Here’s the paradox of John “Drumbo” French: his influence has been sizeable and significant, while remaining largely invisible. As the drummer and music director for revered iconoclasts Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, French made central contributions to a handful of LPs – notably 1969s mind-altering masterpiece “Trout Mask Replica,” on which French acquired the antic stage-name “Drumbo” – that vastly expanded the parameters of contemporary music. Yet while the group earned droves of ultra-impassioned admirers, its music was too unusual and idiosyncratic to spawn many direct descendants.

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