roy estrada

In 1981, Roy was living in Colorado. At that time, he met Mark Radley, with whom he jammed a lot. Recordings from these sessions can be found on the 2004 album by H-Mungus.

In 2002 and in 2004, Roy Estrada took part in the Zappanale festival in Bad Doberan, Germany, performing with the Grandmothers West.

	roy estrada and the rocketeers: jungle dreams part 1 & 2 (1960, 7", usa king 45-5368)
	the mothers of invention: freak out! (1) (1966, 2lp, usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: absolutely free (2) (1967, lp,usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: we're only in it for the money (3) (1967, lp, usa, verve)
	frank zappa: lumpy gravy (4) (1967, lp, usa, verve)
	the mothers of invention: cruising with ruben & the jets (5) (1968, lp, usa, verve)
	gto's: permanent damage (1) (1969, lp, usa, bizarre 73397 - straight sts 1059) - produced by frank zappa / feat.ian underwood, don preston, roy estrada, jc black, frank zappa
	the mothers of invention: mothermania (6) (1969, lp, usa, verve)
	captain beefheart & his magic band: trout mask replica (3) (1969, 2lp, usa, straight)
	the mothers of invention: uncle meat (7) (1969, 2lp, usa, bizarre)
	the mothers of invention: burnt weeny sandwich (9) (1970, lp, usa, bizarre)
	ivan ulz: ivan the ice cream man (1970, lp, usa, ??) - feat. roy estrada
	ry cooder: ry cooder (1970, lp, usa, ??) - feat. roy estrada
	the mothers of invention: weasels ripped my flesh (10) (1970, lp, usa, bizarre)
	leo kottke: mudlark (1971, lp, ??, ??) - feat. roy estrada
	little feat: little feat (1971, lp, usa, warner bros. records) - feat.lowell george, roy estrada, ry cooder, elliot ingber
	nolan: no apologies (1972, lp, usa, lizard) - feat. jimmy carl black, roy estrada, lowell george
	captain beefheart and the magic band: clear spot (7) (1972, lp, usa, reprise)
	little feat: sailin' shoes (1972, lp, usa, warner bros. records) - feat.lowell george, roy estrada
	van dyke parks: discover america (2) (1972, lp, usa, ??) - incl.various zappa alumni
	howdy moon: howdy moon guitar (1974, lp, usa, ??) - feat. roy estrada
	frank zappa: zoot allures (22) (1976, lp, usa, warner brothers)
	frank zappa: shut up'n play yer guitar (31) (1981, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: shut up 'n play yer guitar some more (32) (1981, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: shut up 'n play yer guitar - box set (1981, 3lp, eur, cbs)
	little feat: hoy-hoy ! (1981, lp, usa, ??) - feat.lowell george, elliot ingber, roy estrada, ry cooder
	frank zappa: ship arriving too late too save a drowning witch (35) (1982, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: the man from utopia (36) (1983, lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: baby snakes (37) (1983, lp pict.disc, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: them or us (40) (1984, 2lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	frank zappa: thing-fish (41) (1984, 3lp, usa, barking pumpkin)
	1987 frank zappa- the guitar world according to frank zappa
	frank zappa: you can't do that on stage anymore vol.1 (51) (1988, 2cd, usa, ryko)
	frank zappa: you can't do that on stage anymore vol.3 (54) (1989, 2cd, usa, ryko)
	the mothers of invention: the ark (1991, cd, usa, rhino foo-eee records r2 70538)
	zappa / mothers: 'tis the season to be jelly (1991, cd, usa, rhino foo-eee records r2 70542)
	zappa / mothers: electric aunt jemima (1991, cd, usa, rhino foo-eee records r2 71019)
	zappa / mothers: our man in nirvana (1991, cd, usa, rhino foo-eee records r2 71022)
	frank zappa: you can't do that on stage anymore vol.5 (58) (1992, 2cd, usa, ryko)
	frank zappa: you can't do that on stage anymore vol.6 (59) (1992, 2cd, usa, ryko)
	lowell george & the factory: lightning-rod man (1993, cd, fr, edsel records) - feat.frank zappa, elliot ingber, roy estrada, ian underwood
	zappa / mothers: ahead of their time (61) (1993, cd, usa, ryko)
	don preston: vile foamy ectoplasm (1) (1993, cd, ger, muffin records muffin cdmr 003) - feat. ex-moi and ex-zappa bandmembers
	frank zappa: civilization phaze III (63) (1994, 2cd, usa, barking pumpkin)
	the grandmothers: who could imagine (5) (1994, cd, nl, munich records netcd 53) - feat. various ex-moi; incl.zappa & beefheart compositions
	ant-bee: with my favorite "vegetables" and other bizarre music (2) (1994, cd, uk, divine records divine 3) - feat.motorhead, jc black, b. gardner, roy estrada, d.preston, r. snyder
	sandro oliva: who the fuck is sandro oliva ?!? (1995, cd, usa, muffin records mrp015) - feat. various ex-moi; incl.'mr.green genes' (frank zappa)
	ant-bee: lunar muzik (3) (1995, cd, uk, divine records divine 20) - feat. b. gardner, d. preston, jc black, r. estrada, j. sherwood, b. harris
	frank zappa: the lost episodes (64) (1996, cd, usa, ryko)
	frank zappa: lather (65) (1996, 3cd, usa, ryko)
	frank zappa: frank zappa plays the music of frank zappa (66) (1996, cd, usa, barking pumpkin)
	1997 frank zappa- have i offended someone?
	frank zappa: mystery disc (67) (1998, cd, usa, ryko)
	captain beefheart & his magic band: grow fins (1999, 5cd-box, usa, revenant records revenant 210)
	captain beefheart: the dust blows forward (1999, 2cd, usa, warner archives rhino r2 75863) - anthology including one unissued track
	roy estrada: demos (199?, k7, usa, electrik yak records ??) - unreleased project
	little feat: hotcakes & outtakes: 30 years of little feat (2000, ??)
	little feat: raw tomatos volume one (2002, 2cd, usa, hot tomato records) - feat.lowell george & roy estrada
	little feat: ripe tomatos volume one (2002, 2cd, usa, hot tomato records) - feat.lowell george & roy estrada
	frank zappa: fz:oz (70) (2002, 2cd, usa, vaulternative records)
	b.e.p.: hamburger midnight (2002, cd, ger, inkanish records ir 0003) = jimmy carl black & roy estrada
	various artists: zappanale 13 (2003, 3cd, ger, arf society) – incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	various artists: zappanale # 13 (2003, cd, ger, arf society) – incl. various artists playing frank zappa compositions
	the grandmothers: a grandmothers night at the gewandhaus (2003, cd, ger, warner classic 2564600682) - incl.various frank zappa compositions
	frank zappa: joe's corsage (72) (2004, cd, usa, vaulternative records)
	frank zappa: quaudiophiliac (74) (2004, dvda, usa, dts entertainment 69286-01125-9-9)
	various artists: the frank zappa aaafnraa birthday bundle (2006, itunes, -) - feat. frank, moon, dweezil, ahmet & diva zappa
	frank zappa: the mofo project/object (77) (2006, 2cd, usa, zappa records)
	frank zappa: the mofo project/object (78) (2006, 4cd, usa, zappa records)
	don preston: vile foamy ectoplasm (2007, cd, usa, crossfire publications) - feat. frank zappa, ex-moi and ex-zappa bandmembers
	captain beefheart and the magic band: live at bickershaw festival (2007, cd, uk, ozitcd9006)
	jimmy carl black: where’s the $%&§#@’ beer? (2007, cd, usa, crossfire publications 9508-2) - feat.various mothers of invention

i don't know why he left, but after roy left little feat, he settled in loveland, colorado, a fairly pleasant little town north of denver. i don't know what trick of fate brought him to loveland.
perhaps fatherly (as opposed to motherly, brotherly, or otherly) love, for he raised a kid about that time.
roy drove a truck through colorado and wyoming, delivering movies to various theaters. i used to work at one of the theaters where he made deliveries.

but i didn't really meet roy until sometime in the late 70s/early 80s when he came up and introduced himself to some friends of mine who were playing at a bar in fort collins (a somewhat bigger town near loveland). he said he really liked their playing because they reminded him a lot of little feat, and said he wanted to jam with them. my friends, who even did a few feat covers, were very flattered. they subsequently jammed and hung out together. i got to meet roy during one of these jams and/or one of the informal parties that usually accompanied such affairs. roy's a regular sort of guy and (as you might expect) a lot of fun. he liked to hang out, drink beer, work on cars, etc.

not too long after my friends and roy started hanging out, zappa came to fort collins to play at the university there (december 2, 1980, moby gym, colorado state university, fort collins, co). roy got everybody in to the rehearsal. frank gave roy a big hug and had him sing some of the falsetto parts to show the new band how it was done. (i guess roy used to sing the really high stuff on the old mothers albums.) they hung out for the show, which was typically great. zappa played it real professional, despite a smallish turnout. (this was the tour with the infamous panties on clotheslines.)

after that, roy started thinking about getting back into the music business. he did some demo tapes with a few of my friends and tried to shop them around with some producers in la. i don't know if anything ever happened with the tapes, or if they have any correlation to the electrik yak demo tapes i've heard mention of. don't know if it's coincidence, but roy did start showing up on some of zappa's stuff again about this time....

anyway, about 1995, i talked to one of my colorado buddies who did the demo tapes with roy. (this guy's name is mark radley, and he plays a pretty mean blues guitar.) he's stayed in touch with roy and said the estrada man was out in la, doing music and driving a truck on the side; maybe he's delivering movies again. (i digress, but it's somewhat amazing that someone with decent musical talent has to stay out on the sidelines driving a truck when there's so much crap for music. i guess nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the american people, and truck driving has happened to some of the best musicians....)