Frank Zappa the Best conductor ever

He was the hardest man in the business to work for. A friend of mine drove his equipment truck for a couple years. Sometimes he was allowed to sit in on their rehearsals. He was always in awe.

Man he's like a wild child that created his own vocabulary that's so impressive.

That's free flowing creativity and musicality right there.

Musicians were his instruments. ;)

Humanity will never see anything like him again.

Jimmy Carl Black summed it up quite well when he said "we were the best band in the world"!

For all his ego and genius, Zappa was a very self-defacing guy. His main desire was never fame and fortune but, as he said, rather to just be able to release material, mostly that which was an alternative to the majority of music out there. He certainly accomplished his goal. RIP brother .

He was capable of create a high quality piece of contemporary music on the go.

God, I miss Zappa :-(

i was 14, (1969), one of my first jobs, at a used furniture store in van nuys, ca. i went out to the loading dock, and sitting there, was the indian of the group. his wife was shopping inside. i knew who he was, sat down beside him, and shared an hour of cha-hortles! one of those memories i'll never forget.

Given the mastery Frank had over ALL musical genres, I believe he eclipsed his heroes Stravinsky & Varese. Miss ya Frank, R.I.P. You got your " own little piece of heaven " now, and you ain't here to go through the insanity we are . . .

This is contemporary music.Music of the highest calibre performed through a band of great musicians. Classical music composed in the 70's,with contemporary and non contemporary instruments, the way it shoudl be.Zappa took the music of the twentieth century to the other side of the mirror.A place you don't want to leave once you are introduced to that world. Thanks to the amazing genius of Frank Zappa.

Honored to see Frank a few times back in the day. One show at the Boston Music Hall, he came out and signaled the band into song. He went over and picked up the SG from the guitar stand, hit two notes, which were out of tune, and waved his hand once horizontally without even looking at the band, and in a nano second there was complete silence. It seemed unprofessional at first, but after a minute or two of tuning, he re-signaled the band to restart the song, and Holy Cow, The next fifty minutes were pure magic! Thank you F.Z. for an educational lesson, and a wonderful show for a fledgling musician.

I can not imagine, someday there will be a better human being music, that will talk to me in those ways, the music of Frank Zappa does.

I can see some dislike of FZ works as a conductor on comments here.. it takes hours and hours of rehearsal to be able to control a band like that, itll take some a lifetime to get it as good as FZ and company, believe it.. its not like hes some revolution or anything really new, but he definetely was one of the most sincere personas in music altogether

Sounds like soundpainting to me. :-)

It is certainly easy to see Edgard Varese's influence watching this video. If you are not familiar with this composer, I suggest the piece "Ionisation". One amazing concept Frank had was incorporating the audience into a piece. This would not only ensure uniqueness, but give the audience the feeling of being "inside" the piece.

It's as if he created a real life super power.

I saw Frank Zappa conduct the L.A. Philharmonic one night at U.C.L.A. Not bad. He had the entire orchestra quacking and making fart noises and chanting and...well, ya had to be there. 1974 possibly.

Tempo, dynamics, AND texture, phrasing, balance, blend, emotion, color, expression, articulation, line... there are LOTS more elements to conducting than simply tempo and dynamics! I am a professional conductor, friend, and that is why I wrote my original post. BTW, "what he did 'exceeded' conducting" was what you meant, right? Zappa was a very talented guy who had a fresh approach to music which I do respect. I simply take issue with that moniker "the best conductor".