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Ruth Underwood | |
|---|---|
 Underwood playing at a Frank Zappa concert, c. 1975 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Ruth Komanoff (1946-05-23)23 May 1946 (age 79) |
| Genres | Jazz-rock/rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician,composer |
| Instrument(s) | Xylophone,marimba,vibraphone,piano,synthesizer |
| Years active | 1967–1982 |
| Labels | Philips Records,Bell Records,DiscReet Records |
Ruth Underwood (bornRuth Komanoff; May 23, 1946) is an American musician best known for playingxylophone,marimba,vibraphone, and otherpercussion instruments forFrank Zappa and his bandThe Mothers of Invention. She played for Zappa from 1968 until the mid-1970s, and again briefly before Zappa's death in 1993. She married fellow Zappa musicianIan Underwood.
Underwood began her music training in the classical tradition, studying both atIthaca College under Warren Benson[1] and atJuilliard underSaul Goodman (timpani) and Morris Goldenberg (percussion).[2] Throughout 1967, she kept a regular attendance at theGarrick Theater in New York City when Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention were the resident band. This resulted in her association with Zappa, beginning in December 1967.[citation needed]
Oh, I was probably one of those rather stiff people from the suburbs – I think some of us did understand, and we kept coming back for more, and more, and more. I remember being very upset when they finally finished their stint at the Garrick Theatre and went back to L.A. I felt as if the real heart had gone out of New York City, and I had to get back on with my conservatory music training life, which seemed very dull after this.[3]
In May 1969 she married keyboardist/saxophonistIan Underwood, a fellow Zappa musician. They divorced in 1986. Professionally she used both her birth name, Ruth Komanoff, and hermarried name.
Underwood performed in more than 30 recordings with Zappa or Mothers. Examples of her virtuosity can be heard on tracks including the "Rollo Interior interlude" from "St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast" on theApostrophe (') album (1974). Other work is documented onRoxy & Elsewhere (1974) and on "Inca Roads", the opening track onOne Size Fits All (1975). Underwood can be heard (though not seen) in the soundtrack of the Zappa movie200 Motels (1971),[4] and theDub Room Special DVD (1982),[5] which includes performances from the KCET SpecialA Token Of His Extreme. She also features in the film of the Roxy performances (2015).[6]
During the 1970s, Underwood collaborated inrecording sessions for a small number of other performers, most notably with the bandAmbrosia, composerJasun Martz, and jazz keyboardistGeorge Duke, the last also a veteran of Zappa's bands.[7] Underwood was the drummer with a rock group namedthe Hamilton Face Band during 1969,[8] appearing on their recordings released byPhilips Records[9] andBell Records.[citation needed]
In an interview Underwood revealed that she played on one final session for Zappa shortly before his death from cancer in December 1993. Zappa was then composing mostly with the electronicSynclavier system, though he used recordings of live musicians which were later manipulated and arranged with the Synclavier. She recalled:
A couple of years ago, when I heard that Frank was ill, I called him up. For 14 years we had no contact at all. He invited me to the house and we enjoyed some really nice visits with each other. Last June ('93) he called and asked if he could sample some of my stuff. I was shocked because I hadn't touched a pair of mallets since March of '77. I ended up practicing for 14 hours, which was all the time I could get together in the context of my life now. I spent four days at Frank's house sampling. This was really a miracle for me – that I could be reunited with him and still have something to offer.
In 2008, she commissioned Gordon Stout to write a work for the percussion ensembleNexus.[10]
She also features in the DVD - DC Collection: Vol. 1 - The Drummers Of Frank Zappa (2009) with Terry Bozzio, Ralph Humphrey, Chester Thompson and Chad Wackerman.
Underwood is the mother of two children, both musicians.[11] She resides in Los Angeles.
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