The present composer refuses to die. Already in his first album, Frank Zappa asserted his ambition to become a significant composer. Indeed, he succeeded not only in rising to become a unique music icon but also in developing a distinctive style in compositions for large orchestras or the project The Yellow Shark. But where exactly in the broad field of "New Music" of the 20th century do we encounter the composer Frank Zappa, and who else besides Edgard Varèse can be found in his work? Was John Cage merely a quirky mushroom collector for him, and was Karlheinz Stockhausen already in a helicopter on his way back to planet Sirius? Did Pierre Boulez's serialism or Conlon Nancarrow's punched holes leave their marks on the map of Zappa's musical cosmos? What aspects of Zappa's music were conventional, and which were innovative?.