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Joe Zawinul - Absolute Ensemble: Absolute Zawinul
by AAJ Italy Staff
Il connubio fra improvvisazione e accademia non è mai stato semplice, checché ne dicano coloro che citano, un po' a sproposito, l'improvvisazione così come praticata nella tradizione accademica europea fino alle estreme propaggini del Romanticismo, e che dimenticano come radicalmente sia diversa l'improvvisazione codificata dal Canone africano-americano, soprattutto nei suoi legami non con una tradizione scritta bensì con una orale. Esperimenti come la cosiddetta Third Stream si sono presto ridotti a inerti involucri strutturali, gabbie eleganti e spesso intelligenti, difficili ...
Continue ReadingJoe Zawinul: Money In The Pocket
by Chris May
Recorded in late 1965, while keyboard player Joe Zawinul was still a member of saxophonist Cannonball Adderley's band, Money In The Pocket is a remarkable album--remarkable in that gives absolutely no hint of the shape shifts that would transform Zawinul's work a few years later. The first of three albums he recorded for Atlantic, it's a conventional mix of mid-1960s hard bop and soul jazz. Trumpeter Miles Davis' revolutionary In A Silent Way (CBS), recorded in early 1969, which featured ...
Continue ReadingJoe Zawinul: A Musical Portrait
by Jerry D'Souza
Joe Zawinul A Musical Portrait Arthaus Musik 2008
Joe Zawinul was a man of many parts. Player of keyboards, composer, vocalist, and boxing enthusiast: he rolled them all into one. All of these are given a close look by director Mark Kidel on A Musical Portrait.
Zawinul was born in Vienna and brought up playing classical music. But there was a far greater calling for him one that was nudged ...
Continue ReadingJoe Zawinul & The Zawinul Syndicate: 75
by John Kelman
Some artists play until they drop--not always a good thing--but for Weather Report co-founder/Zawinul Syndicate leader Joe Zawinul, his life was defined by a tough stoicism. Unlike drummer Elvin Jones, whose final days were tragic in the loss of his signature strength, the groundbreaking keyboardist gigged--despite the Merkel cell carcinoma that would result in his passing on September 11, 2007--until very near the end. Based on 75--taken from gigs recorded within two months of passing--there were certainly no indicators that ...
Continue ReadingJoe Zawinul & The Zawinul Syndicate: 75
by Woodrow Wilkins
A gift. That's perhaps the most effective description of the late Josef (Joe) Zawinul and what he has given to the world of music. So it follows that on his 75th and final birthday, one of the pioneers of jazz fusion performed the music that would become the two-disc 75, his final recording. Zawinul was born in Austria but moved to the United States, where he played with such luminaries as Maynard Ferguson and Cannonball Adderley. It was ...
Continue ReadingJoe Zawinul: Brown Street
by Woodrow Wilkins
If you're looking to relax and maybe have a little background music to help you snooze, don't go near Brown Street, the new release by Austrian-born Joe Zawinul. If, on the other hand, you need a pick-me-up, this is it. Revisiting some of his past hits and backed by the WDR Big Band, Zawinul reiterates that he's an exceptional musician and songwriter. Zawinul's career has spanned more than four decades. Among the jazz icons he has performed ...
Continue ReadingJoe Zawinul: Still Stirring Up The Weather
by R.J. DeLuke
“The music seemed fresh. If any of those bands stayed fresh, it was Weather Report, the band of the '70s and early '80s, says legendary keyboardist Joe Zawinul, cofounder, with Wayne Shorter, of the seminal fusion band that leaped to the forefront of the music during that time and hurled it around the globe, winning legions of fans as well as accolades from the critics and media.Weather Report hasn't played since 1985 when Shorter and Zawinul decided to ...
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