Sometime in early June 1971, Don Preston picked up the phone to hear a familiar voice on the other side of the line.

“I wasn’t even in The Mothers at that time. I got a call. I was living in New York, and I was playing with Gil Evans and I got a call from Frank and he said, ‘We’re playing at the Fillmore. Come on down and sit in.’ And I said, ‘Well, I have a new Minimoog.’ (And Frank) says, ‘Great, bring that along.’ So, I did.

Frank was none other than Frank Zappa, and when Preston turned up at the gig it turned out he wasn’t the evening’s only guest. Making a rare appearance as well, was John Lennon. Preston’s appearance would wind up making the ex-Beatle’s next solo album, “Some Time in New York City.”

Falling back into the Zappa camp for a spell afterwards, Preston’s came up with a particularly special solo on his Model D for the title track of Frank’s 1972 album “Waka/Jawaka.”

“I had taken a volume pedal and put a 9-volt battery in it, so I was able to control one of the aspects of the Minimoog with that, plus being able to turn knobs at the same time. So it was like I had three hands. mean I remember one time Bob Moog came to (musician and Moog distributor) Paul Beaver’s studio, and Paul played him (the) solo I did on ‘Waka/Jawaka.’ Bob listened to it and said, ‘That can’t be done!’” Preston recalls with a laugh. “So, that was kind of like a feather in my cap.”