UPDATED: 8th May 2020
Eric Gudas has written a fascinating article for the All About Jazz website about the making of Trout Mask Replica. He looks at it from a jazz viewpoint as that’s the audience he’s writing for so it makes for an interesting read. I don’t think there are many articles that have discussed the jazz connections of Don’s music.
He draws heavily on the interviews done by Samual Andreyev with the members of the Trout band plus a lengthy interview he carried out with John French.
I am unable to link direct to the article (the site keeps changing its URL) so to read it you need to go to their search page – https://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/search.php – and type in ‘Captain Beefheart’ in the Musician search box.
As Eric has only been able to use a small part of the interview he did with John French he has asked if the transcript of the complete interview can be posted on the Radar Station. We have, of course, said yes. So look out for that soon!
Article now seems to have been removed – or more moved elsewhere?
Look like the site is changing the location of the file. I have amended the link to go direct to their search page instead. Bit of a faff but worth it!!