Joe Zawinul Alchimiste Visionnaire

Music journalism defines him as a "Legend". It may be a word overused but there isn't truly a more appropriate way to describe keyboardist/composer Joe Zawinul. Austrian born, Joe Zawinul emigrated to the US in 1959 where he played with Maynard Ferguson and the great Dinah Washington before joining alto saxophonist great Cannonball Adderley in 1961 for nine years. Zawinul then moved on to a brief but fateful encounter and collaboration with Miles Davis, just at the time Miles was moving into the electric arena. In 1970, Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter put together what was to become the most important jazz group of the 70s and beyond, Weather Report.
Bandmembers came and went, including Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Bailey, Peter Erskine and Omar Hakim…

This Zawinul's 2002 solo effort seems to be a summarization of his recent jazz/fusion/world music stylizations, witnessed by his Zawinul Syndicate band. As this solo effort offers more of the same. Here, the keyboardist enlists a multinational cast of percussionists (including ex-Weather Report personnel), vocalists, and soloists for an album that more or less mirrors his recent output.

If one must indulge in categories, My People, featuring the Zawinul Syndicate and a United Nations coterie of guests, probably belongs on the vast world music shelf, the links to so-called jazz now so tenuous as to be nearly, but not quite, invisible. On the percolating "Slivovitz Trail," "Orient Express," "Many Churches," and the Caribbean-tinged cleverly titled "In an Island Way," the music does suggest earlier versions of the Syndicate, and Joe Zawinul's nostalgic evocations of Wayne Shorter on the Korg Pepe reach back even further. Otherwise, Zawinul is looking entirely toward ethnic cultures for musical sustenance. The musical structures are linear, the rhythms full of intricacies welded to Zawinul's love affair with the groove, the synthesizer textures usually sparer than ever.

Recorded in Vienna, the city of Joe Zawinul's birth, this 2005 concert adapts many of his most celebrated compositions for the expanded presence of the WDR Big Band. After the triumphant opening of the propulsive eleven-minute title track, the gentle "In a Silent Way" revisits the evocative memories of Zawinul's childhood that inspired him to write the piece over forty years ago.

Last Joe Zawinul album recorded before he passed away in 2007. Musically all release is based in Zawinul's post-Weather Report music,played with Absolute Ensemble, conducted by Estonian director Kristjan Jarvi.It's interesting, that two members of one of most current Zawinul band's (Zawinul Syndicate) are participated on recordings as well (Congolese vocalist Sabine Kabongo and the Mauritius-born bassist Linley Marthe).

Joe Zawinul - Zawinul (1970) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27100}
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© 1970, 2012 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27100 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Fusion / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Electric Piano

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. A beautiful fusion of Joe Zawinul's roots in the groups of Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderley – a set with some of the far-reaching jazz ideas of the former, and much of the soulful subtleties of the latter! The album features Joe on electric piano throughout, playing alongside Herbie Hancock in a twin-piano style that's quite spacious, and filled with slow-building, long-flowing lines! Other players include Woody Shaw on trumpet, Earl Turbington on soprano sax, George Davis on flute, Miroslav Vitous and Walter Booker on drums, and Joe Chambers, Billy Hart, and David Lee on a range of percussion.

Joe Zawinul - Stories of the Danube (1996) {Philips 454 143-2}
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© 1996 Philips | 454 143-2
Classical / Jazz/ World Jazz

Billed as Joe Zawinul's First Symphony, this large-scale classical work may seem like a radical departure to the composer/keyboardist's jazz and pop fans, but it is really a logical expression of Zawinul's indestructible European roots. Moreover, it is not as alien to his jazz work as one might suppose; at times, one can hear trademark Zawinul ostinato lines in fleshed-out, orchestrated form, and rhythms and tunes of his jazz-rock days ("Doctor Honoris Causa," "Pharoah's Dance" "Unknown Soldier") turn up like old friends crashing a black-tie ceremony.

Joe Zawinul - Mauthausen (2000) {ESC Records ‎EFA 03666-2}
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© 2000 ESC Records ‎| EFA 03666-2
Jazz / Fusion / World Fusion / Keyboards

A little-known anomaly in the Joe Zawinul discography, Mauthausen was a multimedia event in which the Austrian-born composer/keyboardist tried to come to terms with some of the darkest hours in his country's history. It is a troubling, at times eloquent electronic tone poem that depicts life within the concentration camp near the small Austrian town of Mauthausen, where approximately 120,000 people lost their lives between the years 1938 and 1945. Anticipating limited appeal for such a project, ESC released the album only in Austria and a handful of other Central European countries.

Joe Zawinul - Money In The Pocket (1966) {2012 Atlantic Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit WPCR-27016}
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© 1966, 2012 Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Japan / WEA | WPCR-27016 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Modal Music / Piano

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. The late, great Joe Zawinul is most fondly remembered for Weather Report and for his later leadership of one of the best world-jazz fusion bands, the Zawinul Syndicate. Money in the Pocket, however, represents the Zawinul story earlier on, in 1965, after he had been playing in Cannonball Adderley's band for four years.

Two of keyboardist Joe Zawinul's finest recordings as a leader were reissued on this single CD. The Money in the Pocket album from 1965 features Zawinul on acoustic piano in a sextet with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, and baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams playing superior hard bop, highlighted by the funky title cut, "If," and "My One and Only Love." The other session utilizes a string quartet, trumpeter Jimmy Owens, and the tenor and arrangements of William Fischer. Its diverse music hints at fusion (Zawinul doubles on electric piano) and has many colorful moments. This gem of a CD is highly recommended.