''Waka/Jawaka'' (also known as ''Waka/Jawaka — Hot Rats'') is the fourth solo

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

by Frank Zappa, released in July 1972. The album is the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

-influenced precursor to ''

The Grand Wazoo ''The Grand Wazoo'' is the eighth studio album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, released in November 1972. It was written and recorded during Zappa's period of convalescence after being assaulted in December 1971 in London, UK. Overview Along wi ...

'' (November 1972), and as the front cover indicates, a sequel of sorts to 1969's '' Hot Rats''. According to Zappa, the title "is something that showed up on a

ouija board The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and grap ...

at one time."

Songs

"Big Swifty" is a jazz-fusion tune, similar to many of Zappa's pieces from the jazz period of his compositional timeline. It features many horns to achieve a thick brassy sound as well as room for improvisation and use of multiple time signatures. The tune initially alternates between and time signatures, soon settling on a swing feel for several extended solos. Known recorded live versions expanded rhythmic diversification to and

rubato Tempo rubato (, , ; 'free in the presentation', literally ) is a musical term referring to expressive and rhythmic freedom by a slight speeding up and then slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the discretion of the soloist or the conductor. Ru ...

parts (e.g. live in Texas, 1973). The track "It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal" is a strange tale of hallucinations sung by Sal Marquez and Janet Ferguson (the "tough-minded" groupie in ''

200 Motels ''200 Motels'' is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, T ...

''). Sneaky Pete Kleinow's pedal steel guitar sets up a dream-like, smooth quality, but with the words "but you should be diggin' it while it's happening cause it just might be a one-shot deal", though played in real time rather than achieved with a splice, it again sounds as if the music has started to run backwards.Page 199; Frank Zappa: "The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play" by Ben Watson, ''St. Martin's Griffin, New York'', 1995

Critical reception

Reviewing in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "With Sal Marquez playing 'many trumpets' all over 'Big Swifty,' there are times you could drop the needle and think you were listening to recent

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...

. That's certainly what Zappa's been doing. But where Davis is occasionally too loose, Zappa's always too tight—he seems to perceive only what is weird and alienating in his influences, never what is humane. Also, Sal Marquez doesn't play trumpet(s) as good as Miles."

Reissues

It was reissued in a digitally remastered version on CD by Rykodisc in 1986 (with much digital reverb added and missing the back cover artwork) and in 1995 (restoring the rear cover, but with identical sound). In 2012, Universal Music released a CD containing a remastered version of the original vinyl mix. On December 16th, 2022, Universal Music released Dolby Atmos & Dolby TrueHD mix of this album along with The Grand Wazoo album as part of a 4CD+1blu-ray set named Waka/Wazoo to celebrate 50th Anniversary of the albums. The album also got released in Black & Colored vinyl to celebrate 50th Anniversary.

Track listing

All songs written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.

Personnel

Musicians on the album

* Frank Zappa –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

(all tracks, including acoustic guitar on track 3),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

(1), electric bed springs (3), uncredited

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

(3) * Sal Marquez –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s (all tracks), vocals (2, 3),

chimes Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...

(1, 4), flugelhorn (4) * Erroneous (Alex Dmochowski) –

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

(all tracks), vocals (3), fuzz bass (4) * Aynsley Dunbar – drums (all tracks), washboard (3),

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

(3) * Tony Duran – slide guitar (1, 2, 3), vocals (3) * George Duke – ring-modulated & echoplexed electric piano (1),

tack piano A tack piano (also known as a harpsipiano, jangle piano, and junk piano) is an altered version of an ordinary piano, in which objects such as thumbtacks or nails are placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the ha ...

(2) * Mike Altschul – baritone saxophone (2, 4), piccolo (2, 4), bass flute (4), bass clarinet (4),

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the Alto saxophone, alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key ...

(4) * Kris Peterson – vocals (2, 4) * Joel Peskin – tenor sax (2) * Jeff Simmons –

Hawaiian guitar Hawaiian guitar may refer to: *Lap steel guitar, a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap *Ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ...

(3), vocals (3) *

Sneaky Pete Kleinow Peter E. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (August 20, 1934 – January 6, 2007) was an American country-rock musician. He is best known as a member of the band The Flying Burrito Brothers and as a session musician playing pedal steel guitar for such ar ...

– pedal steel guitar solo (3) * Janet Ferguson – vocals (3) *

Don Preston Donald Ward Preston (born September 21, 1932) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist. He is known for working with Frank Zappa from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. Biography Preston was born into a family of musicians in Detroit and began st ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

(4), Minimoog (4) *

Billy Byers William Mitchell Byers (May 1, 1927 – May 1, 1996) was an American jazz trombonist and arranger. Early life Byers was born in Los Angeles on May 1, 1927. He suffered from arthritis from a young age and was unable to continue his plans of a care ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

(4), baritone horn (4) * Ken Shroyer – trombone (4), baritone horn (4)

Production

* Producer: Frank Zappa * Engineers: Marshall Brevitz, Kerry McNabb * Mastering: Frank Zappa * Supervisor: Marshall Brevitz * Concept: Sal Marquez * Creative consultant: Sal Marquez * Design:

Cal Schenkel Calvin "Cal" Schenkel (born January 27, 1947, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania) is an American illustrator, graphic designer, animator and comics artist, specializing in album cover design. He was the main graphic arts collaborator for rock musician F ...

* Cover Design: Cal Schenkel * Cover illustration: Marvin Mattelson * Illustrations: Marvin Mattelson * Photography: Philip Schartz * Back cover: Philip Schwartz * Packaging: Cal Schenkel * Repackaging: Ferenc Dobronyi

Charts

References

External links

Release details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waka Jawaka 1972 albums Albums produced by Frank Zappa Frank Zappa albums Jazz fusion albums by American artists Reprise Records albums