Ruth Underwood
Ruth Underwood (* 23. May 1946 as Ruth Komanoff ) is an American percussionist . She plays marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones and the entire range of percussion instruments, but also keyboards and harp. She became known through her collaboration with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention . In the meantime she has withdrawn from the music business into private life.
Ruth Komanoff first studied at Ithaca College , New York, with Warren Benson. "Under his guidance, I learned how important it is to communicate with the heart," says the Percussive Arts Society about the impressions of the former music student. After completing this degree, Ruth Komanoff moved to the Juilliard School for Dance, Drama and Music, New York, where she graduated as a percussionist in 1967.
By chance she met Frank Zappa in 1968, whose shows at New York's Garrick Theater she had seen several times. When Ruth and her brother were on their way to a Miles Davis concert, they ran into Zappa. Her brother spoke to him, whereupon she, as the Zappa biographer Barry Miles reports, "would like to sink into the ground". Too late. Zappa engaged the highly gifted percussionist. She can be heard for the first time on the album Uncle Meat (1969). Many more recordings with Frank Zappa and the Mothers were to follow by 1976.
Audio samples of the breathtaking perfection of this virtuoso musician can be found on the albums Over-Nite Sensation , Apostrophe , Roxy & Elsewhere and One Size Fits All . Ruth Underwood also worked in the TV production "A Token of his Extreme" - a live recording of a concert from 1974 for a KCET TV special in the Culver City Studio, Los Angeles, which ZDF published in the 1970s / Broadcast twice in the 1980s.
At the Mothers she met the keyboardist Ian Underwood . In 1970 the two married. The marriage ended in divorce in 1986.
From around 1975 Ruth Underwood only worked sporadically for Zappa until she almost completely gave up making music in the spring of 1977. Other recordings in which she participated are from the Hamilton Face Band, Ambrosia , George Duke , Alphonso Johnson , Billy Cobham and Jasun Martz.
Ruth Komanoff Underwood - as she calls herself today - is still connected to her last training center and her first teacher in the musical field (see above). In 1987 and 2003 she donated a total of three sponsorship awards in the fields of conducting and composition, which are intended to help young musicians get started.
Shortly before his death in 1993, Frank Zappa called Ruth Komanoff Underwood again to record samples of various percussion instruments with her . In a BBC interview in 1993, the musician said: "It was really a miracle for me - that I could work with him again and still have something to offer."
Discography (selection)
- The Mothers of Invention: Uncle Meat - 1969
- Hamilton Face Band: Ain't Got No Time - 1970
- The Mothers: Over-Nite Sensation - 1973
- Frank Zappa: Apostrophe (') - 1974
- Zappa & the Mothers of Invention: Roxy & Elsewhere - 1974
- Frank Zappa / The Mothers: One Size Fits All - 1975
- Ambrosia: Ambrosia - 1975
- George Duke: I Love The Blues, She Heard My Cry - 1976
- Frank Zappa: Zoot Allures - 1976
- George Duke: Liberated Fantasies - 1976
- Ambrosia: Somewhere I've Never Traveled - 1976
- Alphonso Johnson: Yesterday's Dreams - 1977
- Billy Cobham: Inner Conflicts - 1977
- Frank Zappa: Zappa In New York - 1978
- Jasun Martz: The Pillory - 1978
Web links
- Fan page ( Memento from August 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- complete discography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Underwood, Ruth |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Komanoff, Ruth (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American percussionist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 23, 1946 |