I don’t know how you can compare the 2. completely different musicians, training, approaches, instrument setups, addition of synths and samplers #2, different job descriptions - #2 to include experimentation and improvisation. Who’s better, and why? They’re completely different. I think you like the different bands and Ruth’s undeniable sister of Frank charisma.
She is so amazingly incredible and added so much to Frank's bands for many years! A lot of Frank's sound back then was RUTH! I am still amazed at how she hits all of those quick, all over the place notes with such precision and accuracy!!! I love her intellect, demeanor, personality, unbelievable talent and of course, She's gorgeous! I had such a crush on her when I was in my early 20's! Love you Ruth!!
We were pen pals when i was a teenager in NYC and we wrote ror a while.Of course I saw her playing with FZ and finally got to meet her. We had alot of great shows and fun together.I hope she is well all these years later
Zappa's mind was going full-tilt from sunrise to way past sunset. The statement: "Music is an expression of the soul" makes one wonder what Frank's soul must have looked like!? One seriously driven musician. RIP Brother, the world's become your worst nightmare.
If you would like to read Frank's daily routine at the log cabin in Laurel Canyon, read 'Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa' which follows my own journey from that lucky day I met Frank in London in 1967 and ended up living and working in his house 1968-1971.
A charismatic and beautiful WOMAN and one HELL of a musician!In the recent interview in the brilliant documentary about Overnight Sensations and Apostrophé+ LPs,she does a piece on the vibraphone, "first" time in thirty years, and says after the astonishing performance something like:"Ah, well.Three mistakes in there,that's one for each decennium[since she stopped playing]!"It's a big shame she stopped performing music, she was so good.The legend Terry Gibbs(see wikipedia)was her teacher.
:)...She looks so beautiful and young...I found a new respect and admiration for her, after Bozzio's; "the drummers of Frank Zappa"...She is so endearing and musically brilliant.
I allways admired Ruth Underwood deeply for her incredible playing - and her well behaved-distanced smiling at the same time, while the band went crazy. So cool. Even Fank was
Thanks for your insight Ruth Underwood & I think your right about Frank as being a consummate encourager for the best you could offer. Your contributions to Frank as a Mother of Invention so adds to my enjoyment of the performances!
Right, I’ve seen this excellent British documentary once before. I saw Ruth and Zappa play marimbas and vibes at a show in Boston the winter of ‘73. It was for me the highlight of the evening. And I remember as a young guy carefully examining my copy of “Uncle Meat” and making note of someone named Ruth Komanoff listed as playing vibes and marimbas.
I had the pleasure and honour of interviewing Frank, in Montreal, the weekend before he broke up the Mothers in August 1969. It was the same weekend as Woodstock, and the Mothers gave 5 free concerts in town. When I asked Frank if he was disappointed by the folks in the front row yelling out for "Louie Louie", or "Whipping Post", he told me that if only one person in the audience got what he was trying to do, that would be enough for him. Well, 48 hours later, he announced he was breaking up the band because "People wouldn't know good music if it bit them on the ass". From speaking with members of the band at the time, it appeared it had been a hard tour. One of them mentioned to me a football stadium they were booked into, where they were assured a P.A. system would be provided. When they arrived, it was a 35W Bogen, of the sort used to announce to spectators that someone had left their car headlights on. NOT what a professional touring band would expect.
No percussionist in Frank's bands post-Ruth had the set-up she had. She was the hardest working member of the band in that era. She was literally required to jaunt from vibes to tympani to bass drum to gongs and bongos, much of it rehearsed and other times on a whim from Frank through a hand signal. Even with two drummers during the fall '73 line-up, Ruth was all over the place in her percussion duties. And she worked those mallets masterfully!
That’s really not true. The percussionist after ruth created a much larger setup. Add xylophone and glockenspiel, all double tiered in front of the marimba and vibes, syndrums X2, rack of 7 gongs, amplified woodblocks and cowbells, table full of sound effects, minimoog, chimes, giant orchestral bass drum, and in 88 2 digital mallet synths, syndrums X2, a rack of synths and samplers, Simmons SDX mega sampler, vibes, glockenspiel, programmed custom weird vocal samples, and a custom programmed midi distribution and control device that allowed for instantaneous switching between sounds and direct input into the synclavier. A lot of what you hear from tne synclavier was actually played by the percussionist. Watch any percussion performance post Ruth to see all over the place.Strictly Genteel 81 is a great one.
When I saw Frank Zappa and The Mothers in '73, Ruth was with them. She was fantastic. She could play a xylophone like no one I have ever seen since. I was right up at the stage and just watching her sling those mallets made me dizzy. She was hot too! Frank would chase her around with a Chinese fish wind sock thingie like it was snapping at her butt. It was a riot!
magprob Ruth was HOT on the xylophone and yes..i wa a lusty teenager in the Ruth years and seeing videos now, yes she could sit on my face...wheres my waitress!?
@1:16 I can't say I've heard that before, but every time I listen to it, I can actually hear it in my head but played with Ruth and the others. You can already hear Frank's signature. I've been a longtime fan since Joe's Garage or was it Sheik Yerbouti, but I still have barely nibbled at what he recorded. Amazing composer.
Like Louise Fletcher who thanks to her great portrayal of Nurse Ratched gets typecast, I suspect Ruth Underwood feels she's typecast too. She may get frustrated at people commenting on her playing on "Rollo", but god damn - I can't help it. That is phenomenal playing - never ceases to blow me away.
Incredible lineup of musicians and singers for Zappa's A token of his Extreme live album August 27, 1974 at KCET, Los Angeles Frank Zappa - lead guitar, vocals Napoleon Murphy Brock - tenor saxophone, flute, vocals George Duke - keyboards, vocals Tom Fowler - bass Chester Thompson - drums Ruth Underwood - marimba, vibraphone, percussion
i have never layed eyes on you but you are stunning lady and musician 🥰😘👀👍 i have bought almost all the zappa lps with you on them be still my heart lady .
Oslerian, Tom Waits opened for them He got Boooed from the moment he sat down at his piano. I really felt bad for him but man...it was ZAPPA! I still feel bad every time I see Tom Waits. As far as the Zappa show, it really was completely unbelievable. Each person in the band was a one man show. They were just so great. Together, they were beyond great. There will never be anything to come close to it. The way I have come to explain it to people is: it was like an orgasm that actually kills you!
Oh no I don’t believe it was one of the most memorable Zappa pieces . Little snippets of it show up in a few different places over the years. Frikkin brilliant
The best composers are SO much more than a composer. I've always had a crush on Ruth, though I always knew she was married to the undeniably very fetching and monstrously talented Ian Underwood. I bet you Frank encouraged her to wear those swimming suit tops for the sake of the show...
Those 70ies Bands were splendid - but there is a dark side about the enormous creativity of FZ. It's that not many musicians could stand the pressure too long. The repertoire they had to remember with sometimes daily changes was so enormous. Also the personality of FZ was not always easy I think. I would like to hear more about that, without bitterness or defamation. I would just like to know how it was in some way.
I saw an interview where one of the guys said that after leaving the band it took months to get the Zappa out of his head. The musicians were so deep into the FZ sound that it was hard to get your brain cleared out from it afterwards.
He was methodical in getting the most work and musical ideas for the least amount of money from his musicians. This isn’t a diss, it’s just how it was.
I remember seeing The Mothers at the Garrick, which was just down the block for where I lived then...fuckin' great. I thought that Ruth Underwood was outstanding with them.
FZ and his entourage were always part of my early youth and now I'm old and trying to understand the man that made this all happen in all it's various 'bands' and understanding the genius so many years later.
In the split femtosecond between Frank finishing the phrase "Help me out, Ruth!" and Ruth embarking on that blistering "tweezer glint" run, I was half expecting her to quip "Sure Frank - which way'd you come in?"
Saw them once, Napoleon was a prolific front person. Many left while Frank solo’d at the very end. He was pissed off the next day...he never came back to Ottawa Ontario Canada
Il fallait être une femme extrêmement intelligente pour jouer aussi longtemps avec Zappa. En plus, elle a beaucoup de charme. Entre Beyoncé et elle, je choisis Ruth Underwood.
Ruth was essential to FZ’s overall sound in the early-70’s. Other percussionists have been amazing successors, but she is irreplaceable.
I don’t know how you can compare the 2. completely different musicians, training, approaches, instrument setups, addition of synths and samplers #2, different job descriptions - #2 to include experimentation and improvisation. Who’s better, and why? They’re completely different. I think you like the different bands and Ruth’s undeniable sister of Frank charisma.
Ed, your writing is awful and you fail to get any point across
She is so amazingly incredible and added so much to Frank's bands for many years! A lot of Frank's sound back then was RUTH! I am still amazed at how she hits all of those quick, all over the place notes with such precision and accuracy!!! I love her intellect, demeanor, personality, unbelievable talent and of course, She's gorgeous! I had such a crush on her when I was in my early 20's! Love you Ruth!!
On Ruth! On Ruth! That's Ruth!
stop burning those beans !!!!!!!!
love it
Literally was listening to Inca Roads and then looked up this video hahaha!
Inca Roadssss
We were pen pals when i was a teenager in NYC and we wrote ror a while.Of course I saw her playing with FZ and finally got to meet her. We had alot of great shows and fun together.I hope she is well all these years later
A true genius...the best vibe player I have ever seen...and easily one of the best musicians I have ever seen....she is unreal....
Ruth Underwood would be the coolest mother, aunt, or grandmother a kid could ask for. So talented, pretty, and cool.
Zappa's mind was going full-tilt from sunrise to way past sunset. The statement: "Music is an expression of the soul" makes one wonder what Frank's soul must have looked like!? One seriously driven musician. RIP Brother, the world's become your worst nightmare.
If you would like to read Frank's daily routine at the log cabin in Laurel Canyon, read 'Freak Out! My Life with Frank Zappa' which follows my own journey from that lucky day I met Frank in London in 1967 and ended up living and working in his house 1968-1971.
A truly amazing musician. I had the pleasure of meeting her at a party and she was super cool!
Fantastic musician and stunning woman...
There's just something about her, where one just HAS to like her. And the talent she has, is incredidle.
Hot Rats is such a damn good album. long live zappa
That was way before Ruth's time.
@@paulinebutcherbird She's actually credited for playing on Uncle Meat, released about six months *before* Hot Rats, on which she's not credited.
@@EmileJoulbert I'm in awe of the knowledge Zappa fans have around his music. Thank you.
That's ruth !
Ruth and Frank doing a duet on marimba Denver Colorado "Apostrophe" tour. Unforgettable and amazing, glad I was there. Did my eyes deceive me?
Yup 😊 Best possible answer. That or sth much more serious 😂
A charismatic and beautiful WOMAN and one HELL of a musician!In the recent interview in the brilliant documentary about Overnight Sensations and Apostrophé+ LPs,she does a piece on the vibraphone, "first" time in thirty years, and says after the astonishing performance something like:"Ah, well.Three mistakes in there,that's one for each decennium[since she stopped playing]!"It's a big shame she stopped performing music, she was so good.The legend Terry Gibbs(see wikipedia)was her teacher.
Queen of the Percussionists!
:)...She looks so beautiful and young...I found a new respect and admiration for her, after Bozzio's; "the drummers of Frank Zappa"...She is so endearing and musically brilliant.
Ruth was a Beast Musician!Inca Roads !!!!
I allways admired Ruth Underwood deeply for her incredible playing - and her well behaved-distanced smiling at the same time, while the band went crazy. So cool.
Even Fank was
The whole movie is amazing. Loving Zappa and Ruth.
Thanks for your insight Ruth Underwood & I think your right about Frank as being a consummate encourager for the best you could offer.
Your contributions to Frank as a Mother of Invention so adds to my enjoyment of the performances!
Who didn't have a crush on her? 😍subbed!
still dooooo! 💙 I got a crush on the entire experience as well 😊💙🤙
@Eastside Nugs Inc Nobody didn't !
Right, I’ve seen this excellent British documentary once before.
I saw Ruth and Zappa play marimbas and vibes at a show in Boston the winter of ‘73.
It was for me the highlight of the evening.
And I remember as a young guy carefully examining my copy of “Uncle Meat” and making note of someone named Ruth Komanoff listed as playing vibes and marimbas.
Ruth, you look and sound great. Always loved your music and persona, rock on!
Thank you so much for posting this. What a beautiful woman, what an amazing talent.
I had the pleasure and honour of interviewing Frank, in Montreal, the weekend before he broke up the Mothers in August 1969. It was the same weekend as Woodstock, and the Mothers gave 5 free concerts in town. When I asked Frank if he was disappointed by the folks in the front row yelling out for "Louie Louie", or "Whipping Post", he told me that if only one person in the audience got what he was trying to do, that would be enough for him. Well, 48 hours later, he announced he was breaking up the band because "People wouldn't know good music if it bit them on the ass". From speaking with members of the band at the time, it appeared it had been a hard tour. One of them mentioned to me a football stadium they were booked into, where they were assured a P.A. system would be provided. When they arrived, it was a 35W Bogen, of the sort used to announce to spectators that someone had left their car headlights on. NOT what a professional touring band would expect.
I would have love to have met Frank Zappa !!!
No percussionist in Frank's bands post-Ruth had the set-up she had.
She was the hardest working member of the band in that era. She was literally required to jaunt from vibes to tympani to bass drum to gongs and bongos, much of it rehearsed and other times on a whim from Frank through a hand signal. Even with two drummers during the fall '73 line-up, Ruth was all over the place in her percussion duties. And she worked those mallets masterfully!
That’s really not true. The percussionist after ruth created a much larger setup. Add xylophone and glockenspiel, all double tiered in front of the marimba and vibes, syndrums X2, rack of 7 gongs, amplified woodblocks and cowbells, table full of sound effects, minimoog, chimes, giant orchestral bass drum, and in 88 2 digital mallet synths, syndrums X2, a rack of synths and samplers, Simmons SDX mega sampler, vibes, glockenspiel, programmed custom weird vocal samples, and a custom programmed midi distribution and control device that allowed for instantaneous switching between sounds and direct input into the synclavier. A lot of what you hear from tne synclavier was actually played by the percussionist. Watch any percussion performance post Ruth to see all over the place.Strictly Genteel 81 is a great one.
@@Ed_Mann Ed Mann
Ti ho vista e sentita nel tour con zappa fine anni settanta eri bellissima
God she is goreous and talent beyond words
"I think you're, probably out to lunch!" I love it... I love Zappa and Captain Beefheart... love Dweezil too!!
Man, I see you on a few Zappa videos haha
***** You would, Frank is my favorite guitarist and I love the musicians he has had over the years playing with 'The Mothers'
Dweezil is buzz kill, so derivative, and Frank, if he could get past parenthood would be the first to say so.
Fantastic musicians
Hot Rats was my fave Zappa spinner. I thought Ruth only played the vibes, now seeing her playing drums on set. Amazing lady.
When I saw Frank Zappa and The Mothers in '73, Ruth was with them. She was fantastic. She could play a xylophone like no one I have ever seen since. I was right up at the stage and just watching her sling those mallets made me dizzy. She was hot too! Frank would chase her around with a Chinese fish wind sock thingie like it was snapping at her butt. It was a riot!
magprob Ruth was HOT on the xylophone and yes..i wa a lusty teenager in the Ruth years and seeing videos now, yes she could sit on my face...wheres my waitress!?
1 reply
An amazing musician!
I love hearing the references to Hot Rats, an utterly meaningful album to me at the time.
@1:16
I can't say I've heard that before, but every time I listen to it, I can actually hear it in my head but played with Ruth and the others. You can already hear Frank's signature. I've been a longtime fan since Joe's Garage or was it Sheik Yerbouti, but I still have barely nibbled at what he recorded. Amazing composer.
Great musician and a sympathically person too....
Ruth is simply the best ... I love this lady so much ... and her music.
Such a lovely, talented girl. We love you!! 💗
zappa says about her:"she"s the mother of percussion!" ruth....i love you forever..............
i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Ruth Underwood
Great interview. I saw the Mothers 6 times. She's right they were one of the tightest bands I ever saw On par with James Brown 1964- 72
LOVE RUTH UNDERWOOD. Shes an absolute GEM!!!!!
I think I have a crush on Ruth. I love listening to her stories. so talented and beautiful. A healthy crush, not a creepy one , just to be clear :)
Ruth is SO intelligent and SO classy.
Oh thank you for posting this breath of fresh air....
Like Louise Fletcher who thanks to her great portrayal of Nurse Ratched gets typecast, I suspect Ruth Underwood feels she's typecast too. She may get frustrated at people commenting on her playing on "Rollo", but god damn - I can't help it. That is phenomenal playing - never ceases to blow me away.
she sounds so smart, im sure she would be a lovely person.
Incredible lineup of musicians and singers for Zappa's A token of his Extreme live album August 27, 1974 at KCET, Los Angeles
Frank Zappa - lead guitar, vocals
Napoleon Murphy Brock - tenor saxophone, flute, vocals
George Duke - keyboards, vocals
Tom Fowler - bass
Chester Thompson - drums
Ruth Underwood - marimba, vibraphone, percussion
Great grup
@@paulleman1915 grüp
@@steelingcable6350 why grüp?
@@paulleman1915 I don't know
@@steelingcable6350 groupe =band
Oh, Ruth. How I love you.
You, too, Frank.
:: What a babe…a real teenage crush ::
I was in love with Ruth when I was a teenager !
J'adore le jeu de Ruth U. Dans le live à Stockolm en 73 with the Mother elle est fantastique.
i have never layed eyes on you but you are stunning lady and musician 🥰😘👀👍
i have bought almost all the zappa lps with you on them be still my heart lady .
Oslerian,
Tom Waits opened for them He got Boooed from the moment he sat down at his piano. I really felt bad for him but man...it was ZAPPA! I still feel bad every time I see Tom Waits. As far as the Zappa show, it really was completely unbelievable. Each person in the band was a one man show. They were just so great. Together, they were beyond great. There will never be anything to come close to it. The way I have come to explain it to people is: it was like an orgasm that actually kills you!
There are plenty of examples on You Tube
I could have Loved more than She IS so much. Ruth you have made My life. I will always Love You.
Oh no I don’t believe it was one of the most memorable Zappa pieces . Little snippets of it show up in a few different places over the years. Frikkin brilliant
Fantastic musician.
I still think she is goreous and amazing
Help me out here Ruth! TWEEZER GLINT!!
Ian is her husband, not her brother. She was born Ruth Komanoff (something like that).
Exactly.
*Happy Birthday Ruth Underwood❤️🎉*
Master Frank...it always sorprise me no matter how many time I watch him
The best composers are SO much more than a composer. I've always had a crush on Ruth, though I always knew she was married to the undeniably very fetching and monstrously talented Ian Underwood. I bet you Frank encouraged her to wear those swimming suit tops for the sake of the show...
Those 70ies Bands were splendid - but there is a dark side about the enormous creativity of FZ. It's that not many musicians could stand the pressure too long. The repertoire they had to remember with sometimes daily changes was so enormous. Also the personality of FZ was not always easy I think. I would like to hear more about that, without bitterness or defamation. I would just like to know how it was in some way.
I saw an interview where one of the guys said that after leaving the band it took months to get the Zappa out of his head. The musicians were so deep into the FZ sound that it was hard to get your brain cleared out from it afterwards.
He was methodical in getting the most work and musical ideas for the least amount of money from his musicians. This isn’t a diss, it’s just how it was.
Ruth's comment at 1:00 so true for FZ fans
Master percussionist...
Ruth is hot!!!!!!! Looks great! Great musician! Thanks for posting this.
I remember seeing The Mothers at the Garrick, which was just down the block for where I lived then...fuckin' great.
I thought that Ruth Underwood was outstanding with them.
Oh man
I'm so overwhelmed
Awesome and enlightening interview!!!!
FZ and his entourage were always part of my early youth and now I'm old and trying to understand the man that made this all happen in all it's various 'bands' and understanding the genius so many years later.
She's a wonderful lady
Her eye blinking is very interesting.
I find it sexy.
Weasels... that's a MOTHER of an album!!! Hi, Ruth... Paisley Tom, 06 22 2012
Help me out, Ruth!
She's actually very attractive in a unique kinda way.
Roxy & Elsewhere (video) is on Amazon Prime...
Brilliant woman.
You are not alone in this sentiment, my friend. Some people just get it. Zappa was, most assuredly, one of them...
Ladies and gentlemen. . . . . . . .WATCH RUTH!
Love Ruth!
R.I.P. Jim - Seemed like a great bloke...
I'm sure
Ruth YOU ARE PERFECT we love You
Wonderful Ruth
In the split femtosecond between Frank finishing the phrase "Help me out, Ruth!" and Ruth embarking on that blistering "tweezer glint" run, I was half expecting her to quip "Sure Frank - which way'd you come in?"
so beautiful
help me out ruth!
Saw them once, Napoleon was a prolific front person. Many left while Frank solo’d at the very end. He was pissed off the next day...he never came back to Ottawa Ontario Canada
I’m a little bit in love with Ruth.
We all are 😊
Thirded!
I ccnt belive all the FZ I am finding here...
I feel like I am 8 years old again.
Love ya Ruth / England Sept 2024❤
Oh Ruth, Ruth, Ruth, Ruth, Ruth... I will always be in love with you -your body, your smile, your eyes hair and brain! XXXX
Ian is husband and great musicien
@@paulleman1915 trü
love zappa beefheart.....and the very sexy ruth underwood...extremley talented..
Great, Thanks!
Great! After the second round of ads, I bailed though.
Il fallait être une femme extrêmement intelligente pour jouer aussi longtemps avec Zappa. En plus, elle a beaucoup de charme. Entre Beyoncé et elle, je choisis Ruth Underwood.
I love her
Awesome! Yes yes thank you thank you!
i love ruth =P ^^'
She is so cool !
Ruth's a hottie and a half ...
Please re upload with CC activated. Thanks