The original Mothers of Invention

May 1965 - August 1969

Line-ups and activities of the first Zappa rocking combo, featuring FZ on conduction, guitar, vocals and, sometimes, percussion and keyboards.
The Mother of Invention 1965 - 1969
In this table are listed only musicians that have played with The Mothers on stage, and not players like, for example, Ruth Komanoff (later Underwood) who took only part to studio recordings.
For a very detailed discussion about the Mothers early days check these pages: FZ 1956-1969 by Román García Albertos.
Many dates and facts regarding the original Mothers are still very uncertain.
Ray Collins left the Mothers for short times in more occasions. The exact date of his definitive leftover is still unsure (anyway between August and September 1968).
Main sources still have different approach about dates and timing when some occasional members joined The Mothers, in particular uncertain is the period when Van Dyke Parks and Del Kacher shortly joined The Mothers on stage: Russo and Ulrich say mid '65, Garcia between the Ingber and Fielder membership (mid '66). I have chosen this second option.
The musicians listed in the 'other players' column, as far is known by now, don't appear in any actually available recording (official or unofficial, live or studio) of The Mothers (even if it is available a short video segment that show the Mothers with - probably - Del Cacher and Van Dyke Perks).
The following table list the main Mothers line-ups in a different fashion (the link in the line-up column will bring you at Charles Ulrich's Frank Zappa's Touring Band).

line-up begin end guitar vocals bass drums guitar drums keyb. keyb./winds winds sax trumpet studio rec. / tours
1a 65 05 Zappa Collins Estrada Black
1aŁ 65 09 Zappa Collins Estrada Black Henry Vestine
1a# 66 04 Zappa Collins Estrada Black Elliot Ingber Freak Out!
1a$ 66 09 Zappa Collins Estrada Black Del Cacher Mundi Preston Van Dyke Parks
1a€ 66 10 Zappa Collins Estrada Black Jim Fielder Mundi Preston Bunk Gardner Absolutely Free
1a% 67 03 67 08 Zappa Collins Estrada Black Mundi Preston Bunk Gardner Garrick Theatre
1aa 67 09 67 11 Zappa Collins * Estrada Black Mundi Preston Ian Underwood Bunk Gardner Motorhead 1st European tour
1b 67 12 68 08 Zappa Collins Estrada Black Tripp Preston Ian Underwood Bunk Gardner Motorhead
1c 68 09 68 10 Zappa Estrada Black Tripp Preston Ian Underwood Bunk Gardner Motorhead 2nd European tour
1d 68 11 69 05 Zappa Estrada Black Lowell George Tripp Preston Ian Underwood Bunk Gardner Motorhead Buzz Gardner
1e 69 06 69 08 Zappa Estrada Black Tripp Preston Ian Underwood Bunk Gardner Motorhead Buzz Gardner UK tour
No live recordings are known for line-up with yellow background - * There's a live recording with this line-up without Ray Collins

sources:
Román García Albertos's Frank Zappa Chronology and FZ 1956-1969
Charles Ulrich's Frank Zappa's Touring Band
Jon Naurin's FZShows

Corrections and additions are really welcome.

This page created on February 2005 and latest revised on December 8, 2007

Touring Can Make You Crazy