"Great news for Zappaphiles!"..."If you ever dug Zappa, you don't want to miss the GrandMothers of Invention."..."They are THE authentic live version of Zappa's music."..."This isn't just another comeback, this is the reincarnation of the Mothers of Invention!"..."From Zappa's mid to late 70's Mothers bands, the Grand Mothers are touring the world and keeping Zappa's music alive."..."The evening contained a lot of the contradictory eclectic, serious and circusy flavors of a Zappa show. ...the Grande Mothers were able to go deeper into the material, rather than merely parroting Zappa's notoriously tricky composed lines."...
The GrandMothers of Invention are the only Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention alumni who have been consistently performing the music of the maestro since 2003. From "We're Only In It For The Money", "Uncle Meat", and "Burnt Weeny Sandwich" - to - "The Grand Wazoo", "Overnite Sensation", "Roxy & Elsewhere", "Bongo Fury", "One Size Fits All", and of course, the classic “Freak Out†- they have performed on a very long list of classic Frank Zappa & the Mother's of Invention's albums, movies and other projects. (See their combined Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention discography and videography lists below.)
"Rare are the musicians who can even play Zappa's music, let alone make it live and breathe. So Thank the Lord for the Grand Mothers of Invention."..."With three different Zappa eras represented, the Grande Mothers have a wide palette of material to choose from."..."They served up vintage psychedelia - rock songs with surreal lyrics, jazz-like harmonies and melodic complexity, with flashes of wacky satire."..."Amazing virtuoso musicians, fun and funny."
The GrandMothers of Invention are:
NAPOLEON MURPHY BROCK
(Mothers of Invention/Frank Zappa alumni from 1974 thru 1984),
on vocals, tenor saxophone, flute, suavenicity, and dancing(!) -
TOM FOWLER
(Mothers of Invention/Frank Zappa alumni from 1973 thru 1976),
on bass, violin, hats, and musical M.D.
DON PRESTON
(Mothers of Invention/Frank Zappa alumni from 1967 thru 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1974 as a Special Guest),
on keyboard synthesizers, electronics, IPOD, magic tricks(!), and vocals.
Also featuring
ROBBIE MANGANO on electric guitar,
and the masterful
CHRISTOPHER GARCIA on drums, percussion, marimba, and vocals.
The GrandMothers were formed in August of 2002, when four legendary former members of Frank Zappa's "The Mothers of Invention", Napoleon Murphy Brock, Roy Estrada, Bunk Gardner, and Don Preston were invited to perform the music of Frank Zappa in Leipzig, Germany. It would be the first time that these esteemed "Mothers of Invention" alumni would be getting together to rehearse and perform classic Frank Zappa material.
Finally, on March 27th 2003, after 6 months of intensive rehearsals, The GrandMothers of Invention took the stage to a standing room only audience in Leipzig, Germany. This event was recorded, filmed, and released by Warner Classics in Europe, and has been broadcast and re-broadcast repeatedly on European television. Due to the overwhelming demand since then, they have performed more than 140 concert events across America, Canada and Europe, including performances in: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland.
The list of dates at clubs, concert halls and festivals is long, and includes headlining the Frankfurt Jazz Festival, the Zappanalle Festival, the Vancouver Folk Fest, performing classic Frank Zappa material with the Bergen Filharmonik Orkester in Bergen Norway, performing the orchestral music of Frank Zappa under the baton of Kristan Jarvi, the Ottawa Blues Fest, the Winnipeg Folk Fest, the Sarajevo Jazz Festival, the Winnipeg Jazz Festival, the Vancouver Jazz Festival , and performing classic Frank Zappa material with string orchestra (the Trondheim Soloists) at the Trondheim Jazz Festival in Norway. Each performance providing indisputable proof that "THEY CAN (AND DO) STILL DO THAT ON STAGE!"
"It was INCREDIBLE! .....this just blew my mind (I was at a loss for words during the intermission). One thing I really appreciated was that these Mothers really went out there and experimented onstage, in true Zappa fashion. " (TORONTO)
"UN-BELIEVABLE, they played Frank's music right." ..."I felt like crying the whole time" (VANCOUVER JAZZ FEST)
"One of the best non-musical moments of the night was when they talked about Zappa's legacy, and then lead the audience in a round of applause for Frank himself. " (TORONTO)
"One of the top ten shows in my life - they played for a good three hours, SUPERMEN all - the lot of them." (VANCOUVER JAZZ FEST)
"Amazing... the vibe was just so much more a zappa show... The guitar solos were monstrously beautiful, and the drumming was interstellar! " (TORONTO)
