Multi-instrumentalist who was multi-instrumental in
providing Frank Zappa with the sound pastiches he wanted for The Mothers of
Invention.Their first meeting
is documented in the song "Ian Underwood Whips It Out" on the
album Uncle Meat.He married fellow Mother Ruth
Komanoff, a marimbist and percussionist in 1970.(He has since divorced and
remarried.)He was with the Mothers until
1973, after which time he became a sought-after session musician,
playing with the likes of Herb Alpert, Patti Austin, Gato
Barbieri, Stephen
Bishop, Michael Bolton, The Brothers Johnson, Captain Beefheart, Hugh Cornwell, David
Foster, Lee Garrett, Lowell George, David Grusin, James Ingram, Maurice Jarre, Jefferson
Airplane, Peggy Lee, The Manhattan Transfer, Barry Manilow, Hugh Masakela, Melba
Moore, Yoko Ono, Dolly Parton, Jean-Luc Ponty, Lee Ritenour, Brenda Russell,
Carole Bayer Sager, Joey Scarbury, Tom Scott, Ben Sidran, Dusty Springfield,
Rick Springfield, Frankie Valli and Ernie Watts.He also did the synthesizer
arrangements for Quincy Jones' USA For Africa project, "We Are
The World". In the '80s and '90s, Ian drifted away from
pop and into film, although he continued to work on Frank Zappa's
solo projects.
Some of the many albums he has worked on under one guise or another
include Somewhere I've Never Travelled by Ambrosia,
Genius & Soul: The 50th Anniversary Collection by Ray
Charles, Chicago XIV by Chicago, Saturday Night
Special by Norman Connors, In the Center by Rodney
Franklin, Tracks of Life by The Isley Brothers, Mellow
Madness by Quincy Jones, Love is on Your Side by Jerry
Knight, Some Time in New York City/Live Jam by John Lennon,
One Voice by Barry Manilow, Sergio Mendes & The New
Brasil '77 by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77, Burnt Weeny
Sandwich by The Mothers of Invention, Songbird by
Barbra Streisand and 200 Motels by Frank Zappa. Some of his
notable film credits include Blade
Runner, Braveheart, Field of Dreams, No Way Out, and Titanic.An
in-demand flautist, pianist, saxophonist and synthesizer player and
programmer, Ian Underwood continues to ply his craft in film, working out
of famed TV composer Mike Post's Olive Studios, in Burbank,
California.
Lalo
Schifrin recordings
Love Rhapsody
from "The Concorde - Airport '79" (Lalo
Schifrin)
Theme from "The
Concorde - Airport '79" (Lalo Schifrin)
