''The Ultra Zone'' is the sixth studio album by

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

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 ...

, released on September 7, 1999 through Epic Records. ''The Ultra Zone'' is structurally similar to Vai's previous album, ''

Fire Garden ''Fire Garden'' is the fourth studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on September 17, 1996, through Epic Records. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas"Fire Garden - Steve Vai" ''AllMusic''. All Media Network. Retrieved 2014-12-10. The album reached N ...

'', in that the first half of the album consists mainly of instrumentals, and the second half mainly of vocal songs; however, unlike ''

'', ''The Ultra Zone'' is not formally divided into two "phases".

Background

''The Ultra Zone'' is notable for its tributes to two legendary guitarists:

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 experimen ...

(on the track "Frank"), and

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

(on the track "Jibboom"). Also notable is the fact that this was Vai's last studio album of original material until 2005's '' Real Illusions: Reflections''; in the years in between, he released several compilations of his material, as well as a live album. This album includes the participations of

Koshi Inaba (born September 23, 1964 in Tsuyama, Okayama) is a Japanese vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He is best known as the singer and lyricist of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He has also had a su ...

and

Tak Matsumoto is a Japanese musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist and main composer of the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan. He also has a successful solo career where, in addition to winn ...

from the Japanese band B'z on "Asian Sky".

Track listing

All songs written by

. # "The Blood & Tears" – 4:26 # "The Ultra Zone" – 4:52 (instrumental) # "Oooo" – 5:12 (instrumental) # "Frank" – 5:09 (instrumental) (homage to

) # "Jibboom" – 3:46 (instrumental) (homage to

) # "Voodoo Acid" – 6:25 # "Windows to the Soul" – 6:25 (instrumental, with some small spoken parts) # "The Silent Within" – 5:00 # "I'll Be Around" – 4:57 # "Lucky Charms" – 6:44 (instrumental) # "Fever Dream" – 6:03 (instrumental) # "Here I Am" – 4:12 # "Asian Sky" – 5:34

Personnel

– everything (tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 & 9), everything else (track 7, 10, 11 & 13),

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s (tracks 4, 5 & 12),

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

(track 12) *

- vocals (track 13) *

- guitar (track 13) *

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 h ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

(track 7) *John Sergio – bass (track 4) *

Philip Bynoe Philip Earl Bynoe is an American musician best known for his work with Steve Vai. He has been the bass player of Vai's touring band since 2012, a role he previously held from 1996 to 2000. He has also played on four of Vai's studio albums. Other ...

– bass (tracks 5,7 & 12) *

Bryan Beller Bryan Beller (born May 6, 1971) is an American bass guitarist known for his work with Joe Satriani, The Aristocrats, Dethklok, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, James LaBrie of Dream Theater and Dweezil Zappa, as well as his four solo album releases, ...

– bass (tracks 10 & 11) *

Gregg Bissonette Gregg Bissonette (born June 9, 1959) is an American jazz and rock drummer and vocalist. He is the brother of bassist Matt Bissonette, with whom he frequently collaborates. He has played on albums by dozens of recording artists, including David ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(track 4) *

Mike Mangini Michael Anthony Mangini (born April 18, 1963) is an American musician and current drummer of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has also played for bands and artists such as Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. Be ...

- drums (tracks 5, 7 & 12) *Robin DiMaggio - drums (track 10) *Andy Cleaves -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

(track 10) *Duane Benjamin -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(track 10) *Niels Bye Nielsen - orchestration (track 10)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ultra Zone, The Steve Vai albums 1999 albums Epic Records albums Instrumental rock albums