How come we never have Zappa threads here? He liked Jim Lea.
Zappa seemed to like bassists with character who played a little 'out there'. The bassists weren't always the most technically able members of the Mothers, whereas the percussionists, keyboard players etc all had to be well drilled. Especially towards the end he liked having Scott Thunes in the band, even if Scott made mistakes. Scott played powerfully, and Zappa could take lengthy guitar solos.