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Ruth Underwood
Ruth Underwood (born Ruth Komanoff; May 23, 1946) is an American musician best known for playing xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, and other percussion instruments in Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. She collaborated with the Mothers of Invention from 1968 to 1977. Life and career Underwood began her music training in the classical tradition, studying both at Ithaca College under Warren Benson and at Juilliard under Saul Goodman (timpani) and Morris Goldenberg (percussion). Throughout 1967, she kept a regular attendance at the Garrick Theater in New York City when Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention were the resident band. This resulted in her association with Zappa, beginning in December 1967. In May 1969 she married keyboardist/saxophonist Ian Underwood, a fellow Zappa musician. They divorced in 1986. Professionally she used both her birth name, Ruth Komanoff, and her married name. Underwood performed in more than 30 recordings with Zappa or Mothers. Exa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa And The Mothers Of Invention
The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) were an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup comprised Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada, and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist when a fight between Collins and Hunt led to the latter's being fired. Zappa insisted they perform his original material—a decision that resulted in Coronado's leaving because he did not agree to the change—and on Mother's Day in 1965 the band changed its name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded the name be changed again, and so, "out of necessity", Zappa later said, "We became the Mothers of Invention", referencing the proverb "Necessity is the mother of invention". After early struggles, the Mothers enjoyed substantial popular commercial success. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz-rock
Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyboards that were popular in rock began to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll. Jazz fusion arrangements vary in complexity. Some employ groove-based vamps fixed to a single key or a single chord with a simple, repeated melody. Others use elaborate chord progressions, unconventional time signatures, or melodies with Hauptstimme, counter-melodies. These arrangements, whether simple or complex, typically include improvised sections that can vary in length, much like in other forms of jazz. As with jazz, jazz fusion can employ brass and woodwind instruments such as trumpet and saxophone, but other instruments often substitute for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lewiston, New York
Lewiston is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Niagara County, New York, Niagara County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis (governor), Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western border of the county. The Lewiston (village), New York, Village of Lewiston is within the town. History The Town of Lewiston was formed in 1818 from the town of Cambria, New York, Cambria. Lewiston was the first European settlement in Western New York. A French explorer by the name of Étienne Brûlé arrived in 1615. Government The Town Supervisor is Steve Broderick and the Chief of Police is Frank Previte. The Town Supervisor is considered the "Chief Fiscal Officer" for the Town. In this capacity, the officeholder oversees all finances as well as presiding at Town Board meetings, representing the Town for the Niagara County ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ambrosia (band)
Ambrosia is an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1970. Ambrosia had five Top 40 hit singles released between 1975 and 1980, including the Top 5 hits "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me", and Top 20 hits "You're the Only Woman (You & I)" and "Holdin' on to Yesterday". Most of the original band members have been active with the group continuously since their 1989 reformation to the present day, with the notable exception of original guitarist and lead vocalist David Pack who left in 2000. Ambrosia currently tours internationally and has worked in the past and present with Alan Parsons, Bruce Hornsby, Bill Champlin, Michael McDonald (singer), Michael McDonald, and Peter Beckett among other notable artists. Formation The group was founded as a quartet with guitarist/vocalist David Pack, bassist/vocalist Joe Puerta, keyboardist Christopher North (Ambrosia), Christopher North and drummer Burleigh Drummond. According to Joe Puerta, their original name was " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Session Musician
A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a tour. Session musicians are usually not permanent or official members of a musical ensemble or band. Many session musicians specialize in playing common rhythm section instruments such as guitar, piano, bass, or drums. Others are specialists, and play brass, woodwinds, and strings. Many session musicians play multiple instruments, which lets them play in a wider range of musical situations, genres, and styles. Examples of "doubling" include double bass and electric bass, acoustic guitar and mandolin, piano and accordion, and saxophone and other woodwind instruments. Session musicians are used when musical skills are needed on a short-term basis. Typically, session musicians are used by recording studios to provide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and Ringo Starr. A soundtrack album was released in the same year, with a slightly different selection of music. Plot The film attempts to portray the craziness of life on the road as a rock musician, and as such consists of a series of unconnected nonsense vignettes interspersed with concert footage of the Mothers of Invention. Ostensibly, while on tour The Mothers of Invention go crazy in the small fictional town of Centerville ("a real nice place to raise your kids up"), wander around, and get beaten up in "Redneck Eats", a cowboy bar. In an animated interlude passed off as a "dental hygiene movie", bassist "Jeff", tired of playing what he refers to as "Zappa's comedy music", is persuaded by his bad consci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Size Fits All (Frank Zappa Album)
''One Size Fits All'' is the fourteenth album by the Mothers of Invention, and the twentieth overall album by Frank Zappa, released in June 1975. The album reached #26 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in the United States in August 1975. Band The album features the summer/fall 1974 lineup of the Mothers of Invention, with keyboardist/vocalist George Duke, drummer Chester Thompson, percussionist Ruth Underwood, bass guitarist Tom Fowler and saxophonist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock. “Can’t Afford No Shoes” features bassist James Youman, who temporarily joined when Fowler broke his hand while on tour (an incident referenced by Zappa in the credits). Album content The album features one of Zappa's most complex tracks, "Inca Roads". The basic tracks of this piece originated from a TV recording at the KCET studios in Los Angeles on August 27, 1974, while the guitar solo came from a concert in Helsinki on September 22 or 23, 1974. "Florentine Pogen"'s basic tracks were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inca Roads (song)
"Inca Roads" is the opening track of the Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention 1975 album, '' One Size Fits All''. The song features unusual time signatures, lyrics and vocals. The marimba-playing of Zappa's percussionist Ruth Underwood is featured prominently. The song was played in concert from 1970 to 1976, 1979 and 1988. Themes Inca Roads is based on Erich von Däniken’s book “ Chariots of the Gods?”, published in 1968 in which he proposes the theory that the Nazca Lines, in Peru, were used as a landing strip for aliens, In the spoken introduction to Inca Roads (separately tracked as “Carved in the Rock”), performed on the 9th December 1973 and released on the album “ Roxy by Proxy” in 2014, Zappa states... “Now, some of you might have read a book called Chariots of the Gods?, by Erich Von Däniken, and there's a little thing in there, it's a picture of this area in the Andes called the plains of Nazca, ladies and gentlemen. And, uh, there's these carvi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxy & Elsewhere
''Roxy & Elsewhere '' is a double live album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers, released on September 10, 1974. Most of the songs were recorded on December 8, 9 and 10, 1973 at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California. Overview The material taken from the Roxy concerts was later amended with some overdubs in the studio, while the "Elsewhere" tracks ("Son of Orange County" and "More Trouble Every Day") were recorded on May 8, 1974, at the Edinboro State College, Edinboro, Pennsylvania (and parts of "Son of Orange County" on May 11, 1974, at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, Illinois ate show and do not contain overdubbed material. History Album The album primarily comprised recordings from three shows at the Roxy Theater in Hollywood, and featured tracks never before or thereafter released on any Zappa/Mothers album. The opening track, "Penguin in Bondage", is edited together from performances at the Roxy and the Chicago date with the guitar solo derived from the 12-8-73 soun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apostrophe (')
''Apostrophe (')'' is the fifth solo album and eighteenth in total by Frank Zappa, released in March 1974 in both stereo and quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, " Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was the first of Zappa's three ''Billboard'' Top 100 hits, ultimately peaking at number 86. The album itself became the biggest commercial success of Zappa's career, reaching number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Overview ''Apostrophe (')'' remains Zappa's most commercially successful album in the United States. It was certified gold by the RIAA on April 7, 1976 and peaked at number 10 (a career-high placement) on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart in 1974. Continuing from the commercial breakthrough of '' Over-Nite Sensation'' (1973), this album is a similar mix of short songs showcasing Zappa's humor and musical arrangements. The record's lyrical themes are often bizarre or obscure, with the exception of "Uncle Remus", which is an extension of Zappa's feelings on ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Married Name
When a person (traditionally the wife in many cultures) assumes the Surname, family name of their spouse, in some countries and cultures that name replaces the person's previous surname, which in the case of the wife is called the maiden name ("birth name" is also used as a gender-neutral or masculine substitute for maiden name), whereas a married name is a family name or surname adopted upon marriage. In some jurisdictions, Name change, changing names requires a legal process. When people marry or divorce, the legal aspects of changing names may be simplified or included, so that the new name is established as part of the legal process of marrying or divorcing. Traditionally, in the English-speaking world, Anglophone Western world, West, women are far more likely to change their surnames upon marriage than men, but in some instances men may change their last names upon marriage as well, including same-sex marriage, same-sex couples. In this article, ''birth name'', ''family nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ian Underwood
Ian Robertson Underwood (born May 22, 1939) is a woodwind and keyboards player, known as a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention. Following the original band's split in late 1969, Underwood continued to work with Zappa extensively during the 1970s. Biography Underwood graduated from The Choate School in 1957 and Yale University with a bachelor's degree in composition in 1961 and a master's degree in composition at UC Berkeley in 1966. He began his career by playing San Francisco Bay Area coffeehouses and bars with his improvisational group, the Jazz Mice, in the mid-1960s before he became a member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1967 for their third studio album, ''We're Only in It for the Money''. He speaks on '' Uncle Meat''; on the track "Ian Underwood Whips It Out" he relates how he first met Zappa and demonstrated his capabilities on the saxophone at Zappa's invitation. Underwood later worked with Frank Zappa on his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
