Because fans of Frank Zappa’s music tend to be a bit obsessive, Dweezil Zappa, son of the late great songwriter, mixes up what he performs with Zappa Plays Zappa, the tribute act he’s been fronting for the past decade. “I try to expose people to a broad range of my dad’s music,” he told us. “The challenge is to find the right combination of material. A lot of what we’d call ‘fan favorites’ aren’t what we want to play every night.” Sunday, Dweezil and his ace band played at Berklee Performance Center, performing his father’s classic LP “One Size Fits All” from beginning to end. (The album was released 40 years ago.) “It’s got a lot of my favorite songs on it,” Zappa says. “There are composed elements, interludes, crazy rhythms, and a lot of improvised stuff, which means it can never be played the same way twice. Right there is a stroke of genius.” And after every show, Dweezil says he hits the merch table to meet the fans of his father’s music. “Over the years, I’ve found out about their occupations. A lot of them are in the fields of science. Some are airplane pilots. They’re people who deal with a lot of information,” he says. “I think they like my dad’s music because it operates on multiple levels.” During the afternoon Sunday, Dweezil led a master class at Berklee, sharing a few of his secrets. “Typically, I just show [students] a few techniques that help with improvisation, not specific licks. Like, I’ll make them learn their phone number on the guitar. Attaching notes to odd numbers can change your phrasing.”
Dweezil Zappa plays Frank Zappa’s music at Berklee
