
In 1979, Frank Zappa took a shine to an Eastern Indian rock/jazz violinist, L. Shankar. So much so that he produced an album with him, "Touch Me There." Not only does Frank produce, but he also co-writes half of the album and performs on one cut, "Dead Girls of London." So, not surprisingly, this disc sounds like much of the material Zappa was releasing around that time, even though it is technically a "Shankar" album. After obtaining a Bachelor's degree in Physics in India, Shankar moved to America in 1969 and earned a doctorate in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. Here he met jazz musicians Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Garrison, and John McLaughlin while working as a teaching assistant and concert master of the University Chamber Orchestra. In 1975 Shankar and McLaughlin founded Shakti, a pioneering, groundbreaking and highly influential east-meets-west collaboration, with a fluid sound that managed to successfully combine seemingly incompatible traditions. His first solo album, Touch Me There, was produced by Frank Zappa in 1979.[3] Shankar founded his own band - The Epidemics, in 1982, with the composer Caroline. He released three albums with the band. During the 1980s, Shankar recorded periodically as a leader, doing both jazz-based material and Indian classical music. His 1980 release of the album Who's To Know on ECM introduced the unique sound of his own invention, the ten-string, stereophonic double violin. This instrument, designed by Shankar and built by noted <b>...</b>
L.
Shankar
Windy
Morning
Frank
Zappa
Violin