Frank Zappa - 1972 [1988] "Waka-Jawaka"

Waka/Jawaka (also known as Waka/Jawaka — Hot Rats) is the fourth solo album by Frank Zappa, released in July 1972. The album is the jazz-influenced precursor to The Grand Wazoo (November 1972), and as the front cover indicates, a sequel of sorts to 1969's Hot Rats. According to Zappa, the title "is something that showed up on a ouija board at one time.

"Big Swifty" is a jazz-fusion tune, similar to many of Zappa's pieces from the jazz period of his com-positional timeline. It features many horns to achieve a thick brassy sound as well as room for improvisation and use of multiple time signatures. The tune initially alternates between 7/8 and 3/4 time signatures, soon settling on a 4/4 swing feel for several extended solos. Known recorded live versions expanded rhythmic diversification to 11/8 and rubato parts (e.g. live in Texas, 1973).

The track "It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal" is a strange tale of hallucinations sung by Sal Marquez and Janet Ferguson (the "tough-minded" groupie in 200 Motels). Jeff Simmons' Hawaiian guitar sets up a dream-like, smooth quality, but with the words but you should be diggin' it while it's happening cause it just might be a one-shot deal, though played in real time rather than achieved with a splice, it again sounds as if the music has started to run backwards.

Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "With Sal Marquez playing 'many trumpets' all over 'Big Swifty,' there are times you could drop the needle and think you were listening to recent Miles Davis. That's certainly what Zappa's been doing. But where Davis is occasionally too loose, Zappa's always too tight—he seems to perceive only what is weird and alienating in his influences, never what is humane. Also, Sal Marquez doesn't play trumpet(s) as good as Miles.

When Frank Zappa found himself stuck in a wheelchair for most of the year 1972 (after a "fan" pushed him off the stage in December of the previous year), he relieved his band (including singers Flo & Eddie) of its duties and turned to studio work. One of the first things he tried was to write jazz fusion music scored for wider instrumentation than an average rock band. Waka/Jawaka was conceived in parallel to The Grand Wazoo, but with fewer players. The album, released in July 1972, is comprised of two extended instrumental pieces and two shorter songs. "Big Swifty," a theme-and-solos showcase, would become a live favorite, but the highlight came in the form of the orgiastic title track, recorded with ex-Mothers of Invention keyboardist Don Preston, trumpeter Sal Marquez, trombonists Bill Byers and Ken Shroyer, saxophonist Mike Altschul, bassist Erroneous, and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. The songs, never performed live, feel like filler material. Waka/Jawaka was Zappa's second solo album and is occasionally referred to as "Hot Rats II" (the handles of the faucets on the cover artwork show the words "hot" and "rats" instead of "hot" and "cold"). His writing and recording technique had matured a lot in very little time. The dirty blues jamming of the 1969 LP was replaced by clean, crisp jazz improvisations -- no need to say this was also an abrupt change in style from the Mothers' 1969-1971 incarnation. But this album was only transitional: Zappa's big-band stylings would really flourish in The Grand Wazoo a few months later.

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Track listing

All songs written, composed and arranged by Frank Zappa.

1.    "Big Swifty"    17:22
2.    "Your Mouth"    3:12
3.    "It Just Might Be a One-Shot Deal"    4:16
4.    "Waka/Jawaka"    11:18

Personnel:

    Frank Zappa – guitar (all tracks, including acoustic guitar on track 3), percussion (1), electric bed springs (3), uncredited vocals (3)
    Sal Marquez – trumpets (all tracks), vocals (2, 3, 4), chimes (1, 4), flugelhorn (4)
    Erroneous (Alex Dmochowski) – electric bass (all tracks), vocals (3), fuzz bass (4)
    Aynsley Dunbar – drums (all tracks), washboard (3), tambourine (3)
    Tony Duran – slide guitar (1, 2, 3), vocals (3)
    George Duke – ring-modulated & echoplexed electric piano (1), tack piano (2)
    Mike Altschul – baritone saxophone (2, 4), piccolo (2, 4), bass flute (4), bass clarinet (4), tenor sax (4)
    Kris Peterson – vocals (2, 4)
    Joel Peskin – tenor sax (2)
    Jeff Simmons – Hawaiian guitar (3), vocals (3)
    Sneaky Pete Kleinow – pedal steel guitar solo (3)
    Janet Ferguson – vocals (3)
    Don Preston – piano (4), Minimoog (4)
    Billy Byers – trombone (4), baritone horn (4)
    Ken Shroyer – trombone (4), baritone horn (4)