About this Artist

IAN UNDERWOOD was the 'multi-instrumentalist' Frank Zappa had been seeking in the late 60's to more fully present his musical ideas. Ian's "story" of meeting and joining Zappa is chronicled in the track 'Ian Underwood Whips It Out' on the "Uncle Meat" release. Ian recorded and performed with Zappa’s Mothers of Invention and subsequent Zappa bands from 1967-1973 and has performed on many of Zappa’s albums, including We're Only in it for the Money, Uncle Meat, Hot Rats, Burnt Weeny Sandwich and the movie 200 Motels.  He has been a studio musician since 1974 and recorded albums and film soundtracks with, among others, Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mandel, John Williams (The Eiger Sanction, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Witches of Eastwick), Dave Grusin (Three Days of the Condor, Heaven Can Wait, The Electric Horseman, Tootsie), John Corigliano (Altered States), Maurice Jarre (Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Ghost), and James Horner (Field of Dreams, Braveheart, Apollo 13, Beautiful Mind, Iris, Titanic, Avatar, The Amazing Spiderman). He graduated from Yale with a BA in composition in 1961 and completed a Masters degree in composition at UC Berkeley in 1966.