Josef ‘Joe’ Erich Zawinul was one of the most finest keyboardists and musicians of the 20th century. Along with other prominent musicians such as Miles Davis, John McLaughlin (and his Mahavishnu Orchestra), Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters, Chick Corea and Return to Forever, or The Crusaders, Joe Zawinul managed to pioneer an extraordinary genre of music which harmoniously combined jazz and rock. This crossover genre of music had its heyday during the 1970s, when Weather Report (Joe Zawinul’s first major band) came to prominence as well with a series of cult classic studio and live albums. Joe Zawinul started performing with Weather Report at the round of that decade, in 1970, working side by side with co-frontman and future longtime collaborator Wayne Shorter, saxophonist extraordinaire.
Joe Zawinul in 1997 being interviewed by a journalist from Jazz Central Station. Image source: www.youtube.com
However, after 16 amazing years of tremendous musical legacy in the newly established jazz fusion genre, Weather Report ceased to exist in 1986, but Joe continued to make music with two continuators of his first major band, more specifically Weather Update (a very short-lived musical project from 1986) and The Zawinul Syndicate (or, simply, just The Syndicate for the connoisseurs). Joe continued to perform with his Syndicate well until 2007, the year during which he had passed away in his native Vienna, Austria. After Joe’s passing, the Syndicate continued to perform his music live.
Below is a quite rare audio-video interview with the legendary American keyboardist and band leader Josef ‘Joe’ Erich Zawinul from 1997 (uploaded by Jazz Video Guy) in which he talks about the composition of The Zawinul Syndicate at the time, reminisces a bit about his time in Weather Report, and many more.
Therefore, that being said and without any further needless ado or unwanted spoilers on my behalf, I wholeheartedly recommend integrally watching the following brief but very informative interview with Joe Zawinul from 1997. Enjoy and all the best!
- The video’s description on Youtube