Frank Zappa
Waka/Jawaka

First, a fire at the end of 1971 at the Casino in Montreaux (where Zappa and the Mothers of Invention lose their equipment) and then an enraged spectator (according to whom Zappa had made eyes at his woman) at the Rainbow in London, pushing Zappa off the stage and causing him a fair amount of fractures, forcing him into a wheelchair for quite some time.

These are the 'historical' premises for the album I want to talk to you about, a fantastic album, so beautiful that it is difficult to start writing, as I am eager to share it with you. Despite these misadventures, Frank Vincent Zappa did not lose his inexhaustible creative vein and actually the forced limited mobility probably increased his compositional fervor, leading him to produce albums like the present 'Waka Jawaka' and the subsequent 'Grand Wazoo' (but in many ways these two albums can be considered as a single work) in which Zappa assembled (a word that could hardly be less appropriate) a great band (which will reach even 20 members with 'The Grand Wazoo'), of which I report all names as a sign of gratitude:
Tony Duran (slide guitar, vocal), George Duke (ring-modulated & echoplexed electric piano, tack piano), Don Preston (piano & Mini-Moog), Sal Marquez (many trumpets & chimes, flugel horn, vocal), Mike Altschul (baritone sax, tenor sax, piccolo, bass flute, bass clarinet), Bill Byers, Ken Shroyer (trombone & baritone horn), Joel Peskin (tenor sax), Erroneous (Alex Dmchowski) (electric bass, fuzz bass, vocal), Aynsley Dunbar (drums, washboard, tambourine), Chris Peterson, Janet Ferguson (vocal), Jeff Simmons (Hawaiian guitar & vocal), "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow (pedal steel solo).

The album opens with one of the absolute masterpieces of Zappa's discography, "Big Swifty", a instrumental cavalcade where guitar, trumpet, and piano chase each other, weaving phrases that can hardly be defined as just jazz, rock, blues or anything else, it is simply the 'fusion' of all this, a sound flow that captivates and delights for its entire duration of 17 minutes and 23 seconds. You cannot help but estrange yourself from everything and everyone when listening to the sound story that guitar, winds, and piano ecstatically deliver in a frenetic and joyful manner; the solos each instrument offers are not silently accompanied by the others; instead, they converse and intertwine sublimely, immersing and re-emerging from the waters of the river of music you find yourself wading.
"Your Mouth", the second track, is instead a blues piece that seemingly has little to do with the first track (and with the final title track), but this is only a superficial impression, there is extensive use of winds and even the vocal part does not pale, also because it is supported by an instrumental texture of great excellence. It is another chapter of Zappa's irony; the protagonist would like to shoot his woman who talks (and lies) too much (Your mouth is your religion)...

"It Just Might Be a One Shot Deal", the third track, is also a sung blues-country (resorting to these categories is undoubtedly pitiful, I apologize) whose lyrics are a sort of 'carpe diem' Zappa-style. I must spend a few words on the guitar solo that starts after 2 minutes and 8 seconds: playful and dreamy. Then we reach the final track, "Waka Jawaka", where the abundant use of winds absolutely does not overshadow the dreamlike evolutions of the other instruments, starting with Don Preston's performance on the synthesizer (the Mini-Moog), immediately followed by another guitar solo that you never forget and that leaves you with a silly grin plastered on your face every time (of the hundreds) you listen to it.
The same discourse of instrumental 'fusion' made for 'Big Swifty' applies here too; this track undoubtedly remains among the timeless gems of all music. As the cover itself suggests, this album is placed in the 'Hot Rats' line, with undeniable continuity ties, but I believe that the orchestral character and the more marked polyphony make "Waka Jawaka" (and its twin 'The Grand Wazoo') an absolutely original production (an adjective that for Zappa inevitably faces certain, yet unavoidable, inflation).

In conclusion, the purpose of this review is not to waste words uselessly on an absolute genius of 20th-century music (and of all time); my only intent is to induce anyone reading these words to procure this exceptional album in any way possible: indeed, all the words in the world can be spent defining it, but only by listening to it can you understand what kind of masterpiece it is.

It's a shame it only lasts 36 minutes.