Back in the Summer of ’73 Frank Zappa took one of the best bands he ever assembled to Australia for a three-week tour “Down Under.” Zappa’s band for this tour included violin master Jean-Luc Ponty, trumpet wiz Sal Marquez, multi-instrumentalist Ruth Underwood and innovative keys man George Duke. The Australian Broadcast Company recorded footage of the band rehearsing at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney for a program called GTK (Get To Know) to air in episode that also featured Jim Croce and Peter Quentin. The five-minute Zappa segment from GTK has turned up on YouTube and gives a look at the legendary bandleader/composer in action. Over the course of the clip Zappa and his band perform bits of Over-nite Sensation track Fifty-Fifty, Roxy & Elsewhere’s Be-Bop Tango, the “Pluckin’ The Old Dental Floss” section of Montana and an instrumental stab at Cucamonga.
