THE GRAND WAZOO: THE BIG BAND

About every song from "Waka/Jawaka" and "The Grand Wazoo" has a different group of people playing and/or overdubbing. The number of persons employed during various songs is less than you might expect from the sound, that can be like a big band, also when there are only five people credited. Apart from the overdubbing Zappa used his musicians efficiently in the sense he give each one a different instrument with its own part or - when he doubled a part - the instruments would have to be individually audible rather than melt together. In the transcription of "The grand wazoo" section below it's mostly one note played by one instrument. This is his normal approach to rock bands. Many producers however choose to record the same part with the same vocalist/instrument more than once, and then overdub it, or use a group of players to do exactly the same. It makes the sound more voluptuous, like the two Abba singers becoming something like a choir of two groups. There's no right or wrong here, it's more a matter of taste. Paul McCartney hated what "wall of sound" producer Phil Spector did to "Let it be", whereas John Lennon stated he made something out of nothing (the much later released "Let it be naked" tapes allows the public to make a choice).
The existence of some demo tapes, released as "Joe's domage", has been mentioned in the previous Waka/Jawaka section. Novelties on "Joe's domage" are "The grand wazoo" with lyrics and a second theme Zappa had in mind for this title track. He introduces it as "Another whole melodic section" before playing it on guitar with Aynsley Dunbar on drums, and considers writing out a sketch for the next meeting.

Another whole melodic section, section (midi file).

Another whole melodic section, section (transcription).

As it turned out, it went unused for "The Grand Wazoo" album. Shown above is a part of this theme, containing the central riff in bars 9-10, an irregular syncopic figure. Presented below is a section from "The grand wazoo" that starts with the tail of Zappa's guitar solo over the main vamp in D Dorian, that precedes the main theme block. The following description and transcription are based upon how it's played on the 1972 "The grand wazoo" album, included in this study since 2007. The central theme starts in bar 13 and lasts four bars. The corresponding lyrics on "Joe's domage" are "If something gets in your way, just think it over". The transcription depicts four different harmonizations of this theme, not indicating the instrumentation. Because it's led over various instrument combinations the actual sound of its performance on "The grand wazoo" is of the big band type. This was carefully planned for as you can see down below in the corresponding "Think it over" bars. Zappa notated this theme four times note by note for each instrument, indicated as blocks A-D. The lead melody by itself might be called being in A minor. The bass keeps moving, being part of the changing harmonies, rather than giving a pedal note, except for bars 17-18 and bars 25-26. Here the bass plays parallel with the lead melody. In bar 29 the second theme begins. This one also lasts four bars and gets repeated once, also in a different setting. It's a little sequence of three bars, followed by one closing bar. During this sequence a motif gets varied upon beginning a second lower each time, whereas the bass does the opposite by moving upwards with seconds. The descant melody of the motif follows a third, but the intervals (minor or major seconds) differ. It doesn't follow a specific key. Bars 37-38 are the first two bars of the third theme.

The grand wazoo, section (midi file).

The grand wazoo, section (transcription).

In 2023 I came across Zappa's original score being auctioned on internet. With hindsight this makes some of my and Ludwig's work obsolete. But about always version differences exist, so transcibing the album version as well still remains relevant. I've added the score of the opening page to the example. It corresponds with bars 9-12 of my transcription, where the repetition is left out. The intro on the album with Zappa improvising over the main vamp is something that got added along the way. Zappa could prescribe things like that in the score as well, noting the vamp and a number of bars left open for improvisations, but initially not on this occasion.



Samples from the original sheet music for "Think it over", as auctioned on internet in 2014.

Think it over, opening bars, #1 (midi file).
Think it over, opening bars, #2 (midi file).

Think it over, opening bars (transcription/score).

"Think it over" on "Joe's domage" is the predecessor of "The grand wazoo" title track, essentially the same song. As happens quite often in Zappa's output, the score and the CD versions differ in a number of ways. The midi file "Think it over, #1" represents the literal album version of "Think it over", while #2 corresponds with the album version combined with the keyboard score. The differences are:

- bars 1-4 of the score (bars 5-8 of the Grand wazoo example): the Grand wazoo vamp, later on used for soloing. It's a vamp of four bars in D Dorian. The first three bars are identical, the fourth is a minor variation. On "Joe's Domage" the chord progression is I-IV. The original score prescribes an improvised harmonic fill in, following Dm11. On "The grand wazoo" this song begins with soloing over the vamp for over a minute.
- bars 5-8 of the score (bars 9-12 of the Grand wazoo example): on "Joe's Domage" bars 1-4 repeat almost identically. The score prescribes a different progression, namely using the chords D-9 and Eb7. The second chord means that Zappa evades from the D Dorian scale to a scale with four flats, thus pretty different from the Dorian scale with all notes being natural. For the midi file #2 I'm assuming that the lead melody also plays a Db, or maybe an Eb, instead of a D, otherwise it would get dissonant. I only have page 1 of the keyboard part of the original score in a legible size, so I can't tell for sure how the entire score goes.
- bars 9-12 of the score (bars 13-16 of the Grand wazoo example): first theme. Other than on the 1972 album release, you're here having this song with lyrics. The bass line for the keyboard part goes a bit different from the bass guitar on "Joe's Domage", but the chords are pretty different. The score prescribes F2add3 - Em11 - Dm11 - G2add3 - Em9, followed by Eb7 - Gm9 for bar 12. On album none of these chords are played like that, it's a simple F - Em progression sounding in the background. Again the Eb7 chord is evasive and, for the midi file #2, again I'm assuming the lead melody plays along with this.
- bars 13-16 of the score (bars 17-20 of the Grand wazoo example): repetition of the first theme in a different set-up. Bars 13-14 of the score, as well as bars 17-18 and bars 25-26 of the Grand wazoo example, are the part of the first theme where you can say that it's in A minor. The melody has A as the central note and in these bars it gets supported by an A pedal by the bass. This does not happen in the "Think it over" version on "Joe's domage". That version can hardly by assigned to a specific scale.

Blocks A-D in the score are the four different set-ups of the first theme (bars 13-28 of the Grand wazoo example). Block E corresponds with bars 29-36 of the Grand wazoo example. Bars 37-38 of this example represent the beginning of block F. Block I is reservated for a guitar solo, lasting 16 bars. On "Joe's Domage" you're getting at:

Think it over, guitar solo section (midi file).

Think it over, guitar solo section (transcription).

For the live performances of 1972 the solo sections often got complemented with figures and chord progressions for the brass section. In this case an upgoing chord progression of triads during bars 4-8. See the "D.C. Boogie" example from the next section - bars 7-9, staff 3 - for an example of a figure. Such movements and figures were probably indicated on the spot during rehearsals, as well as the rhythm section vamps. Here it's simply D pedal. The scale is predominantly D Dorian, as at the beginning of this composition, but D Aeolian also gets touched upon. In bar 5, beat 2, bar 7 beat 4 and bar 11, beat three, a Bb is used. This is a recurrent feature in Zappa's music, happening too often to interpret this as incidentally altering notes. He frequently mingles closely related scales. See the Guitar section for an overview of the clearer examples that you can find in this study.

As said above I came across the complete original score of "Think it over" in 2023, of which the title page is shown above as "Part I, concert pitch score". The following example concerns sections G and H of this score. After the main themes have been played, the vamp gets a reprise, after which section H with what gets called a shuffle begins. I guess the term gets used because of all the triplets, comparable to the swing rhythm of "Yo' cats" (see the Mother of prevention section). The two bars of the shuffle get repeated three times, after which an improvised section begins. The shuffle bars are in B minor with the progression Bm7-G-A, as also indicated in the score. The midi file contains one repetition of the shuffle bars, corresponing with 2:13 through 2:34 on the album.

Think it over, sections G and H (midi file).
The grand wazoo, 2:23-2:54 (midi file).

Think it over, sections G and H (score).
The grand wazoo, 2:23-2:54 (transcription).

The first midi file follows the score literally. At a detail level various differences with the album version can be discerned as:
- The guitar arpeggio chords from bars 44-7 aren't played on the album, nor got they replaced by other instruments. This is also happening with the keyboard Dm11 chord from above. The total guitar arpeggio chord contains A-C-D-E-F-G over a D by the bass, thus also the Dm11 chord.
- The rhythm of bars 47 and 51 goes somewhat different (you can compare this with the example of the opening from above).
- Regarding details the shuffle gets played differently.
As also mentioned in the Waka Jawaka section, in May 2023 Jonathan Pontier sent me two of the arrangements he made for his band covering the Grand Wazoo period (image below). He also noted that the rhythm of bar 51 goes different, as well as of bar 52. So I've looked into this by trying to transcribe it from the album version rather literally and Jonathan is correct. While Zappa orginally wrote bar 52 using only triplets very strictly, this idea was left for the album. One can also notice that there's a degree of improvisation happening during bars 52-59. The band isn't following the score note by note, nor are the three repititions of bars 52-53 identical. As an arranger Jonathan can take some liberty as well and including improvised elements, as I usually do for my midi files, wouldn't make sense for a cover band. Zappa himself must have been using tracks from various takes and could change the accents with his mixing panel. Section H is in B minor, with Zappa indicating the basic chord progression as Bm7-G-A. In bar 60 a guitar solo starts, at first with the bass guitar continuing the with the figure from bar 52. From bar 64 onwards this becomes a walking bass with a keyboard improvising the harmonies, thus the standard way of soloing in jazz.



Jonathan Pontier conducting his Mega JaWooka band, July 2023.

The big band orchestra Zappa had in mind pretty much coincides with the session musicians band he managed to contract. Three guitars, however, got replaced by one rhythm guitar, and as a compensation for it, a keyboard part got added. Version differences remain. One can also notice that the vocal parts, that at one point existed, weren't initially prescribed, nor included during the final recordings. So many ways to perform "The grand wazoo" are justifiable.
"The grand wazoo (1992)" also exists as a composition from 1969/1992, included in the Outrage at Valdez section of this study. It has nothing in common with the 1972 composition from above. It features Don van Vliet, reading a part in 1969, combined with synclavier music from around 1992. In it "the grand wazoo" gets described as being the guy from the band, wearing the weirdest hat, as he's doing on the "Trout mask replica" album cover. This is also different from the "Grand wazoo" booklet, where it gets described as a type of imaginary horn.