Waka/Wazoo

Waka/Wazoo is a boxset by Frank Zappa, released posthumously on December 16, 2022. It is a 4CD/1-Blu-ray set composed of various material recorded in 1972, during a period when Zappa was forced away from live performances due to injuries sustained during a concert on December 10, 1971. This includes recordings from the same Paramount Studios sessions which birthed the albums Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo, and live material from the following tours of the same year.

Content

The first two discs consist of alternate takes, alternate mixes, and outtakes of songs from Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo. The third disc consists of demo material of jazz keyboardist and band member at the time George Duke (including an early, instrumental version of the song "Uncle Remus" which would eventually be released with lyrics on Zappa's Apostrophe (')), an unreleased September 24 recording of the piece "Approximate" at the Boston Music Hall from the Grand Wazoo tour (the same show featured on the album Wazoo (2007), performed by the 19-piece incarnation of the band), and the first two tracks of a nearly complete show recorded during the Petit Wazoo tour (with the 10-piece band). The fourth disc consists of the remainder of this show. Also included in the set is a Blu-ray Audio disc containing various higher quality mixes of Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo.

Track listing

Blu Ray Audio

Personnel

Production Staff

• Producer: Ahmet Zappa (boxset), Joe Travers (boxset, Blu-ray Audio), Jeff Fura (Blu-Ray Audio)
• Production Manager: Melanie Starks
• Engineer [recorded by]: Barry Keene (Petit Wazoo – Live)
• Engineer [tweezed by]: Davey Moire ("Approximate")
• Mixed by: Craig Parker Adams, Erich Gobel (surround mix), Karma Auger (surround mix), John Polito (Petit Wazoo – Live)
• Mastered By: John Polito
• Mastered By [Hi-Res Stereo]: Robert Hadley (Blu-ray Audio), Sangwook "Sunny" Nam (Blu-ray Audio), Doug Sax (Blu-ray Audio)
• Art Direction, Design: Michael Mesker
• Artwork [Original Art Elements], Typography [Original]: Cal Schenkel
• Authoring, Design [Blu-ray]: Meedja
• Liner Notes: Joe Travers, Scott Parker
• Transferred By: Joe Travers

References

1. Waka/Jawaka
2. Frank Zappa
3. The Grand Wazoo
4. Wazoo (album)
5. Diva Zappa
6. Frank Zappa discography
7. Aynsley Dunbar
8. Zappa '75: Zagreb/Ljubljana
9. Uncle Remus (song)
10. Zappa '80 Mudd Club/Munich
11. Tony Duran (musician)
12. 200 Motels (soundtrack)
13. The End of the Game
14. Erroneous
15. List of performers on Frank Zappa records
16. The Adventures of Greggery Peccary
17. Just Another Band from L.A.
18. Bizarre Records
19. Don Preston
20. The Mothers of Invention