Geronimo Black was a short-lived hard rock band founded in 1972 by drummer Jimmy Carl Black. He named the group for his youngest son Geronimo.
The performers included members of other bands, principally from Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention:
The group recorded an album for the Uni Records label at Sound City Studios in Los Angeles in 1972. The record producer was Keith Olsen who later went on to produce Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album.
After their manager Russ Regan stopped working with the group, according to guitarist Denny Walley,
no one... really knew what to do with the band in the company or how to promote us and they were really afraid of us. We were rowdy, drank a lot, did everything a lot. We were pretty uncontrollable and they wound up banning us from even coming onto the lot and that was the end of the record deal.'
After the band broke up, they briefly reformed to record a later album entitled Welcome Back, Geronimo Black for the Helios label. This album included ex-Magic Band guitarist Gerry McGee.
A later version of the group also recorded the album by "Geronimo Black Two", formed in 2003 by Jimmy's sons, Geronimo and James D. Black, which released a CD under their father's Inkanish Records label.
In 2019, Munster Records released Freak Out Phantasia, a collection of unreleased live and studio recordings. [1]
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.
Freak Out! is the debut studio album by American rock band the Mothers of Invention, released on June 27, 1966, by Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, it is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture and the nascent freak scene of Los Angeles. It was also one of the earliest double albums in rock music, as well as the first two-record debut album. In the UK, the album was originally released as an edited single disc.
James Inkanish, Jr., known professionally as Jimmy Carl Black, was a drummer and vocalist for the Mothers of Invention.
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.
Weasels Ripped My Flesh is the eighth album by the American rock group the Mothers of Invention, and the tenth overall by Frank Zappa, released in 1970. It is the second album released after the Mothers disbanded in 1969, preceded by Burnt Weeny Sandwich. In contrast to its predecessor, which almost entirely focused on studio recordings of arranged compositions, Weasels Ripped My Flesh consists of a combination of live and studio recordings and features more improvisation.
The Mothers of Invention was 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.
The Muffin Men are a British band, based in Liverpool, England, which primarily plays the music of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. The group formed in 1990, originally to play a one-off concert to celebrate Zappa's fiftieth birthday. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic the band toured for thirty unbroken years around The UK, Europe and Scandinavia, performing Zappa's music as a tribute band, along with some of their own compositions. Until his death in 2008, the band often featured guest vocals and percussion by former Mothers of Invention drummer and vocalist Jimmy Carl Black, with whom they also performed songs by Captain Beefheart.
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.
Bongo Fury is a collaborative album by American artists Frank Zappa and the Mothers, with Captain Beefheart, released in October 1975. The live portions were recorded on May 20 and 21, 1975, at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Tracks 5, 6 and 9 are studio tracks recorded in January 1975 during the sessions which produced One Size Fits All (1975) and much of Studio Tan (1978).
Elliot Ingber is an American guitarist. In 1966, he joined Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention and appeared on their debut album Freak Out! He was fired from the band by Zappa following an incident onstage when he tripped on LSD and was unaware that his amplifier was not switched on. After that he co-founded Fraternity of Man, which released two albums. He then joined Captain Beefheart's Magic Band under the stage name Winged Eel Fingerling, given him by Beefheart. In the sleeve notes to The Spotlight Kid (1972), Beefheart likens Ingber to "a chrome black eyebrow / rolled out real long" and also "a paper brow magnifying glass / fried brown, edge scorched, yoked / like a squeak from a speaker / behind forehead of the time." In 1995, Ingber reformed Fraternity of Man with Lawrence "Stash" Wagner, the original vocalist and co-author of "Don't Bogart that Joint", to record and release a third album released under the Malibu Records label.
Roy Estrada is an American former musician. He is best known for his bass guitar work with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention; for having been a founding member of Little Feat, playing on their first two studio albums; and for being a member of Captain Beefheart's the Magic Band.
Mystery Disc is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was released on CD in 1998, compiling tracks that were originally released on two separate vinyl records and included in the mail order Old Masters box sets, which were released in three volumes between 1985 and 1987. The CD omits the last two tracks from the 1985 LP, "Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?" and "Big Leg Emma", both of which were included on the CD version of Absolutely Free (1967) in 1989.
Arthur Dyer Tripp III is an American retired musician who is best known for his work as a percussionist with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention and Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band during the 1960s and 1970s. Thereafter, Tripp retired from music. He attended an accredited chiropractic college in Los Angeles from 1980 through 1983, graduating with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree. He currently practices in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Morgan Ågren is a Swedish drummer who plays with the progressive rock band Kaipa.
"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.
The Ed Palermo Big Band is a New York City-based ensemble that has been active since the late 1970s, playing the compositions and arrangements of their leader, New Jersey born saxophonist Ed Palermo. The band is best known for Palermo's arrangements of the music of Frank Zappa, but they also perform and record compositions by Todd Rundgren, The Beatles, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, The Rolling Stones, Blodwyn Pig, King Crimson, Jethro Tull and many, many other composers from a wide range of genres.
Bunk Gardner 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.
Charles "Buzz" Guarnera was an American trumpet and flugelhorn player.
"Advance Romance" is a Frank Zappa song originally from his live album with Captain Beefheart, Bongo Fury. Other versions of the song can be found on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 3, You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 5, and Make a Jazz Noise Here. It is a humorous parody of typical love songs and is sung by Napoleon Murphy Brock with George Duke. The song was played from 1975 to 1976 and from 1982 to 1988 making the song one of Zappa's most performed. Almost all of Zappa's lineups after its release on Bongo Fury played this song in concert.
Denny Walley is an American guitarist. He was born in Pennsylvania. He is known for working with Frank Zappa in the 1970s and '80s.