Jazz from Hell
Jazz from Hell is an instrumental album whose selections were all composed and recorded by American musician Frank Zappa. It was released on November 15, 1986 by Barking Pumpkin Records on vinyl and cassette, and in 1987 by Rykodisc on CD. "Jazz from Hell" was Zappa's final studio album released in his lifetime; for the remaining seven years of his life, he would only release live concert albums, although the posthumous "Civilization Phaze III" was completed shortly before his death. Background. Frank Zappa explained that the album title was a political reference: "Things in America can  be from hell. Right now we have a president from hell (Ronald Reagan), and a National Security Council from hell, so we should add "Jazz from Hell" also." 1987's "Video from Hell" is titled similarly. All compositions were executed by Frank Zappa on the Synclavier DMS with the exception of "St. Etienne", a guitar solo excerpted from a live performance Zappa gave of "Drowning Witch" from his "Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch" album, during a concert in Saint-Étienne, France, on his 1982 tour. "While You Were Art II" is a Synclavier performance based on  a transcription of Zappa's improvised guitar solo on the track "While You Were Out" from the album "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar" (1981). The unreleased original Synclavier performance was done using only the unit's FM synthesis, while the recording found here was Zappa's "deluxe" arrangement featuring newer samples and timbres. "Night School" was possibly named for a late-night show that Zappa pitched to ABC; the network did not pick it up. A music video was made for the song. "G-Spot Tornado", assumed by Zappa to be impossible to play by humans, would be performed  by Ensemble Modern on the concert recording "The Yellow Shark" (1993). Releases. In the initial European CD release, the album was featured as the second album on a "two for the price of one compilation," with nine tracks from "Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention" (1985) on the same disc. Awards. Zappa won a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for this album. Controversy. Though "Jazz from Hell" is an entirely instrumental album, there is an unconfirmed report that the Fred Meyer chain of stores, then based in Portland, Oregon, sold it in their "Music Market" department  featuring an RIAA Parental Advisory sticker. Track listing. The music to all selections was composed, and all selections were arranged, by Frank Zappa.