Zappatistas is a Frank Zappa tribute band, composed of a group of British jazz musicians led by guitarist John Etheridge, who is perhaps best known for his work with Soft Machine in the 1970s. Since then, he's played with classicist violinist Nigel Kennedy, and other former Soft Machine stalwarts such as Elton Dean and John Marshall, and with Stephane Grappelli. I don't know too much about the other band members, with the exception of Annie Whitehead, who runs her own band and is considered as Britain's finest female trombone players (though I must admit I couldn't name any others).
I'm no particular fan of Frank Zappa, but I saw the Zappatistas live a couple of years ago at a local club and I thought they were tremendous. Unfortunately, they have made only one recording, which I think is no longer available. Also, their gigs are few and far between, as I expect the musicians don't want to become typecast into a tribute repetoire. I obtained this recording from a bit torrent, originating from a German FM broadcast. It was an old torrent file, only 2 seeds so it took over a week to download it, but well worth it as this is a rare example of the band's recorded work.
Considering that Zappa was thought to live much of his life under a drug-induced depression, much of his music is "jolly". There are some really good tunes in this work.
Personnel and setlist:
Zappatistas - 2003/10/03 concert : "Cool Rats - Hot Licks!" at the Jazz Festival Frankfurt, Germany
John Etheridge: guitar
Steve Lodder: keyboard
Annie Whithead: trombone
Teena Lyle: percussion
Simon Bates: tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax, flute
Paul Jayasinha: trumpet
Rob Statham: bass
Mike Bradley: drums
1.Radio Intro 01:44
02.peaches en regalia 07:37
03.Big Swiffty 10:13
04.let's make the water turn black 03:49
05.sofa#1 02:29
06.eat that question 02:38
07.sexual harrassment in the workplace 04:19
08.king kong 06:42
09.Introduction to the band 04:40
10.sleep dirt 06:33
11.harry you're a beast / lumpy gravy 07:53
12.oh no 01:47
13.I am the slime 08:59
14.we are not alone 05:35
Some of the tracks finish a bit abruptly - tracks 6,7, and 8 are a medley which have been split up a little inappropriately, though hopefully this will not spoil your enjoyment too much.
FM recording ripped at 320 VBR. Thanks to "boomboom" on dimedozen for initial seeding.
http://rapidshare.com/files/48139139/Zappatistas.part1.rar.htmlhttp://rapidshare.com/files/48141570/Zappatistas.part2.rar.html