It took me a while to get around to acknowledging Joe Zawinul's recent passing on September 11, 2007 - it was overshadowed in my life by my dad's death in October. But the ending of Zawinul's time on Earth was a biggie for me too, as Weather Report and later the Zawinul Syndicate loomed large in my musical pantheon of greats. He wasn't quite on my radar screen yet when he was with Cannonball Adderly. We're losing so many of the cats these days! Both times I saw him with Weather Report, he projected an electric intensity. He was seemingly one of those musicians who never touched his keyboard without being fully engaged and committed to every note. His music will continue to speak. The drummers who worked with Zawinul in WR are legendary. To name a few: Airto, Chester Thompson, Don Um Romao, Alex Acuna, Leon "Ndudgu" Chancler, Peter Erskine, Manolo Badrena, Paco Sery. Check out the Youtube clip above for a taste of later period Zawinul. With his passing, the house band in that big dancehall in the sky just got a heaven of a lot better!
1 comments:
Thanks for writing this.
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