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
 

MusicianGigs
Ray White365
Ike Willis340
Bobby Martin299
George Duke203
Napoleon M Brock163
Denny Walley101
 Mike Keneally82
Flo and Eddie69
Adrian Belew51
Bob Harris50
Captain Beefheart27

Keyboard players
 

MusicianGigs
Tommy Mars333
Bobby Martin299
George Duke203
Ian Underwood 151
Peter Wolf125
Alan Zavod112
Don Preston70
Andre Lewis55
Bob Harris50
Eddie Jobson45

Drummers /
Percussionists

MusicianGigs
Ed Mann312
Chad Wackerman299
Terry Bozzio175
Ruth Underwood160
Vinnie Colaiuta116
Ralph Humphrey109
Chester Thompson77
Dave Logeman61

Guitarists
 

MusicianGigs
Ray White365
Ike Willis340
Steve Vai 147
Denny Walley101
Mike Keneally82
Jeff Simmons63
Adrian Belew51
Warren Cucurullo44

Bassists
 

MusicianGigs
Scott Thunes299
Arthur Barrow177
Tom Fowler175
Patrick O'Hearn100
Jeff Simmons63
Roy Estrada55
Jim Pons41

*      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