...and one more time about the 100% Zappa project. Conductor/arranger Tom Trapp (see his homepage here!) was really kind and answered my questions about the event - and more.

I'm really pleased to get his letter, and his permission to put it here - so here it comes, this interview with Tom Trapp for you:

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PERFECT and Corny

Where have you first heard about and got involved with the 100% Zappa festival in Hungary?

I got a call from Mike Keneally (or maybe his manager, Scott Chatfield - I can't remember). I've worked with Mike on a few projects here and there for the last few years. Mike was invited to perform, but they didn't have any arrangements. Mike knew that I was an arranger, so he suggested me to a lovely woman named Janina, who worked for the festival. From there, through a series of phone calls, everything fell into place.

I didn't know Ocker wrote about the concert, but I looked at your link, and I'm glad he liked it. I was also very pleased with the orchestra's portion of the program. I had a little conversation with Adam Fischer in the dressing room, and he was pleased too, and he seemed to be very into the music, which - for me - is the most important thing when you're dealing with Zappa. You have to almost "live" for that music in that moment, and I think he did that.

Unfortunately there is no recording that I know of for that evening. I, also, find this disturbing! I would have loved to have gone home with a document of that wonderful evening. In my opinion, everything was successful, and the audience really enjoyed themselves. I'm not exactly sure why there wasn't a recording, but maybe next time!

I understand you have different sorts of arranging works (from Steve Vai to Mike Keneally through film scores, etc.) - when did you first made an arrangement for a Zappa-piece?

Wow. I can't really remember. A long time ago. I think I was 14 or so. I've been listening to Zappa for a very long time.

Can you tell me your first (or most important) experience with FZ's music? What does his music mean to you?

My first experience was with a piece called "What's The Ugliest Part Of Your Body?" A friend of mine played it for me, and I remember thinking that it was funny, but not an exceptional piece of music. Then, I listened to the rest of the album (We're Only In It For The Money) and found VERY interesting things. Then it was what I call the "Zappa Addiction." It's impossible to know that Zappa has written something that you haven't heard, so you have to listen to everything! That's a lot of listening.

I saw in your biography you'd played in Bogus Pomp as a drummer. Being a drummer did it have a special effect on your transcriptons, or understanding of the music of FZ, its percussive quality?

Not really. The rhythms speak for themselves, and with most Zappa stuff, the rhythm is all over the place, in all the instruments. In terms of orchestration, yes, the percussion is a big part of Zappa's stuff, but in terms of understanding the music, even the pieces without percussion sound so rhythmic, it's impossible not to hear. As a drummer, though - that did give me an appreciation for the GROOVE. That's the thing for me that separates Zappa (in the 70s and 80s) with things that get called "progressive rock." Zappa knew how to use odd meters and make them groove HARD. That's something you don't hear every day. Mostly, it's a band barely managing to play in 13/8 and they have no groove, they're all counting all the time.

Do you happen to know the latest Zappa-release, ZAPPA WAZOO? It made me remember in lots of ways to your transscriptions/conducting I've heard/seen here in Budapest. Do you have the same feeling, or am I wrong? What do you think of this album?

I have heard it, yes. To be honest with you, I thought some of the compositions were lacking form. I missed that. With Frank, what you always get is an understanding of form and how things in the piece relate to other things in the piece (or what you don't even realize relates, but really does!)... That album sounded to me like an interesting band, but the pieces sounded underdeveloped. It's ok if there are highly improvised sections, but if it's "compositions," then there has to be something solid for me. Let me say this: the arrangements are nice, the sounds are nice, but I prefer "Waka/Jawaka" and "The Grand Wazoo" to that album, and I think Frank did, too - that's why HE didn't release it.

What you said about my arrangements and conducting is right, though. I heard a lot of suggestions while I was writing, or during the rehearsals like "Frank used to do this," or "Frank would have done this" and that's not interesting for me. I don't want to be Frank, there's only one Frank. What I was trying to do was make something truly interesting, and more importantly - FUN. I think the band had fun with it, and Mike and Ed did too. I certainly did. It's important to me to honor the music, not to try to BE the composer.

Being present on one of the MAO rehearsals I saw that at first they "only" played the written notes. After a few days, on the concert they just blew me away: you've lead them to tons of impros, jokes, collective improvisations - LIVE music! What had happened on rehearsals? How do you remember working with the MAO? How did they like the music - was your conducting style new to them? How did they react?

Ha. This is a good question. I know what you mean. It's practical, though - the music is very difficult to read, but once you have it in your head, you've got it - that THEN you can start expanding. You probably saw one of those moments at rehearsal - it's not ALL fun! You do have to spend the time rehearsing the notes, so you can "learn what to forget!" Here's the thing with the MAO though - they aren't stiff. They understand that music doesn't ONLY exist on the page... there's a lot of other stuff to it. I remember trying to get something in "Holiday in Berlin" played "corny," and because of the language barrier, no one knew what "corny" meant, so Keneally jumps out and starts playing corny, or singing corny, or something. As soon as they heard that, they responded. Like "oh, that's what you mean!" Then the next take - PERFECT and corny! That's amazing, because musicians spend years training, so they don't play corny. Then they get a smartass conductor telling them to play just like that!

In terms of improv, jokes, and things like that, we rehearsed a little bit of that, but not a lot. I told them, "Here, we'll do some improv, just watch." The whole point for me is to IMPROV so if you make it too rehearsed, then it doesn't sound fresh. I liked the fact that they didn't know what was coming. However, I only discovered that in the rehearsals. It won't work with every orchestra, so you have to SEE, feel - if that will work with them. By the second rehearsal, I knew though - yes, they will be responsive to this. Then I knew that we could go on stage, be crazy, play well, have fun, and it will look like we are having fun. Everyone has fun when they see people having FUN, so that was important for me at the concert - I wanted people to have fun, not just watch a bunch of people playing difficult music!

Being an arranger - and drummer for the Bogus Pomp - did you also made their (BP) arrangements? Are there any recording of your FZ arrangements anywhere (official or other)?

Yes, I did arrange for Bogus Pomp. We actually combined Bogus Pomp and the Florida Orchestra, 2 years in a row - 2004 and 2005 I think it was. I conducted, and I wrote all the arrangements, and I think it was a great result. I also have done a few other arrangements for them, because even if they play as a rock band, and not with orchestra - they have a horn section.

There are no official recordings of my Zappa arrangements. Of course there are house recordings of the shows, but those will most likely not be heard.

Aside from getting paid to do the job, I don't make money on Zappa arrangements. I don't really want to. It's because I like it, and I like to talk to people in the audience at the concerts. Every person at a Zappa show is there because they want to be there (or because they got dragged by their husband/wife).

You've probably heard of the troubles the FZ-cover bands have nowadays: being sued or attacked by the Zappa Family Trust. How do you see all this - do you also have the same problem as those tribute-bands, or maybe you have a better relationship with GZ?

I have heard of other bands getting involved in lawsuits, but I have never been in one myself. I hopefully won't. I do know most people in the Zappa community, though - and I will say that they are "good hearts." Andre from Project/Object, Jerry from Bogus Pomp, and Ed Palermo are truly nice people. I don't know how they conduct themselves toward Gail, or what kind of relationship they have with her, I really don't care. I'm only me. I don't believe in being rude to people unnecessarily, and I think sometimes a lot of rumors get started from people who like to talk too much (especially about Gail), and I try to ignore that, and only go on the personal contact that I get from people.

I have no idea how my own "relationship" with Gail is at this moment. I think it's pretty good, though. I don't talk to her, she doesn't talk to me - I get asked to arrange something and I do it. I'm definitely 100% in this because I like the music, and I can only hope I'm talented enough to give a good result with my arrangements and conducting. I want to honor the music, that's it. I don't have to impress anyone politically.

You might have heard that organising this 100% Zappa project was not an easy task. Was it that difficult for you too, or your way/participation, etc. was more simple and smooth? Would you be gladly involved in such a project again?

It wasn't difficult for me, no. I talked with Janina from the festival, I got on the phone with Mike and Ed, and we developed a plan for what songs we were going to do. The difficult thing for me was a time-constraint, because I was in Los Angeles doing a film score, then San Francisco, and I was working on these charts pretty music the whole time, while all my friends were sleeping. I had about 3 weeks to do all the charts from scratch. That's not a lot of time with Zappa music! Anyhow, I don't know anything about the planning side, all I know is that in the end, Gail approved the concert, the concert got played, and it was great (in my opinion!)...

My job is very personal, it's just me, a pencil, and paper (old-school, I don't use a computer). I don't have a lot of contact with other people during the process, and I don't know how difficult it was to organize. For me, it was simple, just a lot of work.

But, to answer your final question - I would definitely do this again. I thought the whole thing was creative, and a real honor to Frank. Mike and Ed's solo set, the orchestra, and the MAO - I thought it was a great day. Can't wait 'till next year.

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