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Ian Underwood

Sound · Born 1939-05-22 · New York City, New York

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Biography

Ian Robertson Underwood (born May 22, 1939) is a woodwind and keyboards player, who was a member of the original version of Frank Zappa's band the Mothers of Invention. Following the original band's split in late 1969, Underwood continued to work with Zappa extensively during the 1970s. Underwood graduated from The Choate School in 1957 and Yale University with a bachelor's degree in composition in 1961 and a master's degree in composition at UC Berkeley in 1966. He began his career by playing San Francisco Bay Area coffeehouses and bars with his improvisational group, the Jazz Mice, in the mid-1960s before he became a member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1967 for their third studio album, We're Only in It for the Money. He speaks on Uncle Meat; on the track "Ian Underwood Whips It Out" he relates how he first met Zappa and demonstrated his capabilities on the saxophone at Zappa's invitation. Underwood later worked with Frank Zappa on his solo recordings, including 1969's Hot Rats. He married Ruth Komanoff (Underwood), marimbist/percussionist from the Mothers of Invention in May 1969. Underwood left the Mothers of Invention in September 1973. He and Ruth divorced …

Movies & TV Shows

  1. Zappa (2020) — Self - Played with Zappa 1967-1975
  2. 200 Motels (1971) — Member of Mothers of Invention
  3. Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words (2016) — Self (archive footage)
  4. Classic Albums: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation (2007) — Self
  5. Classic Albums (1997) — Self
  6. Uncle Meat (1987) — Self
  7. Video from Hell (1987) — Self
  8. The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels (1988) — Self
  9. Frank Zappa - Freak Jazz, Movie Madness & Another Mothers (2014) — Self
  10. Frank Zappa: Phase II - The Big Note (2002) — Self
  11. Frank Zappa: The Present-Day Composer Refuses To Die (2000) — Self
  12. Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1969) — Self
  13. Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: Live at Whisky a Go Go 1968 (2024)
  14. Frank Zappa: The Freak Out List (2010) — Himself
  15. Frank Zappa: Opopoppa Stockholm, Sweden (1973)