BLESSED RELIEF

I almost hesitate to list this under the “Pop/Rock” category since it’s such a straight-up jazz waltz. Play this on a flugelhorn, close your eyes and you could mistake it for a Chuck Mangione tune.

This track is from Zappa’s 1972 album, The Grand Wazoo and it sounds very much like its era. Pairing flutes and trumpets was very popular back then, giving it a 70’s TV theme sound (or maybe a soundtrack to movie scored by Marvin Hamlisch).

This also marks the first and only time a Real Book-featured composer made a guest appearence on Miami Vice:

After years of faithful service, he hurried away with 3 million of my favorite dollars.

You sorta suspect that Zappa wrote that line himself. And you just know he insisted on having his character refer to cocaine as "weasel dust".