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 Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of A ...

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 George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...

and

Jean-Luc Ponty Jean-Luc Ponty (born 29 September 1942) is a French jazz violinist and composer. Early life Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano. At sixteen, he was admitt ...

convinced Brock to join the band as lead singer. Brock's numerous performances with Zappa include the role of the "Evil Prince" on the '' Thing-Fish'' album. He has also performed with George Duke,

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

and more recently with Neonfire an

He remains a regular performer at Zappanale. Brock appeared in the 2005 film '' Rock School (film), Rock School'', a documentary about The Paul Green School of Rock Music, an extracurricular music program that he and

Project/Object Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

have closely supported for several years. In 2006, he toured with Frank Zappa's son Dweezil on the latter's

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, Canad ...

shows. He also regularly tours with fellow Zappa alumnus Ike Willis and others with Andre Cholmondeley's ''

''. Other Zappa related projects in which he has been involved include the

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough C ...

based band Bogus Pomp, and the 16 piece Ed Palermo Big Band from New York City. He is most frequently seen fronting The Grand Mothers Of Invention with Roy Estrada, Tom Fowler and

Don Preston Donald Ward Preston (born September 21, 1932) is an American jazz and rock keyboardist. He is known for working with Frank Zappa from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. Biography Preston was born into a family of musicians in Detroit and began st ...

(the only Frank Zappa alumni from

The Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band ...

regularly performing the music of Frank Zappa), performing over 91 times since 2002. His own most recent release is the 2003 album ''Balls''. Brock is mentioned in the 2007 memoir ''My Lobotomy'' by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming, which describes Dully's experiences before and after undergoing an icepick transorbital

lobotomy A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of neurosurgical treatment for psychiatric disorder or neurological disorder (e.g. epilepsy) that involves severing connections in the brain's prefrontal cortex. The surgery causes most of the connections t ...

in 1960, at 12 years of age. Brock, while studying psychology and music at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

, was employed in the mid-1960s as a counselor at Rancho Linda, a "residential center for special education" where Dully lived after having the procedure and being released from juvenile hall and a

mental asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...

. Dully had fond memories of Brock, and described him as "cool" and having "played all kinds of instruments."

Grammy Award

At the

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

on February 8, 2009, Napoleon won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for his performance of the song "

Peaches en Regalia "Peaches en Regalia" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by Frank Zappa. It was released on Zappa's album '' Hot Rats'' in 1969 and has been recorded many times since. It was also released as a single in 1970, with "Little Umbrellas" as the ...

" with the band

, which also featured

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 f ...

and

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 deve ...

. The song originally appeared on Frank Zappa's 1969 '' Hot Rats'' LP.

Film

Brock has appeared in several Zappa documentaries and movies. They include: *'' Baby Snakes'' (background) *'' The Dub Room Special'' *''

A Token of His Extreme ''A Token of His Extreme (Soundtrack)'' is a live album by American musician Frank Zappa, recorded on August 27, 1974, at KCET, Los Angeles, California and posthumously released in November 2013 by the Zappa Family Trust on Zappa Records. It is a ...

'' *'' The Amazing Mr. Bickford'' (on a television screen in the background) *'' The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels'' (background) *'' Roxy the Movie'' VD, 2015

Discography

Solo albums

Appearances on Zappa albums

Appearances on George Duke albums

References

External links

Official Napoleon Murphy Brock website
* *
Panel Discussion: Brown Shoes Don’t Make It – The Music of Frank Zappa
with Bill Milkowski, Michael G. Nastos, Napoleon Murphy Brock, Ed Palermo, Ralphe Armstrong. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, Napoleon Murphy 1945 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) African-American woodwind musicians African-American male singers American rock saxophonists American male saxophonists American multi-instrumentalists Grammy Award winners The Mothers of Invention members 21st-century saxophonists Zappa Plays Zappa members