Remembering Frank: Zappa Jams With Pink Floyd

Twenty-two years ago today, we lost the great Frank Zappa after a lengthy battle with cancer. Frank’s influence is still felt in the music of many of the bands we love and his songs have been covered by dozens of acts within the jam scene. To celebrate FZ’s life, we want to look back on the night he jammed with fellow soon-to-be musical legends Pink Floyd.

The Frank Zappa/Pink Floyd collaboration took place on October 25, 1969 at Festival Actuel in Amougies, Belgium. Zappa emerged during Pink Floyd’s set to join in on an extended “Interstellar Overdrive.” It would be the only time Frank would share the stage with Nick Mason, David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Roger Waters. FZ shows off some of the intense lead guitar work he’s best known for. In 2006 an audience recording of the historic meeting of the musical minds finally surfaced. Take a listen:

In 1973, Nick Mason described the experience, “Frank Zappa is really one of those rare musicians that can play with us. The little he did in Amougies was terribly correct. But he’s the exception. Our music and the way we behave on stage, makes it very hard to improvise with us.” For more on what went down that night, read Dangerous Mind’s essay.

[Originally Published: December 4, 2014]