Ian Underwood
Ian Underwood (New York, NY, 22 May 1939) is an American musician. He was 'multi-instrumentalist' within the Mothers of Invention. He graduated from Yale with a BA in composition in 1961 and completed a Masters degree in compostion at UC Berkeley in 1966. He was a concert pianist specializing in Mozart.
Married Ruth Komanoff in 1970.
Apart from his work with Zappa he has contributed to many recordings by artists ranging from Gabor Szabo to Barbra Streisand.
Since the 1980's he has worked on many film soundtracks including Blade Runner, Aliens, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Titanic.
Zappa and Ian Underwood
Ian's "story" of meeting and joining Zappa is chronicled in the track Ian Underwood Whips It Out on the Uncle Meat release. Underwood provided piano, organ, keyboards, woodwinds, guitar, and/or vocal for:
- We're Only In It For The Money
- Cruising With Ruben & The Jets
- Uncle Meat
- Hot Rats
- Burnt Weeny Sandwich
- Weasels Ripped My Flesh
- Chunga's Revenge
- Fillmore East, June 1971
- Frank Zappa's 200 Motels
- Just Another Band From L.A.
- Over-Nite Sensation
- Apostrophe (')
- Zoot Allures
- You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 1
- You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3
- You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 4
- You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 5
- You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6
- Playground Psychotics
- Ahead Of Their Time
- The Lost Episodes
- Mystery Disc
- QuAUDIOPHILIAc
- Joe's Domage
- Wazoo
- The Ark (BTB)
- Freaks & Motherfuckers (BTB)
- 'Tis The Season To Be Jelly
- Piquantique (BTB)
- Disconnected Synapses (BTB)
- Tengo Na Minchia Tanta (BTB)
- Electric Aunt Jemima (BTB)
- At The Circus (BTB)
- Swiss Cheese/Fire! (BTB)
- Our Man In Nirvana (BTB)
Ian can be seen in the Zappa movies
Ian Underwood was also mentioned and thanked in the liner notes of The MOFO Project/Object (2006) album. [1] He is interviewed in Frank Zappa - The Freak-Out List (2010).
