Frank Vincent Zappa[nb 1] (December 21, 1940 â€" December 4, 1993) was
an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and
bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form
improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of
American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa
composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique
concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he
released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist.
Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and
designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and
stylistically diverse rock musicians of his era.As a self-taught
composer and performer, Zappa's diverse musical influences led him to
create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his
teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism,
African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing
classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums
in rhythm and blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His
1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined
songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective
improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this
eclectic and experimental approach whether the fundamental format was
rock, jazz, or classical.Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual
continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases,
ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics
reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political
processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has
been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident
critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a
forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech,
self-education, political participation and the abolition of
censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he
personally disapproved of drugs, but supported their decriminalization
and regulation.
an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and
bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form
improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity, and satire of
American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa
composed rock, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and musique
concrète works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he
released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist.
Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and
designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and
stylistically diverse rock musicians of his era.As a self-taught
composer and performer, Zappa's diverse musical influences led him to
create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his
teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical modernism,
African-American rhythm and blues, and doo-wop music. He began writing
classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums
in rhythm and blues bands, later switching to electric guitar. His
1966 debut album with the Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!, combined
songs in conventional rock and roll format with collective
improvisations and studio-generated sound collages. He continued this
eclectic and experimental approach whether the fundamental format was
rock, jazz, or classical.Zappa's output is unified by a conceptual
continuity he termed "Project/Object", with numerous musical phrases,
ideas, and characters reappearing across his albums. His lyrics
reflected his iconoclastic views of established social and political
processes, structures and movements, often humorously so, and he has
been described as the "godfather" of comedy rock. He was a strident
critic of mainstream education and organized religion, and a
forthright and passionate advocate for freedom of speech,
self-education, political participation and the abolition of
censorship. Unlike many other rock musicians of his generation, he
personally disapproved of drugs, but supported their decriminalization
and regulation.
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