It’s got to be love, hasn’t it? Why else would someone bother to transcribe 200 of Frank Zappa’s tunes? For what other reason would someone dedicate himself for over 15 years to presenting his arrangements of Zappa’s music in the setting of a 17-piece jazz big band, and at a loss to boot?
A fantastic interview with the fantastic Ed Palermo – about music, about transcriptions, about his first time he saw the Mothers, about rehearsals, about his goals… (have you heard his latest album, Eddy Loves Frank?)
Once all the notes are down the way Frank Zappa’s band played them, then I think to myself: “Right, what do I want to do with this?” I wanted to use all the parts that Frank wrote but to juggle them around, to make it more interesting for me but mainly so that the hardcore Zappa fans can listen to it and be surprised.
Night School, 2009:
Me loves Eddy.
This mpeg (I assume it’s an mpeg) distorts in spots…
In general, I really like what Palermo does !
Thanks for the post. I enjoyed the interview and vids.
I try to catch EPBB whenever they play Iridium in NYC.
I love live Zappa wherever I can get it but Ed’s arrangements are the most enjoyable to me. Always fun and new.
Does miss this Big Band if you’re ever in The Big Apple!
Ed Palermo is my favourite musician playing FZ material these days. His albums get high rotation especially the last one which is just brilliant. The arrangements are really fresh and interesting and very adventurous. Even tunes I have heard to death are really new again. I hope he has another FZ album in him.