Talk:Ruth Underwood

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Untitled[edit]

I don't think anyone will argue that Ruth Underwood isn't a virtuoso, but this article reads like a fan club bio or profile. "Ruth went on to augment over 10 Zappa/Mothers recordings with her talents, dispatching marimba passages that would plunge most percussionists into despair with effortless grace and precision" could just as easily be written "Ruth went on to perform in over ten Zappa/Mothers recordings." Joseph N Hall 11:02, 30 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I tried to fix it, leaving just a single "impressive". Please have a look. David Sneek 20:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Names[edit]

"As Ruth Komanoff and Ruth Underwood..." What's the deal here? Did she get married, did she just not like the name Komanoff, what? There must be some information out there. This entry feels very perfunctory. Languagehat (talk) 13:55, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The article isn't perfect, but it does mention that she married Ian Underwood.

She is credited as Ruth Komanoff on the Mothers of Invention's 1969 Uncle Meat double - This was probably recorded in 1968, prior to her marriage to Ian U.

Years active field discrepancy[edit]

I believe I'm right in saying, and the Mothers of Invention page [1] supports this belief, that the first Mothers album Underwood played on was Uncle Meat, released in 1969, the same year she's credited with playing drums in The Hamilton Face Band. Underwood herself is quoted here as saying: "...I hadn't touched a pair of mallets since March of '77", yet this page states that she was: "...in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention from 1967 to 1977." and the "Years active" field reads: "1969—1982".

Doesn't that suggest that the "Years active" field should read: "1969—1977"?

But then again: she also says that Zappa sampled her playing during four days in June 1993, so should it perhaps read something akin to: "1969—1977 and 1993" instead?Jon O'Brien (talk) 20:20, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps she was doing drum work, composition, backup, or some other non-xylophone musical function or other. "Mallets" pertains only to xylophones and vibes and the like. Drumming involves "drumsticks", and no professional musician would interchange these terms-of-art. JohndanR (talk) 16:25, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Illustration[edit]

Anyone knows the instrument she's playing? It seems vaguely similar to the Cristal baschet, but I have no idea if she played it, or if this instrument appears in Zappa works. BTW, I had the chance to listen and watch Thomas Bloch playing this and other weird instruments, that was awesome.--Olivier Debre (talk) 15:36, 16 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The vertical elements are definitely chimes, also called tubular bells, but they are set in the background; it only looks like it's part of something she's playing. I think she's playing her usual marimba or xylophone or some other percussive instrument.

Anything like a Cristal baschet would be way out of her interest: she only played things she could (at least half-way) bang at: marimbas, vibraphone, piano, synth. Also, the CB just has way to many (vertical) rods, and has a semi-regular irregularity in their heights. Chimes have large, few-ish tubes, with a regular vertical offset of the "accidentals", just as we see in the photo and in any other picture of tubular bells. JohndanR (talk) 18:16, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]