allan zavod
random notes / biography
Allan Zavod is an Australian whose father, Edward Zavod,
was a violinist. Allan was classically trained on piano, and at the age of
twelve he was taken on the road to the
Moving away from the big band format, Zavod was a member of
the jazz-rock group New York Mary, which was formed by musicians who had all
worked with Maynard Ferguson. He then worked with Billy Cobham, which led to his
joining Jean-Luc Ponty in 1976. He remained with Ponty for eight years. Other
musical associations were with George Benson and saxophonist Sonny Fortune.
An Allan Zavod
pre-Zappa discography
(1973, lp, usa, polydor 6503) - feat. allan zavod
maynard ferguson
orchestra: chameleon
(1974, lp, usa, col kc33007) - feat. allan zavod
new york
mary: new york mary
(1975, lp, usa, arista al1019
billy cobham:
live and times
(1976, lp, usa, atl sd18166) - feat. allan zavod
jean-luc
ponty: imaginary voyage (11)
(1976, lp, usa,
atl(eu)w50317
jean-luc
ponty: enigmatic ocean (12)
(1977, lp, usa, atlantic w50409
jean-luc
ponty: cosmic messenger (13)
(1978, lp, usa, atl w50505
sonny fortune:
infinity
(1978, lp, usa, atl
jean-luc ponty: live
(14)
(1979, lp, usa, atl sd19229
jean-luc ponty: a taste for passion
(15)
(1979, lp, usa, atl
w50666
birtles
& goble: the last
romance
(1979, lp, usa, capitol 06486145d
Allan
Zavod’s Zappa gig, 1984
In the April 1978 Contemporary Keyboard Magazine, Zavod
described working for Billy Cobham and Jean-Luc Ponty. He said, “You have to
play with everything you have for Billy; if you don’t pick up on his energy,
you might as well not be there. Jean-Luc is the same way, and any person that
I’ve played for who has some greatness or magic about them is in their energy
level as well.” Perhaps Zavod brought an excess of energy to the Zappa gig. He
certainly evoked wry comments from Zappa in The
Real Frank Zappa Book . Commenting on how musicians like to play The Big
Solo in order to get The Blow Job, Zappa said, “He would end his solo with
this thing that everybody called “The
Volcano.” He held the sustain pedal down and churned and smashed away to
get a big blur going, and then topped it off at the end with a flourish. It
worked every time, but it got to be a band joke. In fact, Allan really is a
great pianist (and film composer). It’s just that maybe – because he was
working in a rock and roll band – he thought that type of solo was the appropriate vehicle to project
his aura across vast continental areas.”
In In Cold Sweat: Interviews With Really Scary Musicians, Scott Thunes – never a man to mince words – is more explicit. He says...
censored
by Aaron Zaitman & Associates - Solicitors & Consultants - by means of an e-mail message on 2003/02/20, representing composer/pianist Allan Zavod |
After all that, it’s no wonder that Zavod returned to his
native Australia, where he has worked successfully as a composer of film music
and of music that fuses jazz and classical influences, or, to use Gunther
Schuller’s term, Third Stream music. Comprehensive details of his current
career can be found on his website: www.allanzavod.com
Geoff Wills 2002