Ask any serious fan of the late Frank Zappa which of his many touring and recording groups is their favorite, and they're likely to nominate his jazz-flavored big bands. This is hardly surprising, since the brilliant and prolific composer was inspired by these groups to write some of his greatest music. But due to the technical proficiency and instrumentation required to perform his large-ensemble compositions, Zappa's big-band tours were brief, and they were seen by relatively few people, mostly during the early 1970s.
In the late 1990s, New York City bandleader Ed Palermo began his legendary residency at the Bottom Line club in Greenwich Village. Leading a 21-piece big band which drew from New York City's finest players, Palermo introduced his remarkable arrangements of Zappa compositions. An instant hit, the EPBB appeared regularly at the Bottom Line for nearly ten years, often featuring guest spots by former Zappa sidemen such as Mike Keneally, Ike Willis, and Napoleon Murphy Brock, as well as many members of New York's musical elite. The accolades -- from audiences and critics alike -- kept pouring in; as a former Zappa associate put it, "Ed's arrangements of Frank's music make it sound the way Frank wished it had."
In addition to diehard Zappa devotees, the Palermo band also acquired a large following among non-Zappa fans, most of whom were hearing and appreciating the music for the first time. As Palermo told an interviewer, "Zappa obscured a lot of his gorgeous melodies with weird sound effects that sound like belches and flatulence. He loved the fact that one had to see beyond the 'ugliness' to get to the beauty. Add to that the scatological nature of his lyrics, and. you've turned off a lot of listeners. I, personally, love this about Zappa, but some people don't want to take the time to delve. Most of my audience at the Zappa shows are male, and I'm constantly approached by their girlfriends with, "I always hated Zappa until I heard your band. I never knew the melodies were so beautiful!""
2001 marked a turning point in the Ed Palermo band's career: that year saw Candy Zappa's first appearance with the band. An accomplished singer with a long and distinguished resume, Candy had been performing her brother Frank's music since the age of thirteen; even before that, he had taught her to play the guitar and encouraged her to work on her own music. She met Ed during a visit to New York, and he suggested that she sit in with the band for a few songs at their next Bottom Line show.
The chemistry between singer and band was so powerful that Candy began headlining with them regularly. Audiences were ecstatic to hear Frank's little sister belting out favorites like "Cosmik Debris" and "Directly From My Heart To You," backed by the full firepower of Ed's take-no-prisoners arrangements. Now not only was it possible to hear better-than-the-originals versions of FZ's most beloved repertoire, but the band performing it was fronted by a Zappa!
In 2002, Candy joined with guitarist/composer Nigey Lennon (a former musical collaborator of Frank Zappa's and author of the memoir Being Frank: My Time with Frank Zappa) and Palermo band vocalist/composer John Tabacco (both of whom had appeared with Candy at Ed's Bottom Line shows) to form Lennon/Tabacco/Zappa, adding original music by Lennon and Tabacco, as well as by Candy herself, to the mix. Shortly afterward, Lennon/Tabacco/Zappa and the Ed Palermo band were the featured performers at the 13th annual Zappanale festival in Bad Doberan, Germany. Despite other riveting festival appearances by former FZ band members, the Palermo band and Lennon/Tabacco/Zappa (performing together and separately) were universally hailed as the hit of the three-day festival, bringing audiences to their feet with encore after encore.
Now Candy Zappa, Ed Palermo, Nigey Lennon, and John Tabacco have again joined forces to present ZAPPA SINGS ZAPPA, a two-hour concert experience featuring Candy's spine-tingling vocal renditions of her brother's songs, along with original compositions in the Zappa spirit, composed by Nigey Lennon and John Tabacco. As always, Ed Palermo's arrangements are superbly performed by his hand-picked band. The rich program includes many of Ed's most popular FZ reworkings, as well as some world premieres. Nigey Lennon is featured on guitar and vocals, and John Tabacco continues in his role as the Palermo band's 'swell vocalist' -- a position he has occupied since 2002.
There's something to be said for family ties. Candy Zappa has been living and breathing her brother Frank's music for decades, and her white-hot vocals sometimes uncannily echo FZ's equally fiery guitar performances. And there's no doubt in her mind that her brother would have approved of ZAPPA SINGS ZAPPA. "Performing with Ed and his band is like being in a dream," she says. "Whenever I sing with them, I can see Frank right down front, beating his knee and grinning up at me."
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