Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, both released in 1972, represent an interesting and pivotal period in the life and career of Frank Zappa. The albums were recorded while Zappa was in a wheelchair, after having survived an attack onstage in London in December of 1971 at the Rainbow Theatre.
After several groundbreaking albums with the Mothers of Invention, since 1966, that established Zappa as a trailblazing musical innovator, unflinching provocateur, and unwilling counterculture hero, and one other album, a collaboration with the Abnuceals Emuukha Electric Symphony Orchestra, Waka/Jawaka, released in 1972, was the fourth solo album from Frank Zappa.
Although chronologically in his solo catalog it comes after his third solo album Chunga’s Revenge, it is actually a follow-up to his second solo album Hot Rats from 1969 (and, to a similar but lesser degree, to Burnt Weenie Sandwich from 1970, credited to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention). Also making the connection clear graphically is the cover art that depicts a sink with hot and rats instead of hot and cold.
The album’s daring first side is an electronic jazz fusion opus, that is very much a sequel to Hot Rats. By this time, jazz fusion music was beginning to make inroads with rock and jazz fans. Still, the album’s similarities to the innovative electric jazz fusion of Miles Davis turned off some rock critics, bemoaning the increasing pomposity and musical overreaching in pop and rock. However, others applauded the album and Hot Rats, as they both bolstered the view that Zappa was not just a satirist and cultural flamethrower, but instead a musician of vast gifts, who had the musical sophistication to make music from a wide range of genres and was a guitarist of virtuoso technical ability.
Side two starts off a bit closer to the kind of progressive rock and biting satire of Zappa’s work with the Mothers, and the second track even has a surprisingly period country-rock musical backdrop. With yet another long track closing the second side of the album, Zappa heads back to the kind of jazz fusion heard on side one, but with a more refined approach.
In addition to Zappa, there are 14 musicians involved with this project, including veteran British drummer Aynsley Dunbar, American country-rock pioneer and peerless pedal steel player Sneaky Pete Kleinow, and jazz pianist George Duke, along with Zappa/Mothers alumni Tony Duran, Jeff Simmons, and longtime member Don Preston.
The Grand Wazoo was the last album released through Zappa’s Bizarre Records. It is credited to Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Side one opens with the boozy, bubbly, and cheeky “For Calvin (And His Next Two Hitch-Hikers),” the only track on the album with vocals, and ends with the thirteen-minute-plus title track.
This track follows in the vein of the jazz fusion sounds heard on the previously mentioned albums, but has a warmer, more listenable musical approach that would appeal to fans of later ’70s Jan Hammer. Side two begins with the edgier fusion of the short “Cletus Awreetus-Awrightus.” “Eat That Question” and “Blessed Relief” are longer laid-back fusion tracks that make for some tasty listening and spotlight Zappa and his large band eschewing grandiose virtuoso pomposity that can sometimes mar music from the jazz fusion genre. The album was more acclaimed than Waka/Jawaka and has aged well. As the musical trend of jazz fusion is settling into a 50th anniversary mark, the album will only be up for more of a favorable reappraisal.
The supporting musical cast for The Grand Wazoo is even more expansive than that of Waka/Jawaka. Returning are Aynsley Dunbar, George Duke, Sal Marquez, Mike Altschul, Billy Byers, Erroneous (Alex Dmochowski), Tony Duran, Janet Neville-Ferguson, Don Preston, Ken Shroyer, and Joel Peskin.
The sound quality on both albums is superb and the albums were mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180-gram vinyl, and packaged in poly-lined sleeves. The gatefold reproduction of The Grand Wazoo will thrill those who remember the iconic packaging, and will be a nice addition for those who never picked up the album the first time around.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
Waka Jawaka,
B
The Grand Wazoo,
B+
