank for your art and your view!
i love how it returns for a restatement of the original theme at 13:19. but then at 16:12 you can hear them almost return again, but never quite get there. the suggestion is unmistakeable, the four descending horn notes signal it, but it never materializes. a masterpiece of improvisational composition. bravissimo, maestro, bravissimo.
absolutely. superb
@@suginami123 cool, great piece that keeps the swift always there.
That’s really interesting \,,/
Thank you, yes!
That's called an isomelody or isomelism. The same sequence of notes (modulo any transposition in the vertical) but the time-values are different. They're all over FZ compositions, although the recapitulation is usually too fast notes to recognise as a recapitulation.
Love Zappa!
Really?
This song is sooooo good
You look exactly like him too!
I never thanked you for this Frank, wonderful music 🎺🎷🎶🎵🎼🎸
Love Zappa, never know what you'll get or hear with him
Who is here in isolation wondering what Frank may have meant when he decided to call a song Big Swifty? Frank was a master of the absurd and insane, but he was also an extraordinary commentator of the late twentieth century. Thank you Frank. We love you
It's initially a very fast (swift) tune played by a (relatively) big band...hence "Big Swifty". I might be wrong but that's what I assume the title means. I don't think you need a "secret decoder ring" to figure it out. A friend of mine once told me I had a "profound grasp of the obvious". It wasn't exactly a compliment but I'll take it as such....LOL.
@@callmejeffbob has anyone ever told you that you're very boring?
@@adamhaack8917 LOL...probably.
Hi mate, Big Swifty is a reference to the record industry dickhead pencil pushers who are only in it to rip you the FUQ off., FZ didn't care much for composition names, it was mostly what was happening at the time either with the members of the group, the band or basically whatever, and sometimes tributes to composers like Varese...yours Pipco
@@pipco121234 radical. You speak as if you knew him personally. He also connected with his audience in a very real and in the moment kind of way, so in saying that even though I'm a green horn I feel like I know Zappa personally. Thanks for the input
My fav Frank song...takes you on a journey...Total Masterpiece
the great modern music of our time. so sophisticated and skillfull. Marvelous and emotional
FRANK ZAPPA IS THE BEST!!
Cosmic lounge music from a casino on the other side of the universe. Or maybe not exactly. But close enough.
Nice description! I've always referred to it as "space jazz".
Frank's solo is so worth the wait.
The original recordings have something no others do! A masterpiece of rock and jazz mixed!
Zappa 💐
Heard this when it came out.Later on in '82 I bought a '65 Ford pickup.Drove it for 23 years and named it BIG SWIFTY.
amazing...
Pure Genius!!!!
2:10 duke/dumbar magic moment
Frank never seizes to amaze those of us who understand that he wasnt just a guy on a toilet seat with a funny name. Frank LIVED his art.
Ceases...
"Ceases" not "seizes." A seizure's the last thing you want.
@@dantean it actually still works, probably not what he meant tho
this is giving me a big swifty
schwifty
lol
Pull down your pants and shit on the floor
best album
woo. fz rules.
Love the ending....
so good
magistral !!!
Weather Report, Mahavishnu, Gran/Petit Wazoo...
Do you know when we will have a musician like he again ?
zappa wrote the best bass parts
14:35-14:42 love how that hangs out for an extra measure after resolving
From 2:19 anyone would be forgiven for thinking they were listening to a newly discovered version of Pharaoh's Dance, on the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, they could also be mistaken further from 3:29, when the trumpet enters the ensemble, into thinking that it was Miles.
This version sound a lot better than Spotify remastered version
This arrangement, certainly opulent for rock bands, leads to a jewel of jazz-like improvisations. Certainly George Duke is without a doubt the well-known absolute great, the trumpeter Sal Maques in the mixture of casualness and laissez-faire is a surprising feature that gives this piece its distinctiveness. So Frank, that's how big it has to be: Sal, it's your piece...
Did you fellow cyber voyagers { with one mighty fine taste for music } already know, that Frank Zappa produced Waka Jawaka, along with The Grand Wazoo, from a position of incapacity, in a wheelchair, after a crazed jealous in love person knocked him into a fifteen foot deep orchestra pit, beneath the stage where he was performing, in the Rainbow Theatre in London confining him to a wheelchair for most of 1972, now that does seem incredible, producing two fantabulous fusion oriented studio albums, whilst in pain, unable to do what you can do usually, restricted in many ways as a temporary cripple. I reckon that Zappa simply re-channeled his energies, put all the verve and movement he was denied into producing two great albums.
wow! thank you for reminding me - i had read that a long time ago, but forgotten...
well, i just came out of a severe cancer operation and before i went into that it was not clear, if it would work out well - it did so far and when i came home i recorded new music in my little, humble home studio as soon as i could - out came a small series of tracks, that were definitley different from my stuff before - a new energy and power showed up that was not there before - somehow we humans seem to need a little damper from time to time to mobilize and focus our energies anew, no?
when i listened to the two mentioned records for the first time, i was surprised to hear the sessionwise, jazzy feeling of them, which is a bit different from his otherwise very carefully composed music - i like it... :-)
cheers tom....
@@friesiamans1966What inspires, motivates us, can be entirely unspecified, really deep, profound sources, yet, sometimes it can come from the most unexpected of places.
@@tomschooner1161 well said and very true!
i´m a musician since the early 70s and my first instrument was the old zither i inherited from my grandpa - you know, many of my friends had wealthier parents and so they got fender guitars and marshall amps and i confess, that i envied them a lot - but then my brother built me a little amplifier from his physics learning kit and we took the little plastic microphone from my cassette recorder and connected it to that zither and all that made a cool distorted sound - not loud, but very inspiring - soon i was proud to play the riff of black sabbath´s "iron man" and was the king, haha... :-)
hwhn i look back, now that i´m much older, i´m sometimes amazed from what crazy things and coincidences i learned and was inspired - i think it´s quite helpful to have an open mind and eyes and ears...
if you find the time, check the short film "foli (there is no movement without rhythm)" - it´s about african pereption of music - it´s very nice and you can find it here on youtube...
i think on his very first album frank zappa showed a long list of names on the cover, names of artists that had inspired him - i always found this very impressive and it shows, that he was honest enough, not to hide his inspirations away...
greetings from germany 🙋♂️
@@friesiamans1966 My first instrument was a 5 piece Premier drum kit, it was white, n I had a Paiste ride cymbal, a Zildjian crash cymbal, and some Paiste hi-hats, I loved it, to the max, I was on that kit straight after school, those were the days. Greetings from England!!!
@@tomschooner1161 well, we (my older brother and me) never had the luxury of owning something like that, i merely had some mixed up second hand stuff, but heading to the drum kit right after school was due, haha, i hear you!
one day i came home and heard some strange, shy kind of military drumming on the snare in the cellar - hmm, i went down there and to my surprise found my father sitting at my drum kit, way cool - otherwise he never showed any interest in our activities - my mother was a fan of glenn miller and classical music, but by and by began to love our music - her faves: certain songs by ccr - "looking out my backdoor", doors "why don´t you love her madly", who - "summertime blues" from "live at leeds" a.s.o.
we then went into prop- and jazz-rock, which she didn´t like so much, but when we came up with the sex pistols she said: "oh, something new at last"... :-)
in 72 we founded our first band, my brother on bass and one of his class mates, who played a really cool guitar, gallagher/winter style and me on drums - that guy also introduced us to the real blues daddies like robert johnson, howlin´wolf, sonny terry and many others - it was a cool time and i learned a lot...
what were your faves? what style did you play?
The road I live on is called swift
10:25 👌
Like to see Ahmet make a cartoon of this! ; )
This sounds like a cross between waka/jawaka and the grand wazoo (the songs)
Adverts in this????? Are you 4 real ???
5:22
This is sufuckinpurb!!!!
Great song. Stranglers has song called Peasant in the Big Shitty. And what a hell is Swifty ?
It was where Gregory Peccary was employed. Big Swifty and Associates, Trendmongers. From Studio Tan.
@@kevinkline7242 Breeding!
any gimmick or gizmo
wouldn't you rather be involved in a series of colorful time-wasting trends?
Zappa himself certainly wouldn`t have been a "Swifty" if the latter is the word by which supporters of a female singer named "Taylor Swift" like to refer to themselves.
I gave like number 666!
NwowN
Francesco Vincenzo Zappa
a
some say Zappa was taken out by the tipper gore gang hence Carlin and many many others . with the country in peril by the horrible left that probably took some of our greatest entertainers nothing more be said but you can not be a good person or a decent human being or a CHRISTIAN and be a democrat. Keep love in your heart and faith in our President and good will prevail over the evil doers . the klinton crime family and the obama regime destroyed much of the country but somewhere in all of this we may pull through , but not without a fight I am sure ,,, so ammo up protect your loved ones and don't travel to Europe well don't travel at all out of the states , there is plenty of big beautiful country to see right here in the USA
You are what Zappa would say is an idiot
@@bennettchesne3229 I'm glad that most of us have come to this consensus.
@@JsRf13 derp
I just can't believe....you are such a fool...
That they would freak out in the suburbs
5:34