Jazz from Hell
title: "Jazz from Hell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1986-albums", "albums-produced-by-frank-zappa", "barking-pumpkin-records-albums", "capitol-records-albums", "frank-zappa-albums", "grammy-award-for-best-rock-instrumental-performance", "1980s-instrumental-albums", "rykodisc-albums"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_from_Hell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jazz from Hell |
| type | studio |
| longtype | with live elements |
| artist | Frank Zappa |
| cover | Zappa Jazz From Hell.jpg |
| released | November 1986 |
| recorded | 1985–1986 |
| studio | UMRK (Los Angeles) (except "St. Etienne": May 28, 1982 at Palais des Sports, Saint-Étienne, France) |
| length | 34:26 |
| producer | Frank Zappa |
| prev_title | The Old Masters Box II |
| prev_year | 1986 |
| next_title | London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II |
| next_year | 1987 |
| :: |
| name = Jazz from Hell | type = studio | longtype = with live elements | artist = Frank Zappa | cover = Zappa Jazz From Hell.jpg | alt = | released = November 1986 | recorded = 1985–1986 | studio = UMRK (Los Angeles) (except "St. Etienne": May 28, 1982 at Palais des Sports, Saint-Étienne, France) | genre =
- Electronic
- experimental
- computer music | length = 34:26 | label =
- Barking Pumpkin (US)
- EMI (UK) | producer = Frank Zappa | prev_title = The Old Masters Box II | prev_year = 1986 | next_title = London Symphony Orchestra, Vol. II | next_year = 1987
Jazz from Hell is an instrumental album whose selections were all composed and recorded by American musician Frank Zappa. It was released in November 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 (1994) was completed shortly before his death.
Zappa produced music videos for the songs "G-Spot Tornado" and "Night School". "G-Spot Tornado" features footage he shot in 1961 at a county fair, as well as some 1959 footage of Captain Beefheart and his family. "Night School" is a clay animation piece by Bruce Bickford.
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, in which the quote is featured, 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.
In 1986, Zappa explained that "the main advantage for me with the Synclavier is that I can imagine rhythms that human beings have difficulty contemplating, let alone executing... Why subject the musician to that punishment and torture when you can just type it in and get the thing mathematically exact."{{cite magazine |last=Zappa |first=Frank |author2=Forte, Dan |title=The Sin in Synclavier |magazine=Guitar Player |date=June 1986 |publisher=GPI Publications |url=https://www.afka.net/Articles/1986-06_Guitar_Player.htm |access-date=29 October 2025 |last=Zappa |first=Frank |author2=Forte, Dan |title=Frank Zappa on... The '80s Guitar Clone |magazine=Guitar Player |date=January 1987 |publisher=GPI Publications |url=https://www.afka.net/Articles/1987-01_Guitar_Player.htm |access-date=29 October 2025 |last=Zappa |first=Frank |title=The Yellow Shark |others=Ensemble Modern |year=1993 |publisher=Barking Pumpkin Records |type=CD booklet / concert program notes
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.
Reception
| rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = | rev2 = Pitchfork | rev2score = 8.0/10 David Fricke of Rolling Stone wrote that "there is nothing particularly hellish about the eight pieces on the album, though it may have been a bitch to program these densely packed parcels of subdivided rhythms and Chinese-checker themes", also remarking that "it would have been nice to hear Zappa tear up his digital soundscape here and there with a little more real-sound guitar". A retrospective review from Sam Goldner of Pitchfork called the album "a MIDI-powered vision of the uncanny and bizarre future of music", with Goldner writing that "for all its complexity, Jazz from Hell is hardly a serious listen—it squiggles and dashes about like stock music that's broken out of its cage, begging to find new ways to be played with".
Awards
Zappa won a 1988 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for this album.
Track listing
| headline = Side one | title1 = Night School | length1 = 4:47 | title2 = The Beltway Bandits | length2 = 3:25 | title3 = While You Were Art II | length3 = 7:17 | title4 = Jazz from Hell | length4 = 2:58 | total_length = | all_writing = Frank Zappa | headline = Side two | title5 = G-Spot Tornado | length5 = 3:17 | title6 = Damp Ankles | length6 = 3:45 | title7 = St. Etienne | length7 = 6:26 | title8 = Massaggio Galore | length8 = 2:31 | total_length =
Personnel
- Frank Zappa – lead guitar, Synclavier, keyboards, production
On "St. Etienne"
- Steve Vai – rhythm guitar
- Ray White – rhythm guitar
- Tommy Mars – keyboards
- Bobby Martin – keyboards
- Scott Thunes – bass guitar
- Chad Wackerman – drums
- Ed Mann – percussion
Technical personnel
- Greg Gorman – cover photo
- Bob Rice – computer assistant
- Bob Stone – engineering
References
References
- (July 2, 2016). "Frank Zappa on Nightlife with David Brenner (1987)".
- (July 23, 2022). "Frank Zappa The Arsenio Hall Show - February 1, 1989 - From my Master".
- de la Fuente, Manuel (2016). "Zappa and His Cultural Legacy" (pp.33-48), ''Frank Zappa and the And'', p.45. Quotes Zappa in ''Video from Hell''. Carr, Paul; ed. Routledge. 2013 Ashgate. {{ISBN. 9781317133155.
- Planer, L.. (2011). "Jazz from Hell - Frank Zappa".
- Goldner, Sam. (November 19, 2023). "Frank Zappa: ''Jazz From Hell'' Album Review".
- Fricke, D.. (2011). "Frank Zappa: Jazz From Hell : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::