Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The Yellow Shark

I guess we are about at the 9th day of Zappadan, the day of the ritual of the Yellow Shark and this year, I witnessed a miracle, suddenly, the entire Yellow Shark Concert Series materialized in a sacred apparition on YouTube....The Yellow Shark is a series of orchestral compositions recorded and performed in 1992 by Frank Zappa in collaboration with the Ensemble Modern, a German post modern symphonic orchestral group in Frankfort, Germany. An incredible project, even more superhuman because at the time, Zappa was dying of cancer. He did conduct some of the performances and it probably was one of the high points of his life. The work is absolutely brilliant, the composition, arrangements and playing. One interesting detail, the composition, G Spot Tornado was orchestrally  arranged by Frank as a special request by the Ensemble. They asked him to do it and at first he protested stating that when he originally composed it, as featured on his only Grammy Award winning recording, Jazz From Hell, which was basically a solo project composed on The Kurtzweiller synthesizer system, he attempted to write a piece of music that would be impossible for humans to play.
Mr. Zappa is the conductor for this piece. The Ensemble not only aces it, but it's choreographed as well! Prepare to witness a miracle.

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