Dweezil does ... Dweezil (not Zappa) with new disc, gig

For 10 years, ferocious guitar slinger and singer Dweezil Zappa has played an active role in the curation of father Frank Zappa's legacy by selling out Zappa Does Zappa catalog concerts across the globe. Who better to carry on the elder Zappa's adventures in avant-garde jazz/classical composition or fusion-funk grooves?

The only problem here is the success of Zappa Does Zappa left Dweezil Zappa, now 46, with a dilemma: He, too, has had a solo career filled with flighty pop and raging rawk-outs. The solution? The eclectic Via Zammata', his non-dad-related album and tour that was supposed to start in February until he got an offer he couldn't refuse: the Experience Hendrix Tour, playing the music of Jimi Hendrix alongside Buddy Guy and his ilk.

"It's always hard to resist when they ask," Zappa says of postponing his live solo excursions to next month. He will play Wednesday at Ardmore Music Hall.

The younger Zappa likens the challenge of playing Hendrix songs to those of playing the work of his father a longtime pal to Hendrix who jammed with him when schedules permitted and introduced Hendrix to the wah-wah. "My dad was an R&B player at heart whose biggest influences were Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown, Guitar Slim, and Howlin' Wolf - just like Jimi," Zappa says. "Frank and Jimi had a language that only they could speak."

That Zappa decoded their language - learning note-by-note intricacies and eccentricities of both wizards - is what made him an astute musician in the first place. That he could find his own way and sound through the improvisational largesse of his dad's lengthy guitar solos makes Zappa something of a magician, too.

"With Frank's music, there's a road map as to how the music is to be played - a score with notations with difficult, structured parts we do not deviate from," says Zappa. "Solos are where it becomes my own. ... I don't learn his solos note for note, mainly because they are so long and hard to memorize."

You'll be able to refresh your memory on Frank Zappa's solos and more come May 27, when the Zappa Family Trust releases rare, previously unheard versions of masterworks Lumpy Gravy and We're Only in it For the Money - now titled The Lumpy Money Project/Object - as well as the long-vaulted Road Tapes series, whose Venue #1 captures 1968-era classic Mothers and live improvisations.

The younger Zappa's career commenced with 1986's Van Halen-esque Havin' a Bad Day - then stalled willingly when Zappa Does Zappa tours and live recordings began to take up his time.

"That started as a project unknown in its duration or popularity," says Zappa. "I did Dad's stuff for old fans who craved to hear it, and new ears that never had the chance. Next thing you know, a decade had passed."

Zappa calls Via Zammata' a "twisted pop record ... filled with hooky, melodic information with different textures, and fun to listen to." The album touches on the traditional jazz-gone-mad of "Humming" and its densely clustered science-fiction film vibe; "Malkovich," a throbbing, pitch-modulated collaboration with actor John Malkovich (whom Zappa neither met nor spoke with); and "Truth," a heavenly, string-and-brass-filled beauty produced with Beatles soundman Geoff Emerick.

After finishing his Via Zammata' shows this fall, Zappa will ramp up for 2017's 50th anniversary of Frank Zappa's first album with his Mothers of Invention, Freak Out, with a new way of carrying on his dad's legacy and the younger Zappa's own integrity as a newly rediscovered solo artist. "I think I might just open for myself," he says. "It's the same band. I can play my own stuff for a while, then turn around and do Frank's classics - strike that balance. It's all just keeping it in the family."

Dweezil Zappa plays at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Ardmore Music Hall, 23 E. Lancaster Ave. Ardmore, $28 advance, $35 day of show, 610-649-8389, ardmoremusic.com.