Review: The Furious Bongos wipe the sleep dirt from Buffalo’s eyes
Virtuosic musicians, killer arrangements, brave improvisation and Chad Wackerman make for epic Zappa celebration
Where were they?
I arrived at Buffalo Iron Works last week expecting every drummer in Buffalo to be crowding the stage before show time, in anticipation of the night’s event.
The mind-bogglingly epic Frank Zappa tribute ensemble the Furious Bongos were in the house, which would be more than enough to warrant a sell-out, in my view.
But to further sweeten the deal, the band was bringing along former Zappa band-member Chad Wackerman for this stop on its fall tour. Surely, word would’ve gotten around to every tub-thumper in town that this would be a more-than-rare opportunity to witness the performance of one of the greatest living drummers in an intimate, up-close setting.
A no-brainer, right?
Alas, the crowd, though deeply enthusiastic, was relatively light. And I spied amongst that crowd none of the Buffalo drummers I expected to be sharing the experience with. Of course, most of them were probably gigging themselves. This is Buffalo, after all, and if you wanna make a living playing music here, you aren’t afforded the luxury of taking many evenings off. Sigh.
For those of us able to be there, the show proved to be a top-tier face-melter, replete with jaw-dropping musicianship, an imaginatively curated setlist, the proper blend of irreverent humor and serious-as-a-heart-attack exactitude that is the hallmark of the Zappa compositional oeuvre, and a delicious insistence on bringing the personalities of the players on stage to bear on the improvisational sections of the selected tunes.
In addition to Wackerman, the Fall 2023 edition of Furious Bongos features bassist and musical director Conrad St. Clair, guitarist Chris Huntington, vocalist/guitarist Lo Marie, vocalist Danielle Dougherty, keyboardist Jonathan Sidelman, saxophonist Vince Szynborski, keyboardist/vocalist Scott Fischer, and percussionist Zacary Bowers. All of these musicians made the diabolically difficult arrangements and intricate compositional structures of the material sound completely natural and organic. This what Zappa expected of all of his bands, and these cats pulled it off with aplomb.
Wackerman - whose credits beyond his 27-album, nearly decade-long run with Zappa include substantial work with Allan Holdsworth, as well as sessions and gigs with the likes of Steven Wilson, Andy Summers, Steve Vai, James Taylor, Joe Sample, Dweezil Zappa, in addition to 5 albums as a band-leader - brought a vitality and sense of swing to the proceedings, melding a jazz feel to the dazzling rhythmic intricacies and dizzying time signature shifts written into the scores.
When the band improvised, as it it did in the open sections of nearly every piece, Wackerman pushed and pulled, alternately responding to and directing the conversation. A case in point came during Huntington’s extended solo in the heart of a brilliant ‘Inca Roads,’ with the drummer answering questions posed by the guitarist’s phrasing and tossing a few queries of his own around the stage.
The end result sounded Zappa-like, without resorting to mere rote recreation of a particular FZ historical document. That placed the music firmly in the present, which, one imagines, is exactly where Frank would like it to be.
If you are a serious Zappa-head, or even a mildly curious observer of the Zappaverse, you owe it to yourself to catch the Furious Bongos in the flesh, the first chance you get.
Here’s the Buffalo setlist…
The Furious Bongos featuring Chad Wackerman
October 24, 2023
Buffalo Iron Works, Buffalo, NY
King Kong>Willie the Pimp>Montana
Dirty Love>Doreen>Andy>Inca Roads
In France
Let’s Move to Cleveland
The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing
A Pound for a Brown on the Bus
What’s New In Baltimore?
Cosmik Debris>Advance Romance>Village of the Sun
Sam with the Showing Scalp Flat Top
The Black Page # 2
Find Her Finer
Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel>Crew Slut
Encore:
We Are Not Alone>Sofa
Tough choices. On my birthday, I chose Daniel Donato at Babeville. Fabulous show, as well!!!
I love Zappa music.. saw him only once- 1973! Would have loved this show, but had a date with a bard that night, Bob Dylan