By Jason M. Rubin

Celebrating 20 years of keeping Frank Zappa’s complex music alive, Dweezil brings the DZ20: Like Father, Like Son Tour to Medford’s Chevalier Theatre.

Dweezil Zappa. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Musical iconoclast Frank Zappa died in 1993. Thirteen years later, his son Dweezil, fearful that his father’s audience—a Boomer blend of sophisticates and stoners—was dying out, took the reins in assembling a band to play the elder Zappa’s extraordinary repertoire. Though Frank left us at the tender age of 52, he was a prolific composer of unusual, if not impossible, breadth and complexity. Partly because of that—and partly because of the salty language he was known for—radio has generally stayed away from his music, except for rare novelty pieces such as “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow,” “Dancin’ Fool,” and “Valley Girl.” In 2006, Dweezil, wielding the optimal mix of genetic makeup and musical talent, took on this considerable challenge.

“When I started, the goal was to give a new generation of listeners a taste of my dad’s diverse music in one concert experience,” he said. “I wanted them to know Frank as a composer, guitarist, and bandleader, so I focused on his instrumental music, orchestral work, and his avant-garde stuff. I had to change how I play guitar in order to play in a style that is evocative of my dad.”

Now, celebrating 20 years of bringing the music of Frank Zappa to audiences around the world, Dweezil returns with the DZ20: Like Father, Like Son Tour. The show hits the Chevalier Theatre in Medford on Friday, November 13.

As if simply playing the music isn’t challenging enough, Dweezil, in keeping with his mission, changes the set list with every tour. In covering the expansive catalog, the band has to be fluent in multiple genres, from rock to jazz to progressive to classical to styles that have no name.

“It’s pretty wild,” he said when asked about his father’s oeuvre. “I don’t think there’s anything to compare it to. I know of no other musician who worked in rock and roll and classical music who wrote that much complex music and toured the world. And it’s all so different; so many songwriters have a formula, and they may be successful and long-lasting, but they keep repeating that formula. With Frank, there’s no song of his you could point to and say it’s a carbon copy of another song he did before.

“Western music is based on 12 notes,” he continued. “With my dad’s music, it sounded like he had a bag of extra notes apart from those 12.”

While Dweezil used words like “steward” and “curator” to describe his role and his work—suggesting a rigid adherence to the written note—the concerts also honor Frank’s devotion to improvisation (“spontaneous composition,” said Dweezil), which means he allows the band and himself considerable leeway in personalizing the music.

“When it comes to improvisation, that’s always been pretty open,” he said. “What I like to do is recreate sounds that are evocative of the time period in which the song was written. For example, when we do ‘Watermelon in Easter Hay’ [a bluesy ballad from 1979’s Joe’s Garage], the way I play the notes is similar to what the album sounds like. But when I improvise during the solo, what he originally played becomes more like a signpost, and I can choose how closely to follow what he did and how much I want to do my own thing.”

Speaking of “own thing,” Dweezil says that on this tour he is adding some of his own compositions to the set list.

“These are a couple of tunes that I know my dad heard and liked. To me, it’s kind of a full-circle thing that fits the theme of broadening the repertoire. At the same time, I’m touring with a five-piece band, which is smaller than in the past. This will change how the music is experienced. With fewer musicians, there will be less clutter; the music will be more guitar-driven.”

Joining Dweezil in the band are Scheila Gonzalez on saxophone, flute, keyboards, harmonica, and vocals; Kurt Morgan on bass and vocals; Ryan Brown on drums, percussion, and vocals; and Bobby Victor on keyboards and vocals.

After 20 years and with a somewhat new approach to honoring his father’s music, what does the future hold for the man named at birth Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa?

“This is something I really enjoy doing, but it’s not the only thing I could be doing,” he said. “I would like to do more of my own music, but playing my dad’s music sells more tickets. So as long as there are people who want to see the show, I’m happy to do it. I just want to keep his music from fading away as his core audience gets older.”

Considering that Frank Zappa remains the artistic standard for musicians of a certain stripe, this writer thinks Dweezil has nothing to worry about. Frank’s catalog may not sell like Bruce Springsteen’s (a classic Zappa biography is titled No Commercial Potential), but Zappa’s music is simply too fucking original to disappear altogether.

Jason M. Rubin has been a professional writer for 40 years. He has written for The Arts Fuse since 2012. His books include SHORTS: A Sizable Collection of Short Fiction (2025); Villainy Ever After (2022), a collection of classic fairy tales told from the villains’ point of view; and Ancient Tales Newly Told (2019), a pairing of two historical romances, one set in 17th-century England and the other in Biblical Jerusalem and Sheba. Jason also teaches journaling workshops. He holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Learn more here.