Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions by Ensemble Modern

Released in 2003 as a commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the death of Frank Zappa, on 4 December 1993 as a result of prostate cancer, this CD is finally a worthy, lively, felt homage to the great Frank.

Ensemble Modern was very close to Zappa in his last years of life, and this disc is the follow-ideal of the delightful The Yellow Shark, released ten years earlier and the last disc released with Zappa still alive, where the exceptional accuracy and virtuousism of Ensemble Modern joined beautifully the human warmth of the performance, too often absent in Zappa’s Synclavier works. Greggery Peccary & Other Persuasions resumed the Yellow Shark ideas and it makes it with the authority and security of one of the best contemporary music ensemble: perfect recording, without hesitation, full of feeling, humor, with a crisp and clean sound .

The repertoire is beautiful, varied and has pleasant surprises: Moggio (from The Man from Utopia, 1983) in the beginning, then What Will Rumi Do?, Then Night School and The Beltway Bandits (from Jazz from Hell, 1986) finally free of all electronic aseptic sounds, Pig With Wings and Put A Motor In Yoursef (Civilization Phaze III 1994), Revised Music for Low Budget Orchestra and The Adventure of Greggery Peccary ( both from Studio Tan, 1978) with Omar Ebrahim and David Moss (excellent) to split the vocal parts, Peaches En Regalia (from Hot Rats 1969) beautiful, happy and psichedelic , Naval Aviation in Art, in my opinion a much better version then the one on The Perfect Stranger (1984 ).

A beautiful disc that every Frank Zappa’s fan needs in his discoteque and that I think shall represent also for those who do not know him and the world of contemporary classical music the perfect way to approach the music of one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century. Long life to Zappa, long life to Ensemble Modern.