A young and elegant Frank Zappa makes a charming and hilarious TV appearance, his first, on the Steve Allen Show. They duet on The Bicycle, a new instrument.

Frank Zappa once gave this list on his 10 favorite songs, though there are only two songs.

‘Octandre’ by Edgard Varèse
‘The Royal March From L’Histoire Du Soldat’ by Igor Stravinsky
‘The Rite Of Spring’ by Igor Stravinsky
‘The first movement from Third Piano Concerto’ by Béla Bartók
‘Stolen Moments’ by Oliver Nelson
‘Three Hours Past Midnight’ by Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson
‘Can I Come Over Tonight?’ by The Velours
‘Bagatelles for String Quartet’ by Anton Webern
‘Symphony, Opus 21’ by Anton Webern
‘Piano Concerto in G’ by Maurice Ravel

The two songs are by the Velours (Doo-Wop) and by Blues man Johnny Guitar Watson. Watson‘s tone and “angular” attack reminds one of Zappa‘s

The Blues and the Abstract Truth is a Jazz album by an all-star band led by sax player Oliver Nelson. The solos on Stolen Moments are outstanding.

Stravinsky, Bartok and Ravel are widely considered three of the best composers of the early 20th century. All the selections by Zappa are gems.

According to Zappa, at the age of 15, he talked to composer Edgard Varèse on the phone and received a personal letter from him. Zappa kept this letter and framed it and kept it in his studio for the rest of his life. Zappa wrote an article Edgard Varèse: The Idol of My Youth, for Stereo Review magazine in June 1971. Zappa‘s choice is the difficult Octandre. An easier piece to start with could be Amerique.

Anton Webern is the most intense of the Serialists. Symphony Opus 21 is sober and ascetic, with very few notes, a music suspended in the air.