This is an odd one. I saw the words 'Bigband' and 'Zappa' on the cover (along with the price tag of £1), and had to give it a go. I was aware of others playing Zappa tunes, such as the Ed Palermo Big Band, but not of Towns' work.
He was keyboard player with Ian Gillan's (Deep Purple) band before venturing into film, TV and theatre soundtrack work.
This album was recorded at the Moers Festival in 2004, and features Towns' arrangements of Zappa tunes, played by the Hamburg based NDR Bigband, some of the arrangements being more free than others.
There are so many favourites on this album, among them a lovely Peaches En Regalia followed by a mellow Eat That Question and a lively and exciting Let's Make The Water Turn Black. The mood is taken right down, with the beautiful Watermelon In Easter Hay, many people's favourite Zappa guitar solo, done justice by Stephan Diez, and a fantastically sleazy trumpet solo by Claus Stötter. There's a couple of short, well known pieces together, the raucous Brown Shoes Don't Make It, a funky Willie The Pimp and a fine rendition of King Kong. A Pound For A Brown has a very bebop jazz opening before settling the smoother Waka Jawaka. Stevie's Spanking is a good old guitar riff, ending in a nice brass outro, and it's followed by Sinister Footwear, much more late Zappa in a free jazz / modern classical way.
Little Umbrellas/Big Swifty is fun without leaving a great impression, vaudeville, big band and a hint of Tchaikovsky. The unnecessary drum solo (tautology alert!) sneaks into this longer piece. There follows a fantastic rendition of Black Napkins, the main theme shared between trombone, guitar, sax, before a quick piano/trombone snatch from Be-Bop Tango takes us to the finale, a glorious version of this Zappa favourite.
This is really enjoyable, but an occasional treat, not an everyday favourite. I'd imagine the concert it's taken from was magical, and this recording conveys some of that magic.
Links to Sinister Footwear and G Spot Tornado
3* - some lovely renditions of Zappa tunes, but not much that I'd go to in preference to the originals.
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