guitarist, bandleader, and all around musician who was one of the

greatest iconoclastic musicians of the 20th Century. He also produced

over 60 albums in 30 years. Some considered him to have demonstrated a

mastery of pop idioms ranging from jazz to rock of every conceivable

variety. As astute an entrepreneur as he was a musician, he was

impatient with any division between popular and high art; he combined

scatological humor with political wit, required of his players an

intimidating skill, and displayed consistent innovation in

instrumental and studio technology. “I knew there was a big thing here

that was unique, because the beat matched the great rhythm of the

human body.” (Frank Zappa, The New Rock; p.1)

He was born in 1940 in Baltimore where his Sicilian-born,

Greek-Arab meteorologist father was employed by an arsenal that

manufactured poison gas during World War II. The eldest of four

children of a guitar-playing government scientist, Frank Zappa moved

with his family at age ten to California. At the age of twelve Zappa

became interested in drums, learning orchestral percussion. By 1956 he

rigorous work schedule. And in May 1993 Zappa, clearly weak from

a piece of non-synchronous music) and produced intriguing results on

and Bunk Gardner, united to form the Grandmothers. “They did

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