The grandmothers

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The grandmothers
The Grandmothers of Invention at the St. Ingbert Jazz Festival (2013)
The Grandmothers of Invention at the St. Ingbert Jazz Festival (2013)
General information
Genre (s) Progressive rock
founding 1980
Founding members
Jimmy Carl Black
Keyboard , vocals
 Don Preston
Bunk Gardner
Tom Fowler
Trumpet , keyboard, vocals
 Walt Fowler
Tony Duran
other musicians
Saxophone, vocals
 Napoleon Murphy Brock
singing
 Ray Collins
Keyboard
 Phil Davis
Electric bass, vocals
 Roy Estrada
Trumpet, horns
Buzz Gardner
Keyboard, trumpet, vocals
 Bob Harris
Electric guitar
 Elliot Ingber
Drums
 Billy Mundi
Electric guitar, vocals
 Sandro Oliva
Electric bass, electric guitar
 Dave Parlato
Drums
 Sandy Reiner
Keyboard
 Christy Rundquist
Saxophone, electric guitar, vocals
 Jim Sherwood
Electric guitar
 Denny Walley
Vocals, electric guitar
 Ike Willis
Electric guitar
 Miroslav Tadic
Drums
 Christopher Garcia

The group The Grandmothers in 1980 by three former members of the Mothers of Invention founded: Jimmy Carl Black , Bunk Gardner and Don Preston . In addition to compositions by band members, the group also played many songs by the Mothers and Frank Zappas . The line-up changed frequently, and the band name was changed slightly from time to time - most recently in “The Grandmothers of Invention”.

Band history

When Geronimo Black's album Welcome Back was released in 1980 , the fact that it featured six musicians from the Zappa / Mothers environment brought the former Mothers of Invention musicians Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black and Bunk Gardner to the Idea for a new project. They put it into practice that same year and founded the group The Grandmothers. The group dedicated itself to Zappa's creative period from 1965 to 1969, on the one hand, and pieces by band members also had their place in the repertoire. First the album Grandmothers was produced, which was released in 1981. It contained twelve songs, five of which were newly recorded, but the remaining seven had been recorded between 1969 and 1972. On three of the early recordings, the grandmothers could not be heard, but the trio "Menage a Trois", a band project by Bunk Gardner, Buzz Gardner and John Balkin. Another of the old tracks on this album was recorded by Don Preston's 1970s synthesizer band “Raw Milk” with the participation of Sandy Reiner (drums), Christy Rundquist and Phil Davis (both synthesizers). A total of 25 musicians worked on the album, including other former Zappa musicians such as Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood , Elliot Ingber, Denny Walley and Dave Parlato. The grandmothers introduced the album in 1981 during two tours in America and Europe. The line-up of the first tour consisted of Preston, Black and Gardner, the former Mothers musicians Tom Fowler (bass, violin) and Walt Fowler (trumpet, keyboard, vocals) as well as guitarist Tony Duran. The latter was replaced by guitarist Denny Walley on the autumn tour.

The next album, Lookin 'up Granny's Dress , was released in 1982. The 15 tracks included four current recordings as well as nine songs that had been recorded live during the previous year's tours. The Ray Collins track “Deseri” was a recording from 1962. The title “Dona” documents the only previously published recording by the trio “Elmer and Fred”, which was made with guitarist Andy Cahan and the Bunk Gardner Bassist Dusty Wakeman had founded. In March 1982 the grandmothers gave three concerts each in Denmark and Germany. Gardner and Duran had left, guitarist Mike Miller and drummer Tony Morales had joined for this little tour.

Afterwards, for a few years hardly anything could be heard or seen from the grandmothers. Jimmy Carl Black put together an ensemble called "First Austin Grandmothers" in 1988, which made a few appearances. In addition to Black, this formation included guitarist Mike Harris, percussionist Jeff Hogan, bassist Ener Bladezipper and Gerald "Eli" Smith, who played the woodwind instruments. Two live recordings of this line-up were released on the 2001 album "Eyeinhand Sampler Volume 1", which only contained material from musicians who were in any way related to Frank Zappa. The following year Don Preston and Bunk Gardner were also back for further performances by the grandmothers.

When Zappa released The Old Masters Box Volume One in 1985 - the sampler contained the first six albums by the Mothers of Invention and a mystery disc - former Mothers members Jimmy Carl Black, Bunk Gardner and Don Preston filed a lawsuit; they had not received any royalties for their work on these Zappa records since 1969. Ray Collins, Art Tripp and Jim Sherwood also joined the lawsuit alleging that Zappa should pay a total of $ 16.4 million. The arguments smoldered for six years without leading to a result. In 1991, the plaintiffs filed another lawsuit against Zappa. It was about reputational damage because Zappa had publicly called her 1985 request a “product of a chemically induced change”. Zappa was looking for an out-of-court settlement. Ultimately, he took over all court costs of his former musicians and paid compensation in an unknown amount for the outstanding royalties. (P. 115)  pp. 377, 419f

In 1993 the album Dreams on Long Play was released . In addition to Black, Ener Bladezipper (bass), Roland St. Germain (guitar, keyboard), Linda Valmets (violin, percussion), Gerald "Eli" Smith (woodwind instruments) and Tomas Ramirez (saxophone) contributed to the recordings. Reinforced by Gardner and Preston, but without Ramirez, this grandmothers line-up completed an extensive European tour in the same year. The sampler A Mother of an Anthology was also released in 1993, which contained 14 previously published tracks and seven new titles. Black, Preston, Gardner and Bladezipper as well as the guitarist and singer Sandro Oliva came to Europe in 1994 as "The Grandmothers of Invention" for some appearances. This line-up played the album Who Could Imagine with former Mothers singer and bassist Roy Estrada in the same year .

From left: Bunk Gardner, Ener Bladezipper, Sandro Oliva, Don Preston, Jimmy Carl Black and Stefano Baldasseroni, August 28, 2000

As a result, the grandmothers met occasionally to record pieces in Sandro Oliva's recording studio in Rome. In the summer of 1997 Black, Oliva and Bladezipper performed a number of appearances in Germany under the name “The Grandmothers Power Trio”. In 1998 the grandmothers went on a European tour. In addition to Black, Gardner, Preston, Bladezipper and Oliva, the septet also included keyboardist Mauro Andreoni and drummer Steve B. Roney. Parts of the tour program appeared in 2000 on the live album Eating the Astoria , which was recorded in March 1998 at the London Astoria Theater . The grandmothers undertook an extended tour of 52 cities in the late summer of 2000. The band was identical to the 1998 line-up, only Andreoni had since left.

In the fall of 2001 Preston and Gardner gave a few concerts in the United States with the two ex-Mothers members Billy Mundi (drums) and Roy Estrada and guitarist Ken Rosser. At this time the album The Eternal Question was released , which contained recordings from 1980 and 1981. As "The Grandmothers West" Preston, Estrada, Gardner and Black stood together with the former Zappa musicians Bob Harris (trumpet) and Napoleon Murphy Brock (vocals, saxophone) as well as the guitarist André Cholmondeley and drummer Glenn Leonard at the 13 . Zappanale in Bad Doberan on stage.

This concert marked the end of the previous grandmothers. A tour with Zappa's sister Candy planned for autumn 2002 has been canceled. Preston and Gardner had left the band to start their own "Grandmothers" group. From then on, this band was to be devoted to Frank Zappa's creative period from 1964 to 1983. In addition to Preston and Gardner, Roy Estrada and Napoleon Murphy Brock as well as guitarist Ken Rosser and drummer Chris Garcia belonged to this ensemble. Already recorded with the new line-up, but still under the old name "Grandmothers", the new grandmothers' only album to date was released in 2003: "A Grandmothers Night at the Gewandhaus" offered the live recording of the concert that was recorded in March 2003 in Leipzig . Further appearances in San Francisco, San Diego and Frankfurt / Main followed in the same year. After Gardner left, the band went on two European tours in spring and summer 2004 as “The Grandmothers Re: Invented”. In January 2005, the same cast followed a tour through Italy. From the summer of 2005 to the end of November 2006, there followed in the same formation in the USA, Canada, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia, where the band either "The Grande Mothers Re: Invented" or "The Grande Mothers" “Called. After that she called herself "The Grandmothers of Invention".

Discography

  • Grandmothers - 1981
  • Lookin 'up Granny's Dress - 1982
  • Fan Club Talk Album - 1983
  • Dreams on Long Play - 1993
  • A Mother of an Anthology - 1993
  • Who Could Imagine - 1994
  • Eating the Astoria - 2000
  • 20 Year Anthology of the Grandmothers - 2001 (CDR)
  • The Eternal Question - 2001 (CDR)
  • 20 Year Anthology of the Grandmothers (Volume 2) - 2002 (CDR)
  • A Grandmothers Night at the Gewandhaus - 2003

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d e f The Grandmothers: on united-mutations.com (as of December 31, 2006)
  2. ^ Carl-Ludwig Reichert: Frank Zappa . DTV, Munich 2000. ISBN 3-423-31039-1
  3. ↑ Barry Miles : Zappa . German edition. Rogner & Bernhard at two thousand and one. 2005. ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 .
  4. ↑ a b The Grandmothers: on Sandroliva.com (as of December 31, 2006)
  5. ↑ The Grande Mothers Re: Invented: on united-mutations.com (as of December 31, 2006)

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