Yeah I’m with you on that one. That was my favorite iteration of the Mother’s. So funky and so talented. And Ruth was low key a 🦊

You’re not wrong... very pleased to have found this... wonderful musician.

I saw Frank Three times in concert but sadly I didn't get to see Ruth Play. Very disappointing since I was a huge fan of what I heard. However, I did get to see Billy Hulting in the Dweezil tours. He was pretty talented too.

@@markkopchak147 Cudos to you! I started listening to Zappa in early 1989 so missed out on the 1988 tour which I to this day regret immensely. Zappa was a force of nature. Say what you will of him but he managed to root out some of the best musicians the world has ever seen, AND he made a mark on the music world that is hard to beat. "Music is the best."

I love Ruth, loved to watch her perform, I saw her twice with Frank. The truth of the matter is Ruth came from the world of "legit players AKA classical musicians" where very few musicians have name recognition except amongst their peers. She is truly a phenomenal musician and was a big time fan of Frank's music and persona before being asked to audition. Timing for her could not have been better. I'm so glad they found each other.

What is that reason? No one can do the mustache?

yeah but it's got nothing to do with this video sus2 chords aint a wild concept

@@guitarslim56 no the soul patch lol

Same reason nobody covers “YES”

Good luck ever trying to cover "the aristocrats"

So incredibly smooth& has an unmistakeable touch

I just wanted to write the same.

Does she play the parts in Green Rosetta at the end of Joe's garage too? That's such a beautiful yet completely stupid tune, I love it haha

A little known genius. So cool.

very true.

As Frank said, she was a product of Julliard.

I suspect working with Frank left working with anyone else a let down for a musician of her caliber. But what do I know?🙄

My favorite stories that former Mothers tell are how Frank somehow knew which things you could do that they themselves didn’t believe they could, and/or didn’t want to. George Duke, another “conservatory snob” is probably the best example. He refused to touch a synthesizer or any keyboard that wasn’t a piano, so Frank bought one and put it on top of the piano within easy reach. George said he resisted the urge for a long time, but eventually reached up and pressed a key. The rest is history. He also didn’t believe he could sing, so Frank got him to play one note, then sing it. Then two notes, and so on. Before long he was singing Inca Roads, arguably the most difficult vocal Zappa ever wrote. He brought music to the world that nobody else could have, and he got a lot of it from performances his musicians never thought they could play. Absolutely remarkable.

@@jamesthe-doctor8981 You might be referring to this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e7h2iMWJm5qcg2g.html where George tells a funny little story about when he first joined the Mothers. I can just picture Frank fixing him with a withering stare and saying sarcastically, "Oh, it's BENEATH you". Great stuff.

@@keithbird8910 yep, that’s exactly the one. Every interview with every former Mother always seems to point out that, although FZ needed classically trained musicians, he also had to find ways to open their minds as wide as his had always been. That phrase, “I can’t do that” probably made him laugh inside, causing him to think to himself, “you wanna bet?”😂 In George’s case with the synth, he really meant “I don’t want to do that,” while regarding his ability to sing, he meant it literally. I think Frank often took it as a challenge, and from all accounts, he always succeeded.

She meant the chords where the threes (thirds) in chords become twos (shouldn’t that be 9th chords with suspended 3 btw?)

@@AndreasDelleske Bb2 is shorthand for Bbsus2. It looks neater on the page. And no, 9th chords have 7ths in them.

All sus 2 chords. Very cool.

@@pechondelgado not a sus; she’s playing a parallel interval, technically not a chord.

@@MuzixMaker I'm not understanding. Ruth explains that you take a triad (1-3-5) and drop the 3rd down to 2 so it becomes (1-2-5) which would be a sus 2. I know they aren't playing the chord per say but they are playing an arpeggio of a sus2 chord. What am I not seeing?

She is! And Juilliard trained.

You're so right on the selected combination of instruments 'note'... But I'd use an *asterisk* by placing an 'only staccato notes apply', then you could add a 'reeded' instrumentalist (only staccato notes). Our human bias (sometimes skewed w/ an ever so slightest of error), usually conditions us to form habits so we don't overtax our brains. This allows us to use our cognitive faculty to 'solve' complex problems. @dt6540, the *gentleman's* agreement of Underwood-Zappa was a recipe void of boundaries, allowing Zappa to flourish in 'human bias'. Each instrumentalist was instrumental in multiplying his 'human bias'. Zappa poured the batter (recipe) in a pan, then placed it into the oven. Now (not having to concern himself with anybody's musical abilities), Zappa was able to 'solve' complex musical problems 'masterfully' and have faculties (resources) to refine his 'recipe' to bring it to perfection. The process Zappa followed was fraught with uncertainty and doubt. These seemingly insurmountable challenges never discouraged Zappa. The stakes are high, so he doubled down (by trusting his gut instinct), which paid off huge! His musical hallmarks were allowed to flourish. Simple look at his 'body' of work. Every song is a free-flowing Zappa!

Her mistakes are better than my successes.

My biggest musical achievement is that I heard 2 of them...

Uh. RUTH!!

Playing in Zappa's band will make you like that. He was a perfectionist.

Any musician worth his or her salt is their own biggest critics.

datedada

On Ruth!

-thats Ruth!

I'm surprised she didn't mention that she played the part in unison with George Duke on synth. Or am I hearing things?

Only correction -- Frank was a genius, period. Musically, but beyond that too. The man was observant, astute, intelligent. And musically gifted.

@@arlingtonhynes I used to think that. I absolutely LOATHED dancing fool when it was on the air all the time. I thought he was awful. Then one day I tripped across an AMAZING guitar solo and when I went to check who was playing it -- it was HIM! I was SHOCKED. The man could PLAY. I mean REALLY play. He just chose to write some off the wall kooky stuff because I suppose he was entertained by it. But he was capable of playing DAMNED well. Have you heard Black Napkins? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mbSbn5SS27-8goE.html Have you seen his performance on Saturday Night Live -- I am the Slime? Back in the 70s he was telling us the media is crap. 50 years later we all know it. Have you seen him in a suit defending free speech? Man was a genius. Ahead of his time.

@@arlingtonhynes Eh, I don't know that he'd approve of it. Surprises me how some people do. But not the people who are really paying attention. And I can't speak to his albums, I don't own any. There are many songs of his that I don't care for, but many that are simply outstanding. Point being he is clearly capable of playing and writing on a high level, and he was a brilliant thinker when most people were completely blind and ignorant. Hence summary judgment: Genius.

How cool! Thanks for sharing your experience!

But.... I've got the crystal ball.

She's a pretty decent piano player as well kzfaq.info/get/bejne/sNedlrF8ucveg4E.html

Hearing her voice intonation is really inspiring. She has no 'grit' in her tone. She still sounds so youthful. She speaks like she has no 'real' regrets in life.

She hasn't been playing Zappa's music in 30 yrs. She's still playing or she couldn't execute those parts.

@@farshimelt "3 mistakes, one for each decade I have been away from Franks music and the instrument" I find that hard to believe seeing how effortlessly she plays the parts.

@@farshimelt Nope, she said she hung up the mallets after Apostrophe - since there was no further 'UP' for her. Then Frank called when he was sick and asked her to come play for him one last time - took her two weeks to practice and get some of her chops back. You can see she is not playing as fast or furious as she did almost 50 years ago - I am a marimba player as well. But Ruth - well, her play speaks for itself!

With all due respect, I think many if not all of the musicians that Frank gathered around him, at some point in time, taught him something. I believe his appetite for exploring new things was voracious and as such he liked to tap the minds of other creative people and share with and learn from as many as he could.

Arthur Barrow actually teaches a Zappa college course in Texas. Check out his book Of Course I said Yes.

I hope she will write a book about her Zappa days - she wrote the liner notes to Roxy by Proxy and it's the best liner notes of any Zappa album.

True dat!

I'll steal the margarine

@@muddshshshark Dominus vobiskum

St. Alphonso St. Alphonso St. Alphonso 🎶

MMMMMMMMM ... pancakes!!

lagom I demand a muffin.

Yeah and she got curvy body back then. Amazing player too. Zappa's music not for faint hearted peoples.

@Crimson Lens OFFICIAL watch the roxy movie

We all were

@@paulieplayspoorly yes we were, she is still hot thou!!

When you see the old videos, it's so obvious that she was/ is basically just an uber-talented band nerd, all excited to be playing this crazy stuff like it's some sort of inside joke for musicians (which it is...). It's the enthusiasm you see, and the talent you hear. Not just Ruth, but so many of the musicians he picked up over the years.

❤️

"the most complex music ever written" is a reach. sensationalism. why do people have to exaggerate and make it the mostest, bestest, most complexish? Okay, it's complex.

hi michael! is there anywhere I could read your interview with Ruth? it would be so enriching!

Ed Mann and Art Tripp were also very good. Art Tripp also played Beefheart's music, which is possibly more difficult.

That's the crux of it.

Ian Underwood also got Frank at a fundamental level. Hot Rats is still my fav FZ album, and there is lots of Ian Underwood there, with all the horns & keyboard overdubbings.

I always considered Cardiacs the missing link between Zappa and XTC. :-)

@@jonaslind8123 That's a perfect description!

the chance to hear it again

@@risimurphy5083 damn!

"Lemme dust this old thing off..." ***world explodes

Chrissy and three beers.

😂😂😂

She didn’t play on Sheik Yerbouti

that should've been Ed Mann, at the time ...

Talent: 15% inspiration, 85% perspiration.