[FA Worldmusic] Joe Zawinul Tribute

Fri Sep 14 11:51:14 ADT 2007

Wow!  Thanks for the list Dore.  Reads like a musical UN!

-----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: 14 September 2007 10:21
To: Yusuf Gandhi
Cc: fa-worldmusic at folk.org
Subject: Re: [FA Worldmusic] Joe Zawinul Tribute

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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> >
>
>
>
> --
> =================================
>
> 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) 
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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)
_______________________________________________
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