Career
Underwood played with Frank Zappa"s Mothers of Invention from 1967 to 1977. Underwood began her music training in the classical tradition, studying both at Ithaca College under Warren Benson and under Saul Goodman at Juilliard. Using both her birth name, Ruth Komanoff and her stage name, Underwood also appeared on drums with a rock group named The Hamilton Face Band during 1969, appearing on some of their recordings released by Philips Records and Bell Records.
They later divorced in 1986.
Underwood went on to perform in over twenty Zappa/Mothers recordings. Examples of her virtuosity can be heard on tracks including the "Rollo Interior interlude" from "Saint Alfonzo"s Pancake Breakfast", from the Apostrophe (") album (1974).
Equally impressive work is documented on Roxy & Elsewhere (1974) and on "Inca Roads", the opening track on One Size Fits All (1975). Some glimpses of Underwood in action can be seen in the Zappa movie 200 Motels (1971), and the Dub Room Special Digital Video Disc, which includes performances from the KCET Special A Token Of His Extreme.
She also features in the film of the Roxy performances.
During the 1970s Underwood played sessions for a small number of other performers, most notably the band Ambrosia, Jasun Martz and jazz-keyboardist George Duke, the latter a Zappa bandmate. However, in a 1993 interview she revealed that she played on one final session for Zappa shortly before his death from cancer in December of that year. Roxy The Movie
200 Motels
Baby Snakes
The Dub Room Special
The Amazing Mr.
Bickford
Video From Hell
The True Story of Frank Zappa"s 200 Motels.
