Frank Zappa - "Stolen Moments/Murder by Numbers (feat. Sting)"

Chicago: Auditorium Theatre, March 3, 1988. Frank Zappa runs into Sting before his concert. They meet, and Zappa asks if he'd like to do a song with the band. A couple hours later, this awesomeness happened. Zappa's 12-piece pocket big band tears off a fat, brassy cover of Oliver Nelson's classic minor blues "Stolen Moments," and after a great trumpet solo by Walt Fowler, FZ introduces Sting, who rants about the time a few years before when Jimmy Swaggart denounced The Police's "Murder By Numbers" and called them "The sons of Satan." Well, now, of course, Swaggart was embroiled in his own sinful problems, and Sting gleefully riffs on it and then croons a *very* smooth rendition of the song modified to fit over the Nelson chord changes. Brilliant. Pitches upward to a badass guitar solo by FZ and wraps with a return to the Nelson head.

On the CD these are two separate tracks and there's a bit of a fade-out toward the end of Fowler's solo, and a fade-in again as it clearly transitions to the Sting track. I did a little editing and managed to even things out and join them together as they actually happened and should be heard. As far as I'm aware, these two tracks are not available as one anywhere else on the web.

Great, great, great stuff from 'Broadway The Hard Way,' an album which earned Zappa his final Grammy nomination.

Today's upload date would have been his 70th birthday.

Personnel: Sting (lead vocals, commentary), Frank Zappa (lead guitar, vocal), Ike Willis (guitar, vocal), Mike Keneally (guitar, synth, vocal), Bobby Martin (keyboards, vocal), Ed Mann (percussion), Walt Fowler (trumpet), Bruce Fowler (trombone), Paul Carman (alto sax), Albert Wing (tenor sax), Kurt McGettrick (baritone sax), Scott Thunes (bass), Chad Wackerman (drums)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sting
• frank
• zappa
• oliver
• nelson
• stolen
• moments
• murder
• by
• numbers
• police
• broadway
• the
• hard
• way
• walt
• fowler
• jimmy
• swaggart
• grammy
• nominee
• nominated
• jazz
• big
• band
• 80s

[tuxguys]

I AM STUNNED.

Putting aside, for the moment, the almost unbearable coolness of Zappa and Sting on the same stage for the first (only?) time, the musical "rightness" of this flabbergasts me. Zappa, as always having the bitchin'est band ever, at any given time, educates his audience with Oliver Nelson's masterpiece; Sting, with little or no rehearsal, adapts the Police's noir-est tune to Nelson's harmonic bed; and Z. and S. both get to stick it to the forces of musical censorship.

[MidnightSwinger]

@tuxguys Can't agree enough with this.

[johnflea]

@tuxguys I didn't understand a word you just said, but it sounds epic anyway!

[MsMtnGrrl]

Thanks for sharing this! I owned this CD at one time. Great music and plenty of laughs. Fantastic!

[LeftyPlaysRighty]

Zappa will always be "THE MUSICIAN'S HERO"!

[TrezetaPamir]

Thnx alot for this, MidnightSwinger, & combination with Murder by Numbers. What a great transition between the tunes there! (..and think with Bacon Fat first, great transition there too ) would be perfect. These FZ's reveals FZ DO ANY GENRE, OR COVER BETTER THAN ANY, EVEN THE ORG.VERSION. Sorry Oliver Nelson, and all who've covered S.M. Btw, I attended FZ's '88 show here in Norway (.and '82 & '84.. just HAD to add that @) Thanks Frank

[funkfanzzify]

Perfect combination. Jazz/blues/glam, you name it. And STING should do more jazz/swing...please?and that is what i said.

[pineappaloupe]

@cciemail how so?

[1953jazzman]

Whoa, Nellie! I have never heard this before! I am flabbergasted to hear FZ do such a, shall we say "straightforward" version of a jazz classic!!! His normal modus operandi was to brilliantly deconstruct the dickens out of "covers"! Wow!!

[cciemail]

wow! I did not expect this from FZ!