One More Time For The World Tour
By Adrian Coen
T'Mershi Duween, #50, April 1996
Sheer trivia here – and I wouldn't be surprised if something like this hasn't
already been done in one of the issues of TD I don't own yet (no, you're the
saddest person out there, Adrian mate. We all have real lives -Ed). I was
figuring out how to use FileMakerPro (Database) on my Mac... (sure)
Zappa played approximately 912 gigs between 1970 and 1988, not including the
classical ones (the two show days would add another 124, but these are not
counted here). There are twenty-three musicians who played with him more than a
hundred times. Before 1970 – well, it's just too difficult. Why not challenge
your readers (the ones with nothing better to do) to send in estimates for
1964-69? Number of gigs, most frequently appearing Mothers, etc. A complete
waste of time of course, but then again... (The film '200 Motels' was supposedly
called thusly to reflect the number of shows the original Mothers played, so how
about an estimate of ooh, one hundred and ninety-three? -Ed)
I was surprised to find that Ray White was the sideman who appeared most
often (1970-1988). You never know; this gunk might come in handy for filling up
pages in the fiftieth anniversary TD. Maybe you'll even receive horribly
revealing (with respect to the mental health of your readership (I know how bad
that is -Ed)) letters questioning the accuracy of my count (I can dream...).
Anyway, here it all is:
|
Vocalists
|
| Musician |
Gigs |
| Ray White |
365 |
| Ike Willis |
340 |
| Bobby Martin |
299 |
| George Duke |
203 |
| Napoleon M Brock |
163 |
| Denny Walley |
101 |
| Mike Keneally |
82 |
| Flo and Eddie |
69 |
| Adrian Belew |
51 |
| Bob Harris |
50 |
| Captain Beefheart |
27 |
|
|
Keyboard players
|
| Musician |
Gigs |
| Tommy Mars |
333 |
| Bobby Martin |
299 |
| George Duke |
203 |
| Ian Underwood |
151 |
| Peter Wolf |
125 |
| Alan Zavod |
112 |
| Don Preston |
70 |
| Andre Lewis |
55 |
| Bob Harris |
50 |
| Eddie Jobson |
45 |
|
|
Drummers /
Percussionists |
| Musician |
Gigs |
| Ed Mann |
312 |
| Chad Wackerman |
299 |
| Terry Bozzio |
175 |
| Ruth Underwood |
160 |
| Vinnie Colaiuta |
116 |
| Ralph Humphrey |
109 |
| Chester Thompson |
77 |
| Dave Logeman |
61 |
|
|
Guitarists
|
| Musician |
Gigs |
| Ray White |
365 |
| Ike Willis |
340 |
| Steve Vai |
147 |
| Denny Walley |
101 |
| Mike Keneally |
82 |
| Jeff Simmons |
63 |
| Adrian Belew |
51 |
| Warren Cucurullo |
44 |
|
|
Bassists
|
| Musician |
Gigs |
| Scott Thunes |
299 |
| Arthur Barrow |
177 |
| Tom Fowler |
175 |
| Patrick O'Hearn |
100 |
| Jeff Simmons |
63 |
| Roy Estrada |
55 |
| Jim Pons |
41 |
|
* Jeff Simmons played bass on 27 and guitar on
36; AC has lumped the two together.
** Where is Aynsley on the drummers list?
*** Other musicians who played more than a hundred times: Bruce Fowler
236; Walt Fowler 117.
AC concludes with 'I'm not a completely sad case – I'm just steeped in irony,
that's all'. Personally I don't believe a word of it...
Read by OCR software. If you spot errors, let me know afka (at) afka.net
|