TRANCE-FUSION: CHROMATIC NOTES AND QUARTER-TONES
The omens for another guitar album from
the 1988 tour were unfavourable. Since the previous 1984 tour Zappa
was composing on the synclavier and he wasn't that eager to start playing again. It was also said
that tensions within the band around bass player Scott Thunes prevented Zappa from playing the normal amount
of solos. So when the existence of "Trance-fusion" got confirmed by the ZFT I felt surprised. The almost
permanent delay of its release also suggested that there was something dubious about this collection.
But this is not the case. It's once more Zappa selecting the best solos at the same level as before.
Scott Thunes may have been a pain
in the ass to some, but his bass part in the examples in this section is fine. Here he keeps
varying the vamps, so that it doesn't become a mechanic repetition. Regarding style "Trance-fusion" offers
more of the same. Normally that would be a negative qualification, except when the same means excellence.
A lot has already been said about the solos in the preceding Shut up 'n play yer guitar and Guitar sections.
There you find a list of all solos with their modes and types of accompaniments. Still "Trance-fusion"
offers some new angles, some of them being indicated below. The album cover shows Zappa's name shining into the sea
with dolphins forming his mustache and goatee (outtake above).
1. Chunga's revenge
Nine of the sixteen solos from "Trance-fusion" stem from the 1988 tour. So the accent lies on Zappa's last live solos. Only a few times he would return to playing a guitar solo afterwards. See the Documentaries and Dance me this sections for examples. "Chunga's revenge" has a written introduction and a vamp, going back to 1970. Two versions of this introduction are included in this study. Zappa's own original version from "Chunga's revenge" and one released by the ZFT, re-named as "Chunga basement". The song was included in a couple of setlists from 1970 onwards, allowing both Zappa and band members to solo. The "Rhythm guitar solo" from my Joe's menage section is an outtake from a 1975 performance, at that point not directly related to the vamp anymore. This 1988 version features Frank and Dweezil soloing together.
2. Bowling on Charen
The other seven tracks cover the period 1977-1984. "Bowling on Charen" is the oldest solo, going back to the Halloween concerts from 1977 when "Baby snakes" got filmed. It's an unusual solo, made up of three blocks. It gets amply dealt with in the Baby snakes section of this study with three examples from these different sections. It's part of a "Wild love" performance, where band members got a chance to improvise. Zappa's "Bowling on Charen" solo is sort of an intermezzo during this song, totally unrelated to the other parts. Since the ZFT released all six concerts around Halloween 1977 on a stick, it's possible to hear a number of variants upon this solo.
3. Good Lobna
Even after the massive amount of 1982-4 solos as released on "Guitar" there was still more
material of interest from that period to be included in an official CD. "Good Lobna" is a short outtake from a 1984 solo.
It begins with everybody using only a limited number of figures. This is unusual in Zappa's output and
it makes transcribing it easy for a change.
Good Lobna, opening (midi file).
Good Lobna, opening (transcription).
This section might be called a mild form of bitonality. As I've mentioned in the Burnt weeny sandwich
section, the keys in Zappa's music are largely determined by bass pedal notes. In this case it becomes F# Dorian. Zappa himself is focusing
on D#, thus playing as if in D# Locrian. The keyboard simply plays two minor thirds upon F# and G#. So the whole doesn't sound simple
harmonically. Instead of confirming the keynote by the bass, the guitar and keyboard parts are putting their accents on other notes from
the F# Dorian scale. This goes for the opening only (0:00 through 0:16). After these bars things are returning to normal. Bitonality becomes
more explicit when you've got parts following non-overlapping scales. In this study this is happening in "Uncle rhebus" (Uncle Meat section) and
"That's not really a shuffle" (Guitar section).
4. A cold dark matter
Most guitar solos are outtakes from songs. Only when a solo had a written opening theme or a written opening by the band, Zappa
would play it by itself ("Ancient armaments" being one of the rare exceptions). "Heavy duty judy", "Watermelon in Easter hay" and "Black napkins" are some examples
with written themes, included in this study. Which songs the solos are taken from is mostly known
by circumstantial sources, namely the bootleg circuit as described in the Live recordings section from my left menu.
Though originally played as larger instrumental interludes of songs, the solos are in every aspect independent
compositions by themselves. First they aren't directly related to the thematic material from the songs
that they are part of, nor do they follow chord progressions from these songs. Without the information, that can be derived from the
bootlegs, it would have been impossible to figure out where they stem from.
In fact the solos are interchangeable as it comes to their inclusion in songs. Secondly Zappa treated them as
individual compositions by giving them titles of their own and compiling three CDs with guitar solos without
any reference to the songs they were part of. I'm not a bootleg collector myself and I can only take
the mentioned song contexts for granted. I'm having problems with listening to an inferior sound quality, but mostly I'm afraid
it could get frustrating. When encountering something of interest it would be inadmissible for this study. Strictly
by law bootlegs are illegal as a source, which means that any example taken from it is illegal as well. That bootlegs
can contain material of importance is demonstrated by the examples from the "Beat the boots" series in this study, the bootlegs that
got legalized by Zappa himself to spoil the bootleg market.
"A cold dark matter" is another Inca roads solo featuring the I-II alternation in C Lydian. "Inca roads" was included in quite a few setlists, but not
released live till "The best band you never heard before in your life" from 1991. Other examples of this alternation, as included in this study, are:
- "Holiday in Berlin, full blown (Burnt weeny sandwich).
- "Inca roads" (YCDTOSA vol. II).
- "Occam's razor" (One shot deal).
- "Shut up 'n play yer guitar".
- "Gee, I like you pants" (Shut up 'n play yer guitar).
- "The return of the son of Shut up 'n play yer guitar".
- "System of edges" (Guitar).
It can't be taken for granted, however, that a I-II alternation in C Lydian stems from an Inca roads solo. "Pick me, I'm clean" is from the same
period, doing the same. Pieces preceding "Inca roads", using this type of accompaniment, are "Holiday in Berlin" and "Billy the mountain". The latter
for a keyboard solo.
A cold dark matter, fragment (midi file).
A cold dark matter, fragment (transcription).
The example above is played between 2:58 and 3:11. It breaks the I-II pattern with the bass following C-D-E-F for a change. Up till the fourth beat
of bar four, Zappa is using only three notes, D, E and F, while varying the rhythm constantly.
Image above: part of the FZ photo by Bruce Hilliard, Trance-fusion CD sheet.
5. Butter or cannons
"Butter or cannons" is one of the few exceptions to what I just said about the previous track. Here you can hear its relationship with a song during the solo itself. Here the connection with the song it stems from is direct, being
"Let's move to Cleveland". One of the themes from this song returns during
1:05 through 1:16 of the solo and gets varied upon at 1:40 through 1:45.
Butter or cannons, 1:26-1:41 (midi file).
Butter or cannons, 1:26-1:41 (transcription).
"Butter or cannons" is a good example of chromaticism. The bass is using C-Gb-Eb, while the guitar begins with playing around Bb-Cb. The C can be seen
as a pedal note, but nowhere a diatonic scale is getting formed. Beginning at beat 4 of bar 6 a variation upon the "Let's move to Cleveland" theme can be
recognized.
6. Ask dr. Stupid
To the right Zappa in his house, late eighties (outtake of a photo by Lynn Goldsmith).
He never used quarter-tones when writing sheet music. Quarter-tones do occur when he's speechwise singing or during his solos.
Steve Vai notates them every now and then in his transcriptions for the FZ Guitar book. In case of guitar solos quarter-tones
happen as passing notes or for creating guitar effects, more or less incidentally. "Ask dr. Stupid" is an exception.
During the intro Zappa is intentionally picking quarter-tones (not properly represented in the midi file below; as something
exceptional, the midi format doesn't support this).
This opening section has a pre-arranged theme, played four times.
It's made up of a upwards going line, followed by a chord progression. The upwards going melody begins diatonically and ends
chromatically, including clear quarter-tones:
- Bars 1-2: Zappa moves over from Bb on beat 4 of bar 1 to B natural on beat 2 of bar 2. In between you have the B quater-tone flat
on beat 1 of bar 2.
- Bars 5-6: the theme doesn't get repeated literally, but gets varied upon. Here Zappa starts with an E instead of F#. An A quarter-tone sharp
is now happening between the A and Bb from these two bars.
- Bars 9-10: again a variation, but with the same occurrence of an A quarter-tone sharp.
Ask dr. Stupid, opening (midi file).
Ask dr. Stupid, opening (transcription).
The rhythm of "Ask dr. Stupid" is utter simplicity, quite uncommon for Zappa's solos. Everybody is playing strictly on beat in 4/4, also
the drummer. Recorded in 1979, the vamp used is the one from the later "Easy meat" song. In the
Tinsel town rebellion section I'm describing the phases this piece went through. The hammering rhythm, combined with the chromatic notes and
quartertones, creates a brutal sound. The chord progression is more regular. Here Zappa briefly switches from F# Dorian to F# Mixolydian
with major harmonies taking the upper hand. This is simply done by altering the A to mostly an A#. In bars 3-4 the progression is B-F#m-F#-B-F#.
During bars 7-8 it's B-F#-B-F#m-D#m-A#m-5. The tonality of "Ask dr. Stupid" thus isn't outspoken. Also the vamp. It starts with a repeated E-D# motif,
but the lower and more loudly played E-F# motif turns it towards F# Dorian.
Examples of quarter-tones from the FZ Guitar book.
Above are some examples from the Frank Zappa Guitar book with quarter-tones happening as passing notes or guitar effects by bending a string irregularly between the frets:
- Two bars from "Variations on the Carlos Santana secret chord progression" with B quarter-tone flat, as well as D, F and G quarter-tone sharp.
- Three bars from "Stucco homes" with F three-quarter-tone sharp.
- Two bars from "He used to cut the grass" with F and G three-quarter-tone sharp, as well as G and A quarter-tone sharp.
All three examples are transcribed by Steve Vai. See the Shut up 'n play yer guitar section for more examples
from the Guitar book and the keys/types of these solos. The "Mo' mama" example from my Sheik Yerbouti section is another example transcribed by Steve Vai,
containing quarter-tones. An A three-quarter sharp and an A quarter-tone flat on this occasion.
They are also other examples of irregular rhythmic groupings, as they happen frequently
in Zappa's solos. As you can see, they can cause problems for professional printers too. Bar 157 from "Stucco homes" has a 7:4-tuplet of eighth notes
on beats 1-2. Bar 158 has a 3:2-tuplet of quarter notes with a quintuplet within it. I don't have a budget for doing this study, so most examples
by me are handwritten to be on the safe side. Even when I would invest, say, two thousand dollars in an editing program, I doubt if I could get my "Budapest solo" example
out of it neatly.
7. Scratch & sniff
This is the third solo with Zappa playing over the Carlos Santana type of vamp. See the FZ Guitar book for a transcription of the first one,
"Variations on the secret Carlos Santana chord progression". It returned on "Guitar" as "That ol' G minor thing again". This one is from
the 1988 tour. See the Guitar section for the orginal form of the vamp.
Scratch & sniff, vamp (midi file).
Scratch & sniff, vamp (transcription).
The example above is the vamp as how it is played at the beginning of "Scratch & sniff", the first eight seconds. For most songs from the 1988
tour ways were sought to let the five-member brass section participate. Here they are adding staves one and two to the vamp, an Am-B chord
progression. Notable are the dissonants from staff two with the lower notes. When you listen to the opening normally, this goes up in the flow.
But when you try to listen to such notes individually for a transcription, it sounds a bit surprising. When Zappa starts soloing, the brass section withdraws.
8. Trance-fusion
The example below is the opening of the title track. Most solos are in 4/4, but this one has a vamp in D Dorian alternating two odd meters, 9/8
and 12/8. He had done such things before as in "Outside now" and "Watermelon in Easter hay", but this division
is more complicated. The Roxy and Elsewhere section gives an overview of all metres occurring in the examples included in this study. The table
from the Roxy section isn't specifically mentioning the metres from the solos, but you can filter out the 90 guitar solo examples if you would like
to get an idea about the metres used in the solos only.
Trance-fusion, opening (midi file).
Trance-fusion, opening (transcription).
The subdivision of the two meters is:
- First bar in 9/8: 3+2+4.
- Second bar in 12/8: 3+2+3+4.
They can be seen as variations upon each other, beginning similarly and being different in their endings. The main melodic notes are D-G-C and D-G-C-B-G.
The 12/8 bar thus sounds as an extension of the 9/8 bar. To the right Zappa soloing during the 1988 tour (photo downloaded from the internet,
photographer unknown).
Because of an interview at Society pages, it is known that this solo stems from a 1988 performance of "Marque-Son's chicken". Thus a solo
much different from the one played on "Them or us" (see the corresponding section of this study). I've added the interview text beneath the example from
above. In the same interview a vamp in 13/8 used during "Trouble comin' every day" gets demonstrated, not included on official CDs.
The origins of the "Trance-fusion" vamp go back to 1978 when it was used during a concert opener called "Twenty-one".
It's described in the corresponding section.
9. Gorgo
While "Shut up 'n play yer guitar" and "Guitar" are neutral as it comes to the deployment of modal scales, on "Trance-fusion" the Dorian
scale dominates. See the Shut up 'n play yer guitar section for an overview of all solos from these three CDs. During "Gorgo" Zappa is soloing in Dorian in a simple,
very basic 4/4 meter with an A pedal. Mostly it's just the A note on beats 1-2, sometimes with an E or some passing notes on beats 3-4.
Gorgo, opening bars (midi file).
Gorgo, opening bars (transcription).
The example above are the first 16 seconds from "Gorgo". Since the solos are mostly outtakes from songs, they don't have to be the complete solos.
Parts may be left out, not only at the beginning or end, but in between as well (see the "Inca roads" solo example from this study for the details).
In case of "Gorgo", the first bar begins with a septuplet. There must at least have been a few bars with the accompaniment playing before it,
setting the 4/4 tempo and type of accompaniment. Bars 1-2 contain a brief melody that gets treated as a theme during the opening of the solo, though
very likely improvised on the spot. Bars 3, 5 and 9 contain rhythmic and, to a lesser degree, melodic variations upon bar 1. Till around 48 seconds
this theme returns, getting varied upon more and more freely.
10. Diplodocus
"Diplodocus" is an outtake from
"King Kong", as it was
played during the 1988 tour. Apart from the Eb Dorian key, the connection with "King Kong" is completely lost when you take it separate.
"Diplodocus" thus becomes an individual composition.
Diplodocus, intro (midi file).
Diplodocus, intro (transcription).
By comparing the "Diplodocus" intro with the "King Kong" fragment from the Make a jazz noise here section, you can see once again how
Zappa kept applying his AAAFNRAA principle (Anything, anytime, anywhere for no reason at all). Here the intro is in Eb Dorian instead
of D Dorian and it is harmonized quite differently:
- Bars 1 and 3: three times I 9th - VII 9th, followed by one time I 9th - VII 9th - IV.
- Bars 2 and 4: IV - V - IV - III.
The intro is made up of two bars, played four times. The example above contains the last two repetitions and the first two
bars of the soloing. The intro starts with a series of (incomplete) 9th chords, followed by more regular triads. When the guitar solo
starts, the accompaniment continues in a standard manner: a vamp in Eb Dorian with improvised chords, mainly triads. In traditional harmony
a 9th chord is seen as a non-standard chord that normally resolves to a triad. In Zappa's music all chords can appear as independent chords,
chords that aren't expected to resolve. Here the 9th chords are played as such and when the last one moves over to the triad on step IV, it's not the standard
resolving triad on step VII.
11. Soul polka
"Soul polka" in C sharp Dorian has a reggae type vamp in 5/8 (it's not related to the dance the polka). Reggae is normally in 4/4.
Here Zappa is using a different meter for playing reggae, as he also did in the "Let's move to Cleveland" example. The latter
is in 3/4.
Soul polka, section (midi file).
Soul polka, section (transcription).
The melodic pattern of the vamp is three times a C#m7 chord, followed by two times an F# chord. Scott Tunes keeps playing around the
bass pattern with relatively little variations. The example also shows some sustained notes in between the faster notes. Most guitar players tend to accentuate such
notes and make faces as if they are in great emotional distress enforcing these tones from the strings. Zappa wouldn't do that.
12. For Giuseppe Franco
Because of its relationship with "Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel" from "Does humor belong in music?", "For Giuseppe Franco" is getting dealt with in the section with the latter CD. Both are from the 1984 tour, including an acceleration during the solo. "Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel" was also included in the 1988 setlist with track 15 from "Trance-fusion" being a solo taken from it. The liner notes of the CD indicate that Giuseppe Franco and Gorgo were friends of the Zappa family, giving their names to tracks 9 and 12.
13. After dinner smoker
"After dinner smoker" is yet another solo in Dorian, this time over an A pedal note by the bass. It begins with what you might call the lead
motif of this solo A-G-Eb-D, descending. It returns all through the solo in different forms, with variations upon its movement and about always different
rhythms:
- 0:00-0:07: first appearance, just by itself.
- 0:08-0:10: repetition, setting off the soloing.
- 0:15-0:16: A-Eb-D in a different rhythm.
- 0:28-0:29: likewise.
- 1:44-1:45: variation upon this figure, A-D-D-C-C.
- 1:55-2:00: variation upon its movement, F#-E-C-B-C, a lot like a transposition.
- 2:01-2:02: A-Eb-D.
- 2:09-2:10: idem.
- 2:57-3:00: F#-E-C-B-C, the notes bar 2 of the example below begins with.
- 3:12-3:13: A-F#-D, at the start of bar 6 of the example.
- 4:15-4:17: F#-E-B-C, twice.
After dinner smoker, 2:53-3:16 (midi file).
After dinner smoker, 2:53-3:16 (transcription).
The variations of motifs is standard procedure during Zappa's solos. In this case you've got one returning over a longer period. Another feature
of this solo is the frequent use of sequences of chords, using the same interval (parallel) or varying the interval as minor and major along the A Dorian scale:
- 1:04-1:07: parallel minor thirds.
- 2:42-2:46: thirds, following the scale.
- 3:01-3:04: idem, bar 3 from the example above.
- 3:06-3:10: parallel major triads, bars 4 and 5 from the example, including the quituplet. The parallel playing is causing a lot of notes being altered,
with these bars becoming chromatic.
- 3:26-3:39: thirds, neither parallel, neither following the scale. Another chromatic passage.
- 3:43-4:15: triads following the scale.
- 4:20-4:23: thirds following the scale.
14. Light is all that matters
Most solos follow one diatonic scale or a few related diatonic scales. "Light is all that matters" belongs to the few solos, that are
chromatic. Other examples, coming by in this study:
- Canarsie. The Zappa solo that is most outspokenly atonal. See the Shut up 'n play yer guitar section for the details.
- Republicans. At the beginning an E pedal by the bass plus an ongoing D# chord, with Zappa completing it to something
you might call a self-created scale. See the Guitar section for an example.
- Canadian customs. Similar to Republicans and also present in the Guitar section. Both solos tend towards using sets of notes over longer periods, while
many chromatic notes are occurring as well. They definitely aren't diatonic, but also not utterly atonal in the sense that there
are no scales discernable at all or that melodic patterns are absent.
- Butter or cannons. See above.
Light is all that matters, opening (midi file).
Light is all that matters, opening (transcription).
In "Light is all that matters" you can hear the following:
- An ongoing on beat chord by the rhythm guitar plus keyboard, being B-E-G-A#.
- A bass vamp with E-B-D-A during the little intro, followed by C-G-Bb-F when Zappa starts soloing. In every bar it's a downward fourth.
- Zappa using another self-created scale: F#-G-A#-B-C#-D#.
So there are some patterns and you might call the first C from the bass vamp a ground-tone or tonic, but it only functions
as a tonic for the bass part itself. It's the combination of these three parts
that makes the whole atonal. The more than average presence of minor seconds causes dissonants to occur pretty often.
"Light is all that matters" begins with a little intro with irregular synthesizer sounds (bars 1-4 of the above example are the
second half of the intro).
Next Zappa starts soloing over the vamp, transposed a third down. In bar 12 the bass pattern briefly gets interrupted
before returning to its standard appearance again in bar 13. At 2:22 this solo moves
over to a second smaller section in G Lydian, thus the more regular diatonic way of playing a solo. It's
as good as unrelated to the first block with another guitar chord turning up overnight and the bass moving over from the vamp to a G pedal.
It's something Zappa hardly ever does. He now follows this scale
rather loosely. Chromatic notes keep returning, like a Bb at 3:10.
15. Finding Higgs' Boson
"Finding Higgs' Boson" is quite different from the previous solo. This one is Zappa playing at his most lyrical, here in A Mixolydian.
The section below is from the beginning, played between 0:07 and 0:25. It's a solo from a "Hot plate heaven at the Green hotel" performance,
like track 12, with relationships between these titles being mentioned in the Does humor belong in music section from this study.
Finding Higgs' Boson, section (midi file).
Finding Higgs' Boson, section (transcription).
The title of this track is a reference to a type of boson, a subatomic particle from quantum physics theories, of which the existence got predicted
by the English scientist Peter Higgs. Of course, from the perspective of this site, I have no competence whatsoever to get even an idea I might comment
upon something like that.
16. Bavarian sunset
"Trance-fusion" ends with a joint solo by Frank Zappa and his son Dweezil. It's in E, mingled with E Mixolydian (D sharp versus D natural as in the example below).
It stems from the 1988 concert at Munich, a city in the
German province Bavaria. Hence its title "Bavarian sunset". Dweezil opens the solo playing alone.
Next the band and Frank Zappa join in. At first the accent lies on either Frank or Dweezil soloing, alternating
each other. Hereafter they become a true unity as in the section from below. To the left: Dweezil, Moon and Frank at the David Brenner show, 1986
(Associated press).
Bavarian sunset, section (midi file).
Bavarian sunset, section (transcription).
When Dweezil was still in his teens he took part of
both the 1984 and 1988 tour, as a guest player, as well as playing on some of the "Them or us" recordings. The total of his solos on
Zappa's CDs became five. Dweezil started learning playing guitar at the age of twelve with Steve Vai as an instructor.
Two years later he had made enough progression for Frank Zappa to have him collaborate with him on his own records.
Correctly so. He's not there just because he was Frank's son, but for his own skills as well. In Guitar Player, August
2006, Dweezil talks about his Zappa plays Zappa tour and comments about Frank's music: "But Frank blended so many styles
together - and there was so much going on musically - that once you're exposed to it, you're so disappointed that no one
else is even trying to do something like that. Who is writing music this hard? And it's not hard for the sake of being hard.
It's very musical and memorable and cleverly arranged." Talented parents are inclined to test if their children have
inherited these gifts, whether they like it or not. Apparently this didn't happen in the Zappa family. Only Dweezil chose to learn to play an instrument
and read scores.