Sorry Se, I did say Se in the last sentence of my post :P
From reading his book he seems very 'live-and-let-live' and watching his interviews I gather the same really. The fact that he is opinionated doesn't make him more of a J. OF COURSE in an interview someone comes across as being more judgemental and organized - that's the point of the interview. The interviewer is asking questions directly aimed at giving people more insight into his thoughts.
Opinionated does not necessarily = Judging. I am very opinionated, but I am far from J.
In any case, from reading his book I would say he was very spontaneous and didn't really care much for organization, outside of what allowed him to be spontaneous. He didn't like to practice guitar at all, he just liked to screw around and see what happened with the sound.
Also I think you are not really seeing the logical side of an ISTP. When it comes to work, they like to see things done in a logical and efficient way because they are Ti dominant like INTP is. Just because he plans something doesn't mean it's a J function, it can easily be his Ti side saying, "Hey, this is the most logical route. If I follow these steps and they follow those steps, this will work out."
ISTP are very 'doer' type people, and to me this identifies Zappa better than a planner. He did plan stuff to an extent, but he jumped ship to hundreds of ideas all the time. In honesty, when you look at the things he likes to talk about, it's usually based on his experiences and what he's seen himself. Saying that human beings have a capacity for destruction that will increase over time, is really an observation of the world as it is today (and was then).
I don't know, I think maybe you read into his organized ideas as being more J-type than it really is. I think it's more a product of having a primary T function than anything. He was just doing what he loved to do, and took the logical steps necessary to allow him to continue to do so as far as I'm concerned.
Alright, time to land the missing piece: he defined his life by
structure and
routine. He was a relentless workaholic--almost his entire life. His bandmates even said, when they wanted to relax, Zappa would be working and working and working, to the point where he wouldn't go to sleep. When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, his biggest pet peeve was the fact that it would mess with his routine.
Now, does that really sound 'P' and live-and-let-live? You're correct in that Zappa may have enjoyed the process more than the result, which would be a major boost to your 'Zappa the perceiver' argument, but keep in mind that this thing runs on a scale, and if we measured him overall, he'd probably fall closer to J than to P, because he was mainly result-oriented.
Evidence for him being result-oriented?
- Super pragmatic. Remember the passages in the Real Frank Zappa book where he talked about music? He knew most listeners didn't give a shit about music without lyrics, and therefore discluded them for the sole purpose of making money. This could simply be 'T' over 'F,' but since you cite 'live-and-let-live' as a 'P' attitude, then his business methods certainly contradict that.
- Speaking of business, was super good with money and management. So good that he was constantly critical of musicians who didn't live up to his standards. He despised laziness, and the unions that endorsed what he perceived to be lazy behavior. Had beef with those who didn't work hard, who didn't live up to his standards, and who didn't show up on time.
Now with 'basic MBTI' (basic four functions), I think it's always hard to fully gauge the P/J dichotomy--'cause real accuracy, in my opinion, is found in functions, and I've more or less explained why he's Ni-dominant (you could also use some of the evidence I've listed above to support what I perceive to be his auxillary Te). But the picture I've depicted overall, is a person who isn't exactly relaxed in the way we might imagine your average 'P' to be--even if he gives off what you perceive to be the relaxed vibe. He tinkers with music, yes, but he treats music as a routine and an achievement in a way that I only believe a J could do.
For the record, wasn't the Real Frank Zappa Book comprised of cobbled together extemporaneous interviews? Divining Zappa's personality from the experiences and argumentation structures/topics depicted in the book is relatively all right, but mistaking a heap of interviews for slice of life Zappa is beguiled. The book, to my knowledge, wasn't even organized by Zappa.
Wrong. He wrote it with the help of a writing partner.
