GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY! MUSIC INSPIRED BY FRANK ZAPPA

Frank Zappa was an alternative music icon of his time (or anti-idol, you choose). His universe was equally built on the psychedelia of the late 60s, his complicated personality, black humour, and the craziness of the epoch in general. Additionally, his unconventional approach to music. It's quite impressive that his music still attracts many followers. The question is, who would Frank Zappa be if he were a middle-aged acting musician in today's world?

Canadian session guitarist Jay Danley's newest self-released album is a half-hour collection of original music, inspired by Frank Zappa. All instruments are recorded by Jay himself, and for such kind of recordings, the album sounds surprisingly well. Don't expect the vitality of music, recorded by a collective of musicians, playing together in a studio, but all instrumental lines are professional, doesn't matter what the instrument.

Jay Danley played with some well-known pop and jazz artists; some of his previous releases demonstrate his relations with such genres as Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz, among others. Still, "Great Googly Moogly!" is, first of all, a jazz-rock album, with dominating fluid guitar soloing, often tuneful, and with a positive mood.

Jay doesn't try to imitate Zappa's music, for good. There are a lot of snippets and tunes, which possibly could be found on Zappa's albums, but still, this album's music is very much Danley's own. Besides (dominating) soloing guitars' instrumental rock of the late 60s, there is a Santanesque dreamy song with vintage keys ("Canatloups On White Napkins ") and "Bozo's Bonanza" with brocken jazz-fusion rhythm. One can hear some neo-classical arrangements and Latin rhythms here and there as well.

Still, the main difference between Danley's music and Zappa's, for my ear, is in the atmosphere. For Zappa, dark humor and craziness in general were one extremely important element in music. Danley takes his musical aesthetics and techniques as the basis, and creates his own music, not such crazy and sarcastic, but more soulful, tuneful, and ... better-rounded. Jay's guitar sometimes sounds more like Gary Moore's on his bluesy songs than Zappa's. Songs are often arranged in a radio-friendly (or smooth jazz) manner against Zappa's more rugged sound. That means nothing wrong - if Frank Zappa played today, who knows what his music would be?

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