Zawinul Joe, actually Josef Erich Zawinul, *7 July 1932 Vienna, †11 September 2007 Vienna, American pianist, keyboardist and composer of Austrian origin. As a child, he played the accordion and at the age of 7, he began studying piano at the Vienna Conservatory. In the early 1950s, he performed with various entertainment orchestras; in 1953–58, he played with Austrian jazz musicians, including H. Koller (1952), and in 1954–56 with F. Gulda; he also led his own trio. In 1958, he received a scholarship from the Berklee School of Music in Boston. In 1959, he left for the United States, where he soon became a member of M. Ferguson’s band. In the years 1959–61, he performed with D. Washington and in 1961–70, he played and recorded with C. Adderley (including Mercy, Mercy, Mercy – 1966). At the turn of the 60s and 70s, he collaborated with M. Davis (In a Silent Way, 1969; Bitches Brew, 1969). At the end of 1970, together with W. Shorter, he founded the band Weather Report (the first line-up was co-created by M. Vitous and A. Moreira). The group, formally active until 1985, gained enormous popularity, toured all over the world, and recorded many highly acclaimed albums (including I Sing the Body Electric, 1972; Sweetnighter, 1973; Mysterious Traveller, 1974; Black Market, 1976; Heavy Weather, 1977). In 1985, Zawinul began his solo career, performing in the United States, Japan, and Europe. In 1984–94, he collaborated with F. Gulda again. From 1988, he led the band Weather Update, which later transformed into The Zawinul Syndicate. In 1998, he recorded the album World Tour, followed by Faces & Places, 2002; Vienna Nights / Live at Joe Zawinul’s Birdland, (2005); Music for Two Pianos (with F. Gulda, material from the 1988 concert in Cologne).
Zawinul was one of the leading representatives of jazz called fusion, a virtuoso of electronic keyboard instruments, and the first artist from Europe to achieve great success in the United States. As a pianist, he was initially influenced by G. Shearing and L. Tristano, among others; he gradually introduced elements of blues and rhythm and blues into his music, and then (including recordings with Adderley and D. Washington) he began to use electronic instruments (Wurlitzer, Fender-Rhodes), becoming a precursor of the wide use of electronics in jazz. He developed concepts of new sounds in Davis’s band, and then in Weather Report, where he expanded his instrumentation with more synthesisers (Oberheim, ARP, Prophet) and devices for recording and processing sounds. During his solo career, he used a computer-controlled, advanced music system that generated the latest sounds and programmed rhythms. However, the use of electronic instruments on such a large scale did not limit Zawinul’s inventiveness and was always subordinated to the overarching concept of his music, in which sound was an integral part of the piece. His music evolved from mainstream jazz, through a synthesis of jazz and rock (Weather Report), to a type of world music with elements of ethnic music, jazz and pop music (Syndicate). He was a talented composer (including the symphony Stories of the Danube, performed in Linz in 1993); he gained the greatest popularity with the themes Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (written for Adderley’s band) and In a Silent Way (for M. Davis); Birdland, recorded with Weather Report, became a huge hit in the 1970s and entered the canon of jazz standards.
