Ian Underwood

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Ian Underwood (born May 22, 1939 in New York City ) is an American musician. He plays keyboard instruments of all kinds, various wood and brass instruments and guitar. He became known in the 1960s with the Frank Zappa band The Mothers of Invention . Today he is a sought-after studio musician and film music specialist.

life and work

He left Yale University in 1961 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in composition . He then completed his music studies at the University of California, Berkeley , where he took his Master of Arts degree in 1966, again in composition . At the time, the instrumentalist Ian Underwood was considered a specialist in Mozart matters .

In 1967 Ian Underwood was excited about a performance by the Mothers at the Garrick Theater in New York; he wanted to play in Zappa's band immediately. He just asked: “What can you do that's fantastic?” Underwood let him hear it - and was hired on the spot because of his diverse qualities. The play Ian Underwood whips it out on the album Uncle Meat (recorded live in Copenhagen) is the course of the job interview by - a month after it had taken place.

From 1968 to 1972 Underwood had a decisive influence on Zappa's work and the live performances of the Mothers of Invention, as the 15 recordings that were made during this phase testify. In addition to the recordings with Zappa and the Mothers, Underwood can also be heard on albums by GTO’s , Jeff Simmons and Jean-Luc Ponty as well as by John Lennon and Yoko Ono . In 1970 Underwood married the American percussionist Ruth Komanoff, who also played with Zappa . This marriage is now divorced.

After leaving the Mothers of Invention at the end of 1973, Ian Underwood made a name for himself as a studio musician. He was involved in recordings by Lee Ritenour , Dave Grusin , Barbra Streisand , Gábor Szabó , Manhattan Transfer and Nina Hagen , among others . The Hollywood film industry made use of Underwood's skills, including as a specialist in synthesizer programming. His involvement in a number of movies is documented for the later years, for example Aliens , Blade Runner , Liebling, I Shrunk the Children , Titanic and Avatar . Underwood now lives in Los Angeles and works for various film studios. He was also involved in the film scores for The Name of the Rose , Field of Dreams and The Mosquito Coast .

Discography (selection)

With Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

With Frank Zappa

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ian Underwood in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data
SURNAME Underwood, Ian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH new York