![]() For fans of Zappa's intricate material like "RDNZL," "The Black Page," or "Inca Roads," this album is a must-have. See More Your browser does not support the audio element. ![]() Album DescriptionBack in a time when I only thought of Frank Zappa as the leader of the Mothers of Invention (it was a year ago, forgive my age), I was working in a music store in South San Francisco cleaning rented instruments. One of the repairmen told me about this singer/tenor saxophonist named Napoleon Murphy Brock who used to play in Zappa’s group who always came to him to get his horn fixed.I said to myself, “Who is Napoleon Murphy Brock?” My knowledge of Zappa only extended to the 60s catalog and I began to get curious about the whole world of FZ that I had hardly heard of. Up until then, the only 70s work I had heard was the Yellow Snow Suite and I loved it and went to work one day thinking that after the day was over, I would pick up the Apostrophe album. The day went as normal until I returned from getting lunch and there happened to be this tall, black man talking to John (the repairman) in the shop. John immediately pointed me out and said, “Nick, this is Napoleon Murphy Brock Napoleon Murphy Brock, this is Nick: the kid who likes Zappa.” Immediately I froze. I had never dreamed of meeting the people involved with such great music. My nervousness quickly disappeared when I realized how amiable he was. I told him about the Yellow Snow Suite and he told me that he was a part of that band. He told me about some of the albums he recorded with FZ like Sheik Yerbouti and Roxy as well as the albums he recorded with George Duke and other artists. ![]() He seemed so full of knowledge as he told me about his troubles with getting paid for the work he did with FZ and how he was making settlements with the Zappa Family Trust. He advised me that if I was going to be a musician, I must act like a businessman sometimes (with contracts and bills), but I must never become jaded and tired of playing music later reminding me of the infamous Joe’s Garage quote, “Music is the Best!”. As for music, I asked him which album I should pick up next and he recommended the Roxy & Elsewhere album. Needless to say, when I got off the train home, I ran straight to the record store and picked up the Ryko version of Roxy.
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