[FA Worldmusic] Joe Zawinul Tribute

Fri Sep 14 11:20:48 ADT 2007

Joe found top talent from everywhere to play with him starting with Weather
Report and throughout his career.

Zawinul's 1996 "My People" is a prime example.

His core band on the recording was The Zawinul Syndicate:

Paco Sery (Ivory Coast)

Matthew Garrison (USA/Italy)

Gary Poulson (USA)

Arto Tuncboyaciyan (Anatolia)

Guest Vocal Soloists were:

Salif Keita (Mali)

Thania Sanchez (Venezuela)

Burhan Ocal  (Turkey)

Richarad Bona (Cameroon)

Bolot (Altai Mountains/South Siberia)

Duke Ellington (sampled spoken word)

Musicians:

Alex Acuna (Peru- former Weather Report member)

Trilok Gurtu (India)

Rudy Regaldo (Venezuela)

Michito Sanchez (Cuba/USA)

Souleyman Doumbia (Mali)

Tal Bergmann (Israel)

Amit Chaterjee (India)

Osmane Kouyake (Mali)

Cheick Tidane Seck (Mali)

Bobby Malach (USA/Poland)

Djene Doumbouya (Guinea)

Assitan Dembele (Ivory Coast)

Beto Sabala (Peru)

Kenny O'Braian (Venezuela)

Lucho Avelleneda (Peru)

Mike Mossman (USA)

On 9/14/07, Yusuf Gandhi <Yusuf at fourquartersent.com> wrote:
>
> I think Joe Zawinul supported and performed with musicians from almost
> every corner of the world, not just Africa, so it would be inappropriate
> to narrow it down to a couple of names. However, he was not a publicity
> hound, so many people did not realize the impact he had on music and
> musicians around the world.
>
> Yusuf Gandhi
> President
> Four Quarters Entertainment, Inc.
> 555 8th Avenue, Suite #1803
> New York, NY 10018
> Tel: 212 564 8855
> Fax: 212 564 8865
> E: yusuf at fourquartersent.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fa-worldmusic-bounces+yusuf= fourquartersent.com at folk.org
> [mailto:fa-worldmusic-bounces+yusuf=fourquartersent.com at folk.org ] On
> Behalf Of Marco Werman
> Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 8:38 AM
> To: Dore Stein; angel at worldmusiccentral.org
> Cc: fa-worldmusic at folk.org
> Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] Joe Zawinul Tribute
>
> Let's not forget either Zawinul's recent support of two African artists
> in particular, Salif Keita and Richard Bona.
> Marco Werman
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fa-worldmusic-bounces+marco.werman=bbc.co.uk at folk.org
> [mailto:fa-worldmusic-bounces+marco.werman=bbc.co.uk at folk.org ] On Behalf
> Of Dore Stein
> Sent: 13 September 2007 19:00
> To: angel at worldmusiccentral.org
> Cc: fa-worldmusic at folk.org
> Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] Joe Zawinul Tribute
>
> When news of Zawinul's passing hit, I sent this tribute to my radio
> email list. I think it's worth sharing.
>
> peace,
>
> Dore Stein
> tangents.com
>
>
> It is with stunned sadness that I pass the news that Joe Zawinul died
> this morning of a rare form of skin cancer.
>
> There will be a Tangents tribute on Sept 22 from 9p-midnight (91.7,
> kalw.org ).
>
> In the pantheon of 'Tangential' artists, Joe shares the top spot with a
> select few. He was an innovator, compositional genius and
> cross-pollinating pioneer.
>
> He led the most important world jazz fusion group of all time: Weather
> Report. Of all the jazz fusion bands that arose from the Miles Davis
> personnel of the late 60's/early 70's, Weather Report led by Joe and
> Wayne Shorter (and eventually included Jaco Pastorius) stands the test
> of time better than any other. I say with all due respect to John
> McLauglin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea's Return to Forever, Tony
> William's Lifetime and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters.
>
> Joe Zawinul wrote my favorite song: "In A Silent Way" which he
> contributed to the Miles album of the same name.
>
> He recorded on five Miles Davis albums including the ground breaking
> "Bitches Brew" recording.
>
> Here's a short excerpt about Miles from a 1997 Anil Prasad  interview:
> innerviews.org/inner/zawinul.html
>
> Anil: How did Miles influence your life?
>
> Joe: I wouldn't say that he influenced my life.
>
> Anil: Many point to the work you did with Miles in the late '60s as the
> music that most significantly impacted your musical evolution.
>
> Joe: It is the other way around, frankly speaking. I think he got more
> from me than I got from him in that respect.
>
>
> Joe also revolutionized the use of electronics in jazz. No one could
> make a synthesizer or keyboard sound warm and organic like Joe. Listen
> to "Peace" from his 1986 "Dialects" solo cd. It is solo synth that is
> emotive and moving.
>
> Here's another excerpt from the aforementioned interview:
>
> "...we had some funny backlash from people who said we were selling out
> because we were using electronic instruments. It's such idiocy.
> It's ridiculous that someone could place that much importance on the
> instrument to be that great. An instrument is not important. It is the
> way one plays that is important. Instruments don't play by themselves.
> A piano is certainly not a better instrument than a synthesizer, but if
> a synthesizer is played like a piano, it becomes a very bad instrument.
> It doesn't work. You can't play a trumpet like a violin it doesn't go.
> That's the problem the players, not the instrument. Any instrument is a
> wonderful thing."
>
> Zawinul grew up playing Roma (Gypsy) tunes and studying classical music
> in Vienna (his birthplace). After seeing the film "Stormy Weather" some
> 24 times, he got hooked on jazz. He won a scholarship to the Berklee
> School of Music and emigrated to the States in 1959. He joined Maynard
> Ferguson's band and then became a fixture with Cannonball Adderley and
> stayed until 1970. As part of Adderley's group, Zawinul wrote the
> classic "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" which hit number 11 on the Billboard pop
> charts in 1967
>
> I interviewed Joe around 1986. It was like talking to the Muhammed Ali
> of jazz. Joe, after all, was also a boxer and talked the talk, and
> walked the walk. He was a straight talker and let you know how good he
> was. But he always backed it up and was as entertaining in person as he
> was on stage.
>
> Here is a vintage Zawinul excerpt again from
> innerviews.org/inner/zawinul.html :
>
> "...people find out so late. You know HipHop? What is HipHop? I invented
> the beat of HipHop! In 1970, I invented it and no drummer could play it
> and I did this album with Weather Report called Sweetnighter that has a
> track called "125th Street Congress." It has the original HipHop beat
> and I have about 50 recordings of rap and HipHop groups using a sample
> of the original song. Many other things I did in the 60s I'm not
> complaining about it, but since we're talking about it, I might as well
> tell you a lot of people got credit for it, which is alright with me.
> But it's a fact I did this stuff so many years ago. What is called world
> music today I started the damn thing!"
>
> Zawinul, along with other pioneering cross-pollinating artists like John
> McLaughlin, Don Cherry, etc. increasingly explored other music cultures
> and integrated these influences into their music. Joe especially loved
> African music. He produced Salif Keita's "Amen" recording. Sabine
> Kabongo (former Zap Mama), Richard Bona, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Souleyman
> Doumbia, Etienne Mbappe, Pape Abdou Seck (from Wock), among others, all
> recorded and/or performed with Zawinul.  He also worked on a Mahotella
> Queens album. (not sure which one - anyone know?)
>
> I'll leave you with a final interview excerpt where Zawinul answers a
> question about his own mortality: innerviews.org/inner/zawinul.html
>
> Anil Prasad: "Do you ever think about your own mortality?"
>
> Joe Zawinul: "I'm not afraid of death. The reason could be that I grew
> up in an environment in which I was always exposed to death every day
> for years. Experiencing bomb attacks in the night and day and actual war
> in your country is very different than watching a war from 1000 miles
> away from your home. We had the war right there in my house. The
> Russians came in and many of my friends died, so this type of life
> prepares you for death. An 11 or 12 year-old kid in America will play
> with a rubber duck, whereas I used to bury people dead soldiers and all
> that. When I was 12, I used to steal horses from the Russian wagons and
> kill them for food. I ploughed fields with Oxen. That was my life. The
> kids were the men. I was trained for the military I was a bazooka man.
> But going back to mortality, I felt when the war was over, everything
> was easy, but I went through some very hard times in America too. I was
> the only white guy to play with black bands in the South during
> segregation. I often had to sit in the bottom of the car when we drove
> through certain parts of the South. Those kinds of things never phased
> me I wanted to play music with the best and I could play on that level
> with the best."
>
> Heaven just got a hell of a musician.
>
>
>
>
>
> On 9/12/07, Angel Romero <aromero at ibiblio.org > wrote:
> >
> > Very sad news for the music world.
> >
> >
> http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/jazz_prodigy_joe_zawinul_di
> es_at
> _75
> >
> > --
> >
> > Angel Romero
> > World Music Central
> > 2524 Cascadilla St.
> > Durham, NC 27704-4406
> > USA
> > E-mail: angel at worldmusiccentral.org
> > <mailto:angel at worldmusiccentral.org>
> > World Music Central: www.worldmusiccentral.org
> > <http://www.worldmusiccentral.org>
> > Mzsicas del Mundo: www.musicasdelmundo.org
> > <http://www.musicasdelmundo.org
> > >
> > World Music Central at MySpace: www.myspace.com/worldmusiccentral <
> > http://www.myspace.com/worldmusiccentral>
> > _______________________________________________
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> > FA-Worldmusic at folk.org
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> =================================
>
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>
> Dore Stein
> Producer/Host
> Tangents Radio
> 301 Gambier St.
> San Francisco CA  94134-1341
>
> Customized MONDOMIX Tangents shows are available listen-on-demand at
> tangents.com and mondomix.com/en/radios.php
>
> Broadcast Saturday Nights 8p-mid on KALW (91.7 , San Francisco) and
> webcast at www.kalw.org
>
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-- 
=================================

NOTE: NEW MAILING ADDRESS and EMAIL

Dore Stein
Producer/Host
Tangents Radio
301 Gambier St.
San Francisco CA  94134-1341

Customized MONDOMIX Tangents shows are available listen-on-demand at
tangents.com and mondomix.com/en/radios.php

Broadcast Saturday Nights 8p-mid on KALW ( 91.7, San Francisco) and webcast
at www.kalw.org

Playlists are uploaded in real time at tangents.com

Website: www.tangents.com
Email: tangentsradio at gmail.com

Tel: (415) 584-4367 (Mon-Fri 2p-7p)
       (415) 841-4134 (Studio: Sat. 8-mid)