Dweezil Zappa carries on musical tradition of father Frank

Listen to a lot of what passes for popular music these days, the repetitive mouth noises droning along to minimalist synthesized sounds.

When you’re ready for a change, check out Dweezil Zappa’s band.

Accompanying him are genuine, living, breathing musicians: a lead vocalist who excels while alternating between his guitar and a percussion kit; skilled performers on bass, keyboards and drums; and a longtime member who sings and plays at least half a dozen different instruments.

Then there’s the man, himself, carrying on the tradition of his guitar-wizard father, a uniquely gifted composer and social commentator who embarked on his final tour, as per his obituary, far too soon.

Frank Zappa (1940-93) is best remembered by casual music fans, if at all, for what ostensibly qualify as novelty songs: “Don’t Eat Yellow Snow,” “Dancin’ Fool” and his top-40 duet with daughter Moon, “Valley Girl.”

But even within those quasi-hits were flashes of his quirky compositional brilliance, which often ventured into uncharted territory as far as innovation and complexity.

Hitting the road for the first time since the pandemic laid waste to his performance schedule, Dweezil heralds his return as Rox(Postroph)Y Tour 2024, paying homage to a pair of LPs Frank released 50 years ago, “Roxy & Elsewhere” and “Apostrophe (’),” which — believe it or not — reached No. 10 on the Billboard chart.

During Wednesday’s concert at the Roxian Theater in McKees Rock, Dweezil’s band played about half the selections from each, some following the basic blueprint of the originals and others featuring new arrangements.

“Apostrophe (’)” opener “Yellow Snow,” for example, blazed along at hyperspeed before segueing into the continuity-related “Nanook Rubs It,” the tale of a discolored-ice battle between a denizen of the Arctic and an evil fur trapper, and then the zany narrative of “St. Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast.”

Somewhat more faithful to Frank’s vision was the exceedingly challenging medley of “Echidna’s Arf (Of You)” and “Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing,” a journey through multiple time signatures that for many fans represents the highlight of “Roxy.”

Then again, Dweezil noted that album’s “Pygmy Twylyte” as one of his favorite songs, and his band did yeoman’s work on an elongated rendition that echoed the version from a 1974 concert in Helsinki, Finland, that Frank released as the second volume of his 12-CD “You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore” retrospective.

Included in “Pygmy Twylyte” was a comical discussion of the source of some band members’ ostensible stomach distressed — Pittsburgh staple kielbasa came up as one of the possibilities, and its mention turned out to be a recurring theme throughout the show — along with one of several primo guitar solos showcasing Dweezil as one of today’s masters of the six-string.

As an added tribute to his dad, Dweezil played the guitar Frank used for the “Roxy & Elsewhere,” much of which was recorded live in late 1973 at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood. Any resemblance of that venue’s name to the one in McKees Rocks would seem to be purely coincidental.

Beyond the “Rox(Postroph)Y” selections, Dweezil and company dug into Frank’s vast catalog as far back as 1966 and his debut album, his Mothers of Invention’s “Freak Out!”

A fairly bizarre turn came with the song “Approximate,” which started with some of the band members twisting themselves into various poses for what turned out to be a contest, with degrees of audience applause determining the winning bodily manipulations.

Scheila Gonzalez — who has been playing saxophone, flute, keyboards and sundry other instruments with Dweezil since 2006 — won handily.

Also displaying their considerable talents on the ’24 tour, which continues tonight in Morristown, N.J., are Ryan Brown, drums and vocals; Kurt Morgan, bass and vocals; Zach Tabori, lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion; and Bobby Victor, lead vocals, keyboards and percussion.

The tour setlist includes songs Dweezil said he hadn’t played prior as a solo artist, including “Sharleena,” which first appeared on Frank’s 1970 album “Chunga’s Revenge.” Father and son actually joined forces on the tune live in 1984, when Dweezil was 15, and Frank included the performance as another “You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore” track.

For the record, Dweezil has released several of his own albums, most recently “Via Zammata’” in 2015. One of the songs features lyrics composed by his dad, and on another, Dweezil plays the guitar that Jimi Hendrix set on fire during his groundbreaking 1967 Monterey Pop Festival performance and later gave to Frank.

As such, Dweezil Zappa continues to carry the torch from a time when giants trod the rock ’n’ roll stage with songs that have proved to have an abundance of staying power.

Regarding what passes for popular music these days, we’ll see.