Roxy Music's Edwin Jobson

In Procol / Zappa tug-of-love

Excerpted correspondence from the Procolorg message board, 14 – 15 January 1998

Larry Pennisi
I wonder if Zappa had any considered opinions on Procol Harum.

Biffy the Elephant Shrew
Zappa always claimed that he didn't listen to much contemporary rock music, and I can't remember him ever mentioning Procol ... I do know that Zappa stole Eddie Jobson away from Procol: Jobson had auditioned for PH and been invited to join, when he got the call from Zappa asking him to join his band. Jobson opted for Zappa and Procol turned to Pete Solley.

Roland Clare
Jobson (ex Roxy Music) ... had a fat CV ... from Amazing Blondel to Curved Air via John Entwistle, Dana Gillespie, Roger Glover, and most of the Roxy spinoff solo projects.

But when was this Jobson / PH episode? 1976? Jobson recorded with King Crimson in 1977, and not with Zappa (I think) until 1978. Or perhaps that's only the dates when the records were issued. Interesting that PH took up with Pete Solley instead, another keyboardist + violinist. Perhaps This Old Dog was the driving force at audition!

Biffy the Elephant Shrew
It was spring 1976. Here's the way Jobson tells it in the February / March 1977 issue of Trouser Press:

• 'After the Roxy tours my verbal commitment expired and they decided to go off the road. I called up a lot of session fixers and got them to do that. Procol Harum called me up and asked if I wanted to do a tour with them. I thought, if I'm going to go on the road with somebody, I may as well try and go with somebody that would be really good to work for. I called Frank and asked him if the offer was still open, and he said yes. [Zappa had offered Jobson a place in his band while he was still committed to Roxy Music.] The next day I went to play with Procol Harum. That worked out pretty well, but I told them I had to speak to Zappa. So I called up Frank, and he said, 'Get over here as soon as you can,' and so a week later I was there.'

Jobson's only major recorded appearance with Zappa was on the Zappa In New York LP, recorded late 1976 (but not released until 1978). He had appeared on the cover of the previous Zappa LP, Zoot Allures (1976), but he did not play on the album, which was recorded before he joined. By the way Jobson was never actually a member of King Crimson – he only did a session for them, providing overdubs for their live album USA, released in 1975.