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The Black Page
"The Black Page #1" is a piece by American composer Frank Zappa known for being extraordinarily difficult to play. Originally written for the drum kit and melodic percussion (as "The Black Page Drum Solo"), the piece was later rearranged in several versions, including the "easy teenage New York version" (commonly referred to as "The Black Page #2") and a so-called "new-age version", among others. Drummer Terry Bozzio said of the piece: On the double live album ''Zappa in New York'' (recorded 12/1976, released 3/1978), Zappa noted the "statistical density" of the piece. It is written in common time with extensive use of tuplets, including tuplets inside tuplets. At several points there is a quarter note triplet ( sixth notes) in which each beat is counted with its own tuplet of 5, 5 and 6; at another is a half note triplet ( third notes) in which the second beat is a quintuplet (actually a tuplet of 7), and the third beat is divided into tuplets of 4 and 5. The song ends with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, Virtuoso, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, 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 musicians of his generation. As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae", effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term ''reggae'' more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument. Reggae is d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1978 Songs
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany '' persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MIDI
MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices for playing, editing, and recording music. The specification originates in the paper ''Universal Synthesizer Interface'' published by Dave Smith and Chet Wood of Sequential Circuits at the 1981 Audio Engineering Society conference in New York City. A single MIDI cable can carry up to sixteen channels of MIDI data, each of which can be routed to a separate device. Each interaction with a key, button, knob or slider is converted into a MIDI event, which specifies musical instructions, such as a note's pitch, timing and loudness. One common MIDI application is to play a MIDI keyboard or other controller and use it to trigger a digital sound module (which contains synthesized musical sounds) to generate sounds, which t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devin Townsend
Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also had an extensive solo career and has released a total of 28 albums across all of his projects as of 2022. After performing in a number of heavy metal bands in high school, Townsend was discovered in 1993 by a record label who asked him to perform lead vocals on Steve Vai's album ''Sex & Religion''. After recording and touring with Vai, he was discouraged by what he found in the music industry and vented his anger on his 1995 solo album ''Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing'', which he released under the pseudonym Strapping Young Lad. He soon assembled a band of the same name, with whom he released the critically acclaimed album ''City'' in 1997. Since then, he has released three more studio albums with Strapping Young Lad, along with solo mater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Keneally
Michael Joseph Keneally (born December 20, 1961) is an American session guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer. Early years and musical influences Keneally started playing music at the age of 7 when he received an electric organ for his birthday. He also received a guitar on his eleventh birthday, and plays bass and drums as well. His early childhood musical influences included the Beatles and theme music from cartoon and television shows such as ''The Wallace and Ladmo Show'' and '' 2001: A Space Odyssey''. Career Born on Long Island, New York, he moved to San Diego, California at an early age and has been a fixture on the local music scene there since 1985 when he formed the local cult band Drop Control. Although a well established musician in his own right, Keneally is probably most well known as former Frank Zappa "stunt guitarist" and a Zappa 1988 tour band member on both guitar and keyboards. His ascendency to that position is legendary in certain musician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morgan Ågren
Morgan Ågren (born 1967) is a Swedish drummer who plays with the progressive rock band Kaipa. Biography A native of Umeå, Västerbotten, Ågren was spotted as an outstanding talent at a young age as he began performing publicly at age seven, and eventually joined forces with Mats Öberg in 1981. They later formed "Zappsteetoot" together in 1984, a band internationally known for performing Frank Zappa's music. In 1988, at the age of 20, Morgan Ågren was, along with Mats Öberg, invited by Frank Zappa to do a guest performance at Zappa's Stockholm concert. Impressed by Ågren's skills, Zappa invited Ågren to the States to partake in several projects, including the 1994 Grammy Award-winning CD ''Zappa's Universe'' with Steve Vai, as well as a sold out New York performance of Zappa's classical program at Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series in Avery Fisher Hall. Ågren also shares the drummer's seat with Terry Bozzio on Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa's band AZ/DZ's album ''Shamp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Vai
Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, and played in Zappa's band from 1980 to 1983. He embarked on a solo career in 1983 and has released eight solo albums to date. He has recorded and toured with Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, and Whitesnake, as well as recording with artists such as Public Image Ltd, Mary J. Blige, Spinal Tap, Alice Cooper, Motörhead, and Polyphia. Additionally, Vai has toured with live-only acts G3, Zappa Plays Zappa, and the Experience Hendrix tour, as well as headlining international tours. Vai has been described as a "highly individualistic player" and part of a generation of "heavy rock and metal virtuosi who came to the fore in the 1980s". He released his first solo album ''Flex-Able'' in 1984, while his most successful release, ''Passi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon Murphy Brock
Napoleon Murphy Brock (born June 7, 1945) is an American singer, saxophonist and flute player who is best known for his work with Frank Zappa in the 1970s, including the albums '' Apostrophe (')'', ''Roxy & Elsewhere'', ''One Size Fits All'', and ''Bongo Fury''. He contributed notable vocal performances to the Zappa songs "Village of the Sun," "Cheepnis," and "Florentine Pogen." Career Brock's musical career began in the San Francisco South Bay Area in the late 1960s with a seven and eight piece band he had organized named "Communication Plus". He was the lead singer, songwriter, and arranger of the band's strongly R&B-influenced rock performances. He also played the saxophone and flute. He played in a variety of local clubs including The Brass Rail, The Mecca, and Gary R. Schmidt's, The Odyssey Room. He was discovered playing for a dance band in Hawaii in the early 1970s by Zappa's road manager. The participation of George Duke and Jean-Luc Ponty convinced Brock to join the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dweezil Zappa
Dweezil Zappa (born Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa; September 5, 1969) is an American rock guitarist and occasional actor. He is the son of musical composer and performer Frank Zappa. Exposed to the music industry from an early age, Dweezil developed a strong affinity for playing the guitar and producing music. Able to learn directly from guitarists such as Steve Vai and Eddie Van Halen, Dweezil released his first single (produced by Eddie Van Halen) at the age of 12. In addition to writing and recording his own music, Dweezil has carried on the legacy of his father's music by touring with the group Zappa Plays Zappa. The band features renditions of Zappa's original material and the lineup has often included Zappa alumni such as Napoleon Murphy Brock, Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio and others. Early life Dweezil Zappa was born on September 5, 1969, in Los Angeles, California to Frank Zappa and Gail Zappa.Snippet view page 245 He is the second of four siblings: his older sister, Moon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zappa Plays Zappa
Zappa Plays Zappa is an American tribute act led by Dweezil Zappa, the elder son of late American composer and musician Frank Zappa, devoted to performing the music of Frank Zappa. History The band debuted in 2006 with shows in Europe, Canada, and the United States during May and June (the tour was also known as ''Zappa Plays Zappa: Tour de Frank). The shows presented a collection of Frank Zappa's rock-oriented compositions from the 1960s to the late 1970s. Apart from Dweezil Zappa on lead guitar, many of the band members previously played with Frank Zappa. Among those, Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute, and vocals) was an integral part of the band, while drummer/vocalist Terry Bozzio and guitarist Steve Vai performed as guests in parts of the shows. At several shows the live band played along with audio and video recordings of Frank Zappa himself, notably portions of "Chunga's Revenge", " Dumb All Over", "Cosmik Debris", and "Muffin Man". After a break, the band played again ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chad Wackerman
Chad Wackerman (born March 25, 1960) is an American jazz, jazz fusion and rock drummer, who has played with Frank Zappa and Allan Holdsworth. He has worked as a band member, session musician, sideman, and leader of his own ensembles. He is the older brother of drummers John Wackerman and Brooks Wackerman. Musical career Wackerman was raised in Seal Beach, California, in a family immersed in music. His father Chuck Wackerman, a drummer, is a music teacher who has taught at both high school and middle school levels with a specialization in jazz. Chad and his brothers John and Brooks are all proficient drummers and multi-instrumentalists. John recorded an album titled ''Drum Duets Vol.1''. Wackerman joined the Bill Watrous band in 1978, and then worked with Frank Zappa from 1981 to 1988. Zappa demanded high musical standards and imposed exacting discipline in rehearsal and on tour. The auditions for his band were "grueling", according to Steve Vai and Wackerman himself. Two piec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
