Monday, February 08, 2016

February 8 - Inca Roads

I thought long and hard before I decided that I indeed should do this - have a week where I post "difficult" music. For me, this is music that it took me a while to grow into - sometimes the difficulty simply is with an odd meter, sometimes there are intricate polyrhythms, sometimes the song structure can be difficult, sometimes the song can be abrasive, sometimes it's all of the above - and sometimes it is simply a very different melody line, which is the case today with the song Inca Roads.

In 1973, Frank Zappa gathered his Mothers (of Invention had been dropped at this point) again - Napoleon Murphy Brock on sax, flute, and vocals; George Duke on keyboards and vocals, Ruth Underwood on percussion (her marimbas on Inca Roads are spectacular), Tom Fowler on bass, and Chester Thompson on drums - and in September 1974 they found themselves in Helsinki, Finland. The band was extremely tight - and they had really developed some serious speed to some of the material. Inca Roads is still played in a moderate tempo, but if you listen to the different runs throughout the song, it is still highly complicated. I have given up on keeping track of all the meters used throughout the song - and to me, the melody lines and different runs don't follow traditional melody structures, but appear to be more inspired by contemporary orchestral music - and perhaps Varèse and Stravinsky.

All I know is that I am hooked on the strangeness of the initial melody, but I don't lose myself completely until the guitar solo - and even more so in the ensuing keyboard and marimba solos. This is one of my favorite pieces of music, as it merges rock with jazz and classical music, and it is well worth a listen. And - if you don't "get" it on the first try, come back to it later. That is the purpose with the music this week.




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