Not just another band from LA...
...but three band mates of Frank Zappa with the Mothers Of Invention!
DON PRESTON
(ex Mother of Invention/FZ, with FZ 1966-74, John Lennon, Gil Evans, Paul & Carla Bley etc. etc.) - keyboard, synthesizers, electronics, magic tricks, vocals.
TOM FOWLER
(ex Mother of Invention/FZ, with FZ 1973-76, Jean-Luc Ponty, George Duke, Ray Charles etc. etc.) - bass, violin, hats.
NAPOLEON MURPHY BROCK
(ex Mother of Invention/FZ, with FZ 1974-84, Dweezil Zappa ZappaPlaysZappa etc.)
vocals, tenor saxophone, flute, suavenicity, dancing (!).
CHRIS GARCIA
drumset, percussion, marimba, vocals.
Appropriate to Frank Zappa's highly complex works, of course the three aces will be accompanied by two disciples who are most accomplished musicians in their own rights. ROBBIE MANGANO is not just of Italian descent like Zappa but fills the enormous footsteps of the guitar playing FZ with virtuosity of the kind that makes for collective jaw-dropping amongst the sternest of critics. And CHRIS GARCIA a) has got all the goods in his hands which his prominent predecessors had to deliver to become Frank's drummers. Plus b) in Garcia's throat there's an organ, which lets The Grande Mothers Re:Invented perform even the songs which Captain Beefheart had once sung for Zappa.
Mind you, it's nothing but music of the great master that luckily will be brought back to the venues of this world. And when Napoleon Murphy Brock takes to supple dancing like in days long gone; when Don Preston recalls witty anecdotes or is suddenly standing by the edge of the stage to surprise the delighted audience with a crazy solo from his iPod; when Tom Fowler lets the bass strings rest and caresses his violin ones instead - then all this amounts to musical theatre at it's best.
There's nothing closer to the original than this bunch!