re Zappa and the Mothers in the 60s

[Doug Millison]

Rich,  I heard several of the San Francisco bands in concert in the  
60s when they came through Phoenix, including Jefferson Airplane and  
Country Joe & the Fish (on a bill with Moby Grape).

I was blown away by the musicianship Zappa and the Mothers brought to  
the show I attended, that would have been 1969, if I remember  
correctly, if that was really Nancy N  with me at the concert.

Saw Jim Morrison and the Doors when they came through Phoenix during  
high school, too.  Kind of a garage band sound,  but Jim Morrison was  
hot.  Light My Fire, baby!

The SF bands were a bit sloppy.  By contrast, Zappa was tight. Prior  
to that I had only experienced that kind of live ensemble sound  
personally (not recorded) in our band at L. J. Alleman School, in  
Lafayette, Louisiana, led by trumpeter Harry St. Pierre then clarinet  
player Paul Goucheroux.  They had us playing some fun stuff, and we  
routinely won medals in our level at the statewide competitions, and  
they were both spirited musicians in a southwestern Louisiana jazz  
style heavily influenced by Dixieland, but not until the Mothers  
concert had I heard something like that level of orchestration and  
arrangements applied to music with rock 'n' roll rhythms plus the  
other elements that Zappa brought into his mix. A formative experience.