Son carries father's legendary torch

Though many people only know him because of his famous father, and others only remember him because of his unconventional name, Dweezil Zappa's musical prowess is anything but forgettable.

Now in the fourth year of his Zappa Plays Zappa tour, Zappa is still refining his skills and expanding the Zappa brand as he plays the works of his father, the late Frank Zappa.

Though he grew up witnessing his father's legendary musical career, being a musician wasn't always a given for Zappa. At the age of 12 his marine biology dreams (a la Jacques Cousteau) and baseball aspirations faded away when Eddie Van Halen asked to come to the Zappa home to "meet Frank and jam." After staying up until 4 a.m. listening to the music and banter between his father and the popular rocker, it became clear to the young Zappa: "Guitar or baseball?" The choice was clear.

The Zappa Plays Zappa tour began in 2006, shortly before the release of his sixth solo album, "Go With What You Know," and the concept permeated the next phase of his musical career.

"The ultimate goal in starting off with this was to give the core fans something in an official capacity but also to expand the audience to a younger age range," Zappa said.

Since the music of his prolific father no longer gets radio play, part of his mission is to give audiences "a mini education" on the music, which he thinks gets misrepresented.

"If you only know 'Don't Eat The Yellow Snow' and 'Valley Girl,' you really don't have much of an idea of the majority of his music," Zappa said.

Frank Zappa produced more than 80 albums. According to Dweezil Zappa, his father studied from library books when he taught himself how to compose and that though a rock band performs his music, the sophisticated compositions are very orchestral and require great skill and familiarity.

When choosing which songs to play on tour from the vast catalogue of music, the current band lineup is one of the key considerations for Zappa. Currently the lineup is concentrating the set list in the mid-70's with work from albums like "Over-Nite Sensation," "Apostrophe" and "Roxy & Elsewhere."

Though the must-haves get play for the avid fans, Zappa makes it a point to play songs they have also likely never heard.

Although the strict compositional elements of some of the songs do take a lot of practice and extreme concentration, Zappa and his band do take full advantage of the built-in open solo sections so that no show is the same as the last.

"We definitely have a lot of fun in those improv moments," Zappa said. "If something happens to us or we get a running joke going it usually gets injected into the show."

Zappa hopes to write some of his own music in the fall using the skills he has acquired while on tour, though he is currently working on releasing some live albums and DVDs and is balancing his work life with raising two young daughters.