JUST ANOTHER BAND FROM L.A. - CARNEGIE HALL - FINER MOMENTS: SEQUENCES AND TEMPO CHANGES

All of side A is taken up by "Billy the mountain", lasting almost 25 minutes. Live versions could be much longer, as for instance the "Carnegie hall" issue by the ZFT shows. To the right an outtake from the album cover with a hamburger by Sherm Thomson, and band members in a car drawn over it by Cal Schenkel. Of Zappa himself you can see his broken leg sticking out.
"Billy the mountain" from "Playground Psychotics/Just another band from L.A." is one of the lyrically oriented live pieces. It mostly a normal tonal piece, except for one section during the opening where it shifts into some atonal bars. The first example below is this opening with three sections:
- Bars 1-5 in Db Lydian. In 2000 I intended to include the opening till bar 16, but couldn't figure out how the meters and rhythm of the clarinet figures from the beginning should best be notated. Either I couldn't play it equal or it would look weird. In 2015 a paper by Matthew Ferrandino appeared with an analysis and full transcription of "Billy the mountain". In it bars 1-5 look normal, so I looked into this anew. The solution for the notation of the clarinet figures can be found in the third block from the example below, bars 21-23. Here these figures return with lyrics, played over a steady bass vamp. For the second figure the rhythm goes as a sixtuplet, followed by a quintuplet, followed by a triplet, thus quite complicated. So it gets logical that it should be notated like this during the opening as well. Now it tuns out that Ian Underwood is playing the tail of his clarinet melody slowing down. So it's this ritardando element that was causing me these notational problems.
The notation by Matthew Ferrandino of this particular figure is that different, that it can hardly be transcribed from the album. Possibly it's taken over from an example of Zappa's own scores. This figure is also present during the opening of the "New brown clouds", included in the Wazoo section of my study. About that version Zappa writes in the Wazoo booklet: "There's a crumpled version of the theme from "Billy the mountain" in the beginning which might provide some form of conceptual link to our last concert here (if you go for stuff like that)". This "New brown clouds" version is an augmented form of the way Matthew is notating it here. So it's possible that an original score in the shape of Matthew's example exists, with the actual performance on "Just another band from L.A." being a version difference with the speed and rhythm being changed. An "isomelism" as Brett Clement would say.
- Bars 6-16. This section with the lyrics "(Postcar)-dy mountain ..." till "... Rosamon" has become atonal. As in the "Penis dimension" sequence from below, for the higher descant voice the intervals are chromatically repeated from "-dy" to "love-". The interval movement is 1-3 (as the number of minor seconds between the notes), being C#-C-A, B-Bb-G and A-Ab-F. In 2000 I transcribed it from "Playground psychotics" with Howard Kaylan singing the higher voice along with the clarinet and Mark Volman singing sometimes the same notes and sometimes the lower notes. The "Just another band from L.A." version is about identical.
- Bars 17-23. One of the vamping figures from "Billy the mountain". It's diatonic again, but in a rather flexible manner with notes altering, not attributable to specific keys. In this study I mostly notate such bars in 12/8 instead of 4/4 with triplets all the time. In this case there's also a tempo change involved, so continuing in 4/4 makes it better readable.

Billy the Mountain, 0:05-1:06 (midi file).
Number 7, opening (midi file).

Billy the Mountain, 0:05-1:06 (transcription).
Number 7, opening (notes).

Zappa wrote several pieces of chamber music that only got general titles as "Exercise #4", "Numbers 6 and 7" and "Opus 5", the latter being part of the "Mount St. Mary" program from 1963. They could get incorporated in songs with regular titles, while others are possibly still resting in Zappa's archive. "Numbers 6 and 7" are (or were) on the Barfko Swill list with available scores at www.zappa.com. Both were premiered after Zappa's death. "Number 6" can be found on a CD by "Prophetic attitude". A piano reduction of the opening of "Number 7" is present in an article in the Dutch magazine "Mens en melodie" by Barend Tromp (June 2000). It's played on the "Music by Frank Zappa" CD by the "Omnibus Wind Ensemble" (1995). All tracks on this CD are arrangements that sometimes follow the notes of the original quite literally, at other instances it's done with an amount of liberty. Because of that I can't tell for sure what the composition as a whole was intended to be by Zappa himself. The lead melody in staff 1 is a sequence, following the diatonic scale descendingly. For that reason it's included in this section (it's unknown when Zappa wrote this piece). It's made up of cells of two and three notes, thus avoiding the movement to become too much linear and creating odd meters. Of the other three voices the bass sounds as a counterpoint line and the two middle voices create harmonies with the main melody. They are not in the diatonic scale of staff 1, so the composition as a whole becomes atonal. It's the combination of the bass line and these harmonies that make this piece an interesting miniature. The original instrumentation is for wind quintet, thus one of the four parts gets doubled. The rhythm is using the eighth note as a time unit all through and the piece is played slowly. For Zappa standards that's rather static and uncharacteristic of his music. The set-up is also such that it could be played on a church organ by one person, with some notes transposed an octave. Above to the left an outtake of a photo by LFI with the Mothers standing in front of the Albert Hall (1971). They played in this hall in 1968 (with "Loui Loui" appearing on "Uncle meat"), but got banned in 1971.

Live "Billy the Mountain" normally lasted between 30 and 40 minutes. Zappa brought it back to 25 minutes so that it could fit on one side of the original vinyl edition of "Just another band from L.A." To do this the soloing in it had to be skipped. In the "Playground psychotics" version it can be heard with these solos. Several more versions would become available with two ZFT releases, "Carnegie Hall" and "The Mothers 1971". Band members would play on turn and sometimes Zappa himself too.

Billy the Mountain (6-6-1971, show 2), 26:06-26:32 (midi file).

Billy the Mountain (6-6-1971, show 2), 26:06-26:32 (transcription).

The example above is from the June 6th late show, one of the concerts included in "The Mothers 1971". This one includes a guitar solo by Zappa. It's a fine solo and perhaps more could have been done with this material when Zappa had had more time. All these solos are using the I-II alternation in C Lydian, which would get used more often later on, as for instance during "Inca roads".

Very roughly "Billy the mountain" can be subdivided into five blocks, with the times from "Just another band from L.A." being:
- 0:00 Block I: opening as described/transcribed above.
- 0:43 Block II: Billy the mountain vamp (0:43-0:46) and central theme in Ab (3:05-3:42), followed by and alternated with a number of side themes and narrative episodes.
- 11:16 Block III: Studebacher Hoch part.
- Not included is Block IV, solos by band members plus some reprises from block III.
- 21:20 Block V: Finale.
- 24:46 End.



Sample from Zappa's script for "Billy the mountain" with Studebaker Hog being spelled as "Studebacher Hoch".

Billy the Mountain, 20:02-20:29 (midi file).

Billy the Mountain, 20:02-20:29 (transcription).

The narrative parts tend to dominate the piece, making it a mixture of literature and music. There are some sections, where the music stands central for a longer period. The example above stems from the section from 19:39 through 21:20 with a number of themes. The transcribed bars comprehend:
- bar 1: instrumental bar in 4/4 and G Mixolydian.
- bars 2-5: four times a bar in D with the lyrics following the same rhythm. In this case Flo and Eddie are mostly singing the same notes (the dissonant F#-G combination being a notable exception). See above and below for how they can differentiate.
- bars 6-9: two times a phrase of two bars in D Mixolydian. The harmonies are a mixture of I and VII, as triads and sus-chords.
- bar 10: a pattern breaking bar in 13/8. Here the rhythm follows the syllables of the lyrics with exact eighth notes. This is between musical and speech-wise singing. Musically the lyrics are written in a manner to be able to be adapted to the rhythm of a song. Zappa could also compose speech-wise, where the music adapts itself to the rhythm of spoken language. This is a third approach he applied only a few times. The text determines the 13/8 meter, but the syllables of the words are pronounced as eighth notes in a rather mechanical manner. It starts as if still continuing in D Mixolydian, but ends chromatically.
- bar 11: return to the phrase from bars 6-9.

The structure of "Billy the mountain" is described more detailedly in the mentioned study by Matthew Ferrandino. Next is his global overview of the structure and two examples of musical quotations.

Examples from the paper by M. Ferrandino.

Matthew subdivides the total into two main sections, one with Billy standing central, and the other featuring Studebacher Hoch. Next he distinguishes arias (musical themes), recitatives and musical quotations. His first recitative is my atonal sequence from above. I'm experiencing that part as very musical, though one might also argue that it functions as a recitative within the story. The first musical quotation is citing a progression from "Star sprangled banner", the U.S. national anthem, that has its origins in "The anacreontic song" by John Stafford Smith. The second musical quotation concerns "Suite: Judy blue eyes" by Stephen Still. For most of it Stephen's song is followed as it is, also the lead melody over the vamp. Of course the lyrics and guitar improvisations in this specific context are by Zappa.

SEQUENCES

Sequences in the classical sense can turn up in a number of shapes. Below I'm listing a series of examples from this study, subdivided into four categories. Some instances contain only one return of a motif ("Central scrutinizer"), others can include a series ("Five-five-FIVE"). Because of the shape of a diatonic scale, repetitions of a motif on a different pitch can easily lead to the need of a minor change if you want to stay within the same scale. A minor second can become a major second or the other way round. Literal transpositions of the intervals can lead to a more chromatic or multi-scale oriented situation.
1) Returning motifs within one scale with minor variations.
- "Son of Suzy Creamcheese" (9/8 bar with three major triads).
- "Jelly roll gum drop", theme two.
- "Prelude to King Kong", bars 10-16.
- "King Kong", bars 1-4.
- "Road tapes #3", track I.12 example, bars 1-3.
- "Magic fingers", theme one, phrase two.
- "The idiot bastard son", theme one, bars 4-12.
- "San Ber'dino" example, bars 12-19.
2) Returning motifs through varying scales with minor variations.
- Theme one from "How could I be such a fool".
- "Brown shoes don't make it", second example, bars 4-10.
- Theme C from "What's the ugliest part of your body?"
- "The grand wazoo" example, bars 29-36.
3) Returning motifs where the intervals are repeated literally (transpositions).
- "Aybe sea", bars 9-12.
- "Peaches en regalia", theme three.
- "Can't afford no shoes", chord pattern of the chorus.
- "Lemme take you to the beach", theme one, bars 1-8.
- "RDNZL", first example.
- "Zoot allures", central theme, bars 22-32.
- "Central scrutinizer" example, bars 5-7.
- "Why does it hurt when I pee?" example, bars 9-11.
- "Five-five-FIVE" example.
- "N-lite" example, bar 8.
4) Returning motifs in an atonal environment.
- "The rejected Mexican pope leaves the stage", bars 29-32.
- "Penis dimension" (see below).
- "Billy the mountain" (see above).
- "Dupree's paradise" (1974), main theme, bars 1-4.
- "Drowning witch", fifth example.
W. Ludwig lists his examples of sequences on pages 234-235 of his study. You can also find series of variations upon the movement of a motif in Zappa's music. Not sequences in the strict classical sense, but in the more general meaning of a series of similar items. To mention three examples from the Them or us section of this study:
- "Marque-Son's chicken" example, bars 7-18.
- "Sinister footwear I", second example.
- "Sinister footwear II", first example.