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Bunk Gardner | |
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 Bunk Gardner in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, The Netherlands, c. October 1968 | |
| Born | John Leon Guarnera May 2, 1933 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
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Bunk Gardner (born John Leon Guarnera; May 2, 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American musician who most notably played for the original version of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention until the group disbanded in 1969. He plays woodwinds and tenor sax.
Gardner started playing music at the age of seven by taking piano lessons. When he was a teenager he started playing the tenor sax. In 1959 he played with Bud Wattles & his Orchestra's album Themes from the Hip. Later he played with Joanna & the Playboys in 1962. By late 1966 Gardner had joined Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention, playing tenor sax and other woodwinds. The Mothers found success, with Absolutely Free and We're Only in It for the Money entering the charts. In late 1968 his brother Buzz Gardner joined the Mothers, staying until the group disbanded a year later. Gardner played with Menage A Trois with Buzz and John Balkin. Later he recorded with Geronimo Black and the Grandmothers.
In 1980 Gardner and other members from the Mothers of Invention reunited to form the Grandmothers, recording a few albums and reuniting again in 2002. Gardner has done a few projects with Don Preston, a member of the Mothers, making a few albums and touring with him.
Gardner also plays flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, and bass and soprano saxes.
Don Preston remains Gardner's close friend. In 2010 he recorded Gardner's autobiography (audiobook) "The Bunk Gardner Story" (featuring Don Preston), in Arthur Barrow's lotek studio, produced by Jon Larsen for Zonic Entertainment.
From 2003 to 2009, Gardner was a member of the Los Feliz Woodwind Ensemble with founder Kalman Bloch and Michele Zukovsky. [1] [2]
Gardner married his wife Bonnie in 1977; the couple have two daughters.
We're Only in It for the Money is the third album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on March 4, 1968, by Verve Records. As with the band's first two efforts, it is a concept album, and satirizes left- and right-wing politics, particularly the hippie subculture, as well as the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, and Uncle Meat.
Absolutely Free is the second album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on May 26, 1967, by Verve Records. Much like their 1966 debut Freak Out!, the album is a display of complex musical composition with political and social satire, whose blend of jazz, classical, avant-garde and rock idioms within multi-sectional, suite-like compositions is seen as an important and influential precursor to progressive rock. The band had been augmented since Freak Out! by the addition of woodwinds player Bunk Gardner, keyboardist Don Preston, rhythm guitarist Jim Fielder, and drummer Billy Mundi; Fielder quit the group before the album was released, and his name was removed from the album credits.
James Inkanish, Jr., known professionally as Jimmy Carl Black, was an original member of the Mothers of Invention, providing drums and vocals. who is known for a saying on the songs “Are you hung up?” & “Concentration moon” for the mothers album “We’re Only in it for the money” saying “hi boys and girls my name is jimmy Carl black and I’m the Indian of the Group “
Uncle Meat is the sixth album by the Mothers of Invention, and seventh overall by Frank Zappa, released as a double album in 1969. Uncle Meat was originally developed as a part of No Commercial Potential, a project which spawned three other albums sharing a conceptual connection: We're Only in It for the Money, Lumpy Gravy and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets.
Cruising with Ruben & the Jets is the fourth album by the Mothers of Invention, and fifth overall by Frank Zappa, released under the alias Ruben and the Jets. Released on December 2, 1968 on Bizarre and Verve Records with distribution by MGM Records, it is a concept album, influenced by 1950s doo-wop and rock and roll. The album's concept deals with a fictitious Chicano doo-wop band called Ruben & the Jets, represented by the cover illustration by Cal Schenkel, which depicts the Mothers of Invention as anthropomorphic dogs. It was conceived as part of a project called No Commercial Potential, which produced three other albums: Lumpy Gravy, We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat.
Burnt Weeny Sandwich is the seventh album by the American rock band the Mothers of Invention, and the ninth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It consists of both studio and live recordings. Following the Mothers' split in late 1969, Zappa assembled two albums of unreleased recordings by the band - this album and its follow-up Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Burnt Weeny Sandwich focuses mostly on studio recordings and tightly arranged compositions, while Weasels Ripped My Flesh focuses mostly on live recordings and loose/improvisational pieces. Both albums also include some outtakes/leftovers from the sessions for Zappa's 1969 solo album Hot Rats.
The Mothers of Invention were an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band called the Soul Giants, the band's first lineup comprised Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada, and Jimmy Carl Black. Frank Zappa was asked to take over as the guitarist when a fight between Collins and Hunt led to the latter's being fired. Zappa insisted they perform his original material — a decision that resulted in Coronado's leaving because he did not agree to the change — and on Mother's Day in 1965 the band changed its name to the Mothers. Record executives demanded the name be changed again, and so, "out of necessity", Zappa later said, "We became the Mothers of Invention".
Mothermania (1969), subtitled The Best of the Mothers, is a compilation album by the Mothers of Invention. While the songs were previously released on Freak Out!, Absolutely Free and We're Only in It for the Money, it contains unique mixes or edits made specifically for this compilation.
You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 5 is a double compact disc collection of live recordings by Frank Zappa. Disc one comprises performances by the original Mothers of Invention, spanning the period from 1965 to 1969. "My Guitar" had been previously released as a single in 1969. Disc two comprises performances from the summer 1982 tour of Europe. It was released in 1992 under the label Rykodisc. The last track on this collection ends with Zappa's anger at some audience members tossing cigarettes on stage; after a warning to stop was not obeyed, the disc ends with Zappa stating, "Houselights! The concert's over!"
Donald Ward Preston is an American jazz and rock keyboardist. He is best known for being a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band The Mothers of Invention during the late 1960s. He continued to work with Zappa during the early 1970s following the band's split.
"Brown Shoes Don't Make It" is a song by The Mothers of Invention, written by band leader Frank Zappa. It is the penultimate song on the second album Absolutely Free. The song is one of his most widely renowned works, declared by the AllMusic as "Zappa's first real masterpiece".
"My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" is a song written by Frank Zappa and originally recorded by The Mothers of Invention in February 1969 at Criteria Studios (Miami), with overdubs recorded sometime between August and September 1969 at TTG Studios and Whitney Studios. This version was included on their 1970 album Weasels Ripped My Flesh, an LP that included various recordings by the band from 1967 to 1969. A second version was released as a single on the Bizarre and Reprise labels as "My Guitar." Despite the more conventional naming, "My Guitar" did not chart.
Kalman Bloch was principal clarinetist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for more than 40 years.
Euclid James "Motorhead" Sherwood was an American rock musician notable for being a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention, providing soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, tambourine, vocals and vocal sound effects. He appeared on all the albums of the original Mothers line-up and the 'posthumous' releases Burnt Weeny Sandwich and Weasels Ripped My Flesh, as well as certain subsequent Zappa albums. He also appeared in the films 200 Motels, Video from Hell and Uncle Meat.
Ahead of Their Time is a live album by The Mothers of Invention. It was recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London, England, on October 25, 1968, and released in 1993 on CD by Barking Pumpkin. It was reissued on Rykodisc in 1995.
Charles "Buzz" Guarnera was an American trumpet and flugelhorn player. Under the name Buzz Gardner, he was a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention during the 1960s alongside his brother Bunk Gardner.
Finer Moments is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was compiled and mastered by Zappa in 1972 and released posthumously in 2012.
Road Tapes, Venue #1 is a double live album by Frank Zappa, released posthumously on October 31, 2012, by the Zappa Family Trust on Vaulternative Records. It was recorded on August 25, 1968 at the Kerrisdale Cyclone Taylor Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the seventh installment on the Vaulternative Records label that is dedicated to the posthumous release of complete Zappa concerts, following the releases of FZ:OZ (2002), Buffalo (2007), Wazoo (2007), Philly '76 (2009), Hammersmith Odeon (2010) and Carnegie Hall (2011).
Meat Light is a 3CD compilation of Frank Zappa's Uncle Meat recordings. It is project/object #5 in a series of 40th Anniversary FZ Audio Documentaries, following MOFO (2006), Lumpy Money (2009), Greasy Love Songs (2010) and The Crux of the Biscuit (2016).
Whisky a Go Go 1968 is a live album by Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, posthumously released on June 21, 2024. The album features a live recording by the band recorded July 23, 1968 at the Sunset Strip, never being properly released in full until Whisky a Go Go 1968.
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