Waka/Jawaka came together while Frank Zappa was recovering from his fall from the stage at the Rainbow Theatre, which left him in a wheelchair for months and unable to tour. During that period he wrote for an expanded horn section, with Sal Marquez on trumpet, George Duke on keyboards and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. Two long instrumentals, 'Big Swifty' and the title track, frame the shorter songs 'Your Mouth' and 'It Just Might Be A One-Shot Deal'. The sleeve reads 'Hot Rats III', a reference to the 1969 album where this jazz-rock line began. The album originally came out in 1972 on Bizarre and Reprise Records. This edition is an LP.