‘The Black Page’: the Frank Zappa song so complex that it can’t be played well
One of rock history’s most infamous oddballs, Frank Zappa’s theatrical presence and erratic genius are cemented in popular culture.
He is one of the most recognisable figures of his era, not just for his untameable black hair, signature moustache and psychedelic wardrobe, but for his virtuosity in the studio and his goddamn relentless drive to craft something unheard of.
Zappa had one of those minds that you can practically hear cogs whirring and turning in, with a seemingly never-ending stream of ideas and sonic innovations pouring out like a fucking waterfall. He operated like a man possessed, locking himself in his home’s basement studio for days on end. His daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, recalls in her memoir Earth To Moon that in phases such as these, he would communicate with his family via intercom, and heaven forbid anyone who dared to disrupt his workflow.
His revolutionary output spanned over three decades and ventured across recording, composition, management and even film. He pushed the boundaries of his experimentation with his band The Mothers of Invention and later, across his prolific solo career, directed the musical film 200 Motels, founded multiple record labels including Bizarre, Straight and Zappa, and released early music for Alice Cooper, Captain Beefheart and his all-girl band, The GTOs, which included legendary groupie and writer, Pamela Des Barres.
His musicianship is often contested as either ‘genius’ or ‘wacky’. As a composer, Zappa favoured eccentricity over convention, wanting to take advantage of the endless opportunity that lay in the studio and its ability to distort reality. Subsequently, Zappa’s work was packed with ideas that mashed together his sonic influences with the then-new age interpretations of rock ‘n’ roll, a mix of the hippie era’s psych-rock and burgeoning progressive rock.
One could argue that each of Zappa’s songs was crafted at a level that proves difficult to mimic, but ‘The Black Page’ is most well-known for being near-impossible to play well. After all, Zappa named the track after the sheer density of its sheet music. ‘The Black Page’ was first performed on December 28th, 1976, in New York City, and appears on the live album Zappa in New York.
Valuing the technical aspect of composition, Zappa surrounded himself with musicians whom he felt confident could handle the technicality of his music, beyond their artistic ability. Drummer Terry Bozzio, who toured with Zappa from 1975-1978 and played on 26 of the artist’s albums, recalls how ‘The Black Page’ came to be: “He wrote it, because we had done this 40-piece orchestra gig together and he was always hearing the studio musicians in LA, that he was musing on that, talking about the fear of going into sessions some morning and being faced with ‘The Black Page’.”
Adding, “So he decided to write his ‘Black Page’. Then he gave it to me, and I could play parts of it right away. But it wasn’t a pressure thing; it just sat on my music stand and, for about 15 minutes every day for two weeks, before we would rehearse, I would work on it. And after two weeks, I had it together, and I played it for him. And he said, ‘Great!’, took it home, wrote the melody and the chord changes, brought it back in. And we all started playing it.”
After hearing Bozzio’s mastery of ‘The Black Page’, Zappa decided to expand the melody. Many versions of the song exist in rearranged forms, expanding beyond its initial conception for the drums. Zappa acknowledged that a later version, titled ‘The Black Page, Part 2, The Easy Teen-age New York Version’, was composed for those who would not be able to master the original.
Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, now widely recognised for his technical mastery, won an audition to play for Zappa in 1978, replacing Bozzio. During his test, Zappa gave him various pieces to try out, one of them being ‘The Black Page’. Luckily, Colaiuta had been working on transcribing the song, impressing Zappa and earning his trust.
‘The Black Page’ has since become a cult classic in rock’s deep cuts, maintaining a level of mystique that rivals Zappa’s own.
