Ian Underwood - Biography

Biography

Underwood graduated from 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, most notably on 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 in 1986.

After his lengthy career with Frank Zappa, he pursued a career as a session keyboardist. Underwood is known for his proficiency on the Minimoog synthesizer. His work includes recordings for Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Ronee Blakley, Hugh Cornwell, Freddie Hubbard and Barry Manilow. Underwood was also one of the musicians who played the main title theme for the 1980s hit series "Knight Rider" ("The Stu Phillips Scores: Knight Rider". ).

Underwood has also been a featured performer (mostly on keyboard) with James Horner on several of Horner's film scores including Titanic (1997) and Sneakers (1992).