Some things I did not cover in writing about Zappa on drugs

There was a particularly striking quotation I found in the Barry Miles bio, from Ruth Underwood, that brings together several fleeting points in my mind that did not make it into the essay I wrote recently:
"'I was ready to dedicate myself completely to Frank's music. He really new what buttons to push, emotionally and musically. He was a remarkable referee. He knew how to synthesize people's personalities and talents. That's a very rare gift. He wasn't just a conductor standing there waving his arms; he was playing us as people! I became a perfectionist.'" (Miles, 240)
I find this quote fascinating in it's regard to both Miles critcism of Zappa's "up-tight" drug policy as well as that of his continual hiring and firing of band members.
First of all, the kind of experience Underwood is talking about here is one that makes quite clear great reason for Zappa not to want band members high when playing. It is brought up time and again in the book just how much Zappa could assess people's talents, as well as capture on tape colourful moments of their personalities. This was obviously a skill he readily capitalized on stage. Not being on drugs himself, it's clear that Zappa would have a great deal of trouble being this proficient as a conductor should his band be high.
And of course it seems clear that Zappa must have had a similarly great sense of band chemistry, explaining his need to thoroughly rearrange pieces and change line-ups to suit performance needs.
Zappa as a performer had such an excelent capacity in the above-mentioned skill. Rather than focus alone on his already superb guitar-playing skills or enhance himself as a vocalist and frontman, he simply capitolized on his already impressionable and outspoken personality, putting his creative, musical focus into the other members of his band. Providing another calibre of musical performance than had been seen in the rock ouvre at the time, FZ was an unmatched resource to his audience and musicians, going far above and beyond the Santanas or Claptons of the day.