ALTE DOCUMENTE
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VIENNA NIGHTS
LIVE AT JOE ZAWINUL'S BIRDLAND
BirdJAM | BHM 4001-2 (2 CD Set)
Release date: may/june 2005
Recorded at his own club (Birdland) in his home town (Vienna, Austria) on his own label (BIRDJAM / BHM Productions), Vienna Nights is a musical celebration of one of the living legends of jazz who, at age 72, is still very much on top of his game. Indeed, Joe Zawinul hasn't lost a step, as evidenced by his typically torrid solos, razor-sharp attack and grand orchestral keyboard arrangements throughout this exhilarating live two-cd set, which documents t 18118o148s he current edition of his Zawinul Syndicate in full stride and showcases the master at the helm of his most powerful band since Jaco-era Weather Report. "It's the best band I've ever had," says the proud patriarch of his multi-national juggernaut."From a groove standpoint, it's just unreal, man. And when we get out and tour, we're gonna shock people because the record is very, very good but we've even taken it up a notch or two since then. "
The energy level is bristling and visceral throughout Vienna Nights, which was recorded in two separate week-long engagements at Zawinul's Birdland club in May and September of 2004. "It was fun to play with these guys," says Joe. "They are talented young musicians and we have much fun doing what we are doing on this record."
On CD1, Zawinul's Syndicate comes out of the gate charging hard on the energized opener, a buoyantly surging rendition of Salif Keita's "Y'elena" (from the African pop star's 1991 recording Amen, which Zawinul produced). Belgian-African vocalist Sabine Kabongo (formerly of Zap Mama) contributes the stirring vocals on top of a slamming groove laid down by drummer Nathaniel Townsley and electric bass virtuoso Linley Marthe, a remarkable new Zawinul discovery who hails from Mauritius, a small island in the Indian Ocean off the southeast coast of Africa nearMadagascar. "Sabine is a unique vocalist," says maestro Zawinul. "Nobody can do what she's doing the way that she's doing it. And Linley, I think, is going to be the top bass player. I think he already is but people don't know it yet. He's amazing. He's really got it, man."
Guitar great Scott Henderson, a former Zawinul Syndicate member from the late '80s, appears as special guest on the kinetic "Two Lines" (from Weather Report's 1983 album Procession), which is fueled by Algerian drummer Karim Ziad. Zawinul, who leads the pack with vocoder-inflected vocals over this throbbing swing groove, says of Henderson's fiery solo here: "Scott is one of my favorite solo guitar players, and he plays one of the world class jazz solos on this tune. The combination of what we do between my comping and his soloing is fantastic. It's a very unique call-and-response kind of thing." Zawinul follows Henderson's pyrotechnic solo with an outstanding solo of his own. Says Henderson of the hookup with his former employer: "Joe's regular guitar player (Amit Chatterjee) couldn't make the gig at Hollywood Bowl last summer so Joe called me kinda last minute and I did the show. Then he asked me to do a week at Birdland in Vienna and a week at the Blue Note in Milan. It was a lot of fun listening to Joe play his ass off every night and I think he sounds better than ever."
On Tuncboyaciyan's poignant ballad "Do
You Want Some Tea, Grandpa?," Zawinul affects an accordian sound for
his solo voice while accompanying Arto's heartfelt vocals with orchestral synth
accompaniment and adding some vocoder vocals of his own. Ziad's compelling "Chabiba"
features some powerful vocals by Moroccan percussionist Aziz Sahmaoui and is
solidly grounded by Ziad's backbeat, Marthe's heavy bass groove and Alegre
Correa's rhythm guitar work. Zawinul's "Blue Sound/Note 3" segues from an
adventurous synth improvisation to a wistful ballad carried by Kabongo's
operatic vocals. Henderson returns to unleash some fretboard fury on an
exhilarating rendition of Zawinul's "Rooftops of Vienna" (from 2002's Faces & Places). Zawinul also
contributes vocoder vocals on this surging uptempo groover, fueled by
Harlem-born drummer Townsley and bassist Marthe, while alternating his lead
synth tones from grungey electric guitar to warm-toned accordian.
"Louange" is Ziad's Gnawan flavored jam, complete with gimbre (an Algerian stringed instrument) upfront and vocals by Sahmaoui, while the explosive closer "East 12th Street Band" (from Faces & Places) flows with a swing groove that never lets up from start to finish. Syndicate guitarist Amit Chatterjee takes a ripping solo here.
On CD 2, Zawinul's expansive pan-global vision is realized by tunes from 2002's Faces & Places like "Cafe Andulusia,"named for a favorite Tunisian emporium of water pipes and mint tea, the Argentine-flavored "Borges Buenos Aires" and the powerfully percussive "Tower of Silence," about an awesome structure in Bombay, India. Zawinul's churchy organ tones on "Intro To A Mighty Theme" (from 1996's My People) segues into a hauntingly beautiful duet between Joe and Sabine on Ellington's profoundly spiritual ballad "Come Sunday." Then on the relaxed swinger "Three Postcards" (from 1998's World Tour), Zawinul dials up an accordian mode on his synth and wails with the virtuosic dexterity of a Richard Galliano. CD2 closes with a medley of two classic Weather Report tunes from 30 years ago or more -- "Badia" (from 1975's Tale Spinnin') and the anthemic "Boogie Woogie Waltz" (from 1973's Sweetnighter), both featuring screaming wang bar inflected solos from guitarist Henderson and grounded by the intensely grooving rhythm tandem of Townsley and Marthe. On these and other tunes throughout this sizzling two-cd set, Zawinul rises to the occasion with some of his most dynamic playing in recent times. "I am really in great shape," says the 72-year-old maestro. "I've always felt good but I feel even better now. I do situps every day and I've been boxing quite a lot, training on the speed bag, shadow boxing and sparring. I'm also out there splitting wood with an axe. What can I say? I'm old school, man."
He adds that boxing, his other life-long love besides jazz, has a lot in common with playing music. "In boxing you gotta build everything off the jab and every punch is accompanied by a footstep. The palms always remain behind the toes. You don't move forward on the jab, you find your distance, get in position, sit back on the knees and deliver your jab right behind your toes. And that's what gives you the power. So you don't step into everything. The feet have to be set to deliver the punch. And it's the same way with soloing. It's all one thing -- boxing and music. It's all rhythm, man. I mean, when I'm training and I'm hitting my speed bag, I'm jamming, man."
From his earliest days in America with Maynard Ferguson's big band (1959) and Dinah Washington (1959-1961) to his tenure in Cannonball Adderley's quintet (1961-1970) to his long run with the Grammy Award-winning Weather Report (1971-1986) and now the Zawinul Syndicate (1988-present), Joe Zawinul has imbued his playing with a remarkable depth of heart and soul. He is the composer of such timeless pieces as the popular anthem "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (a Top 40 hit for Cannonball Adderley in 1966), the evocative "In A Silent Way"(which he recorded with Miles Davis as the title track of a landmark 1969 recording) and the joyfully buoyant "Birdland" (from Weather Report's gold-selling album from 1977, Heavy Weather). From his Weather Report days, and particularly since the formation of the Zawinul Syndicate, his writing has taken a decidedly more pronounced shift toward incorporating world music elements into his own harmonically sophisticated and rhythmically pulsating language. The result is a dynamic hybrid that speaks to a multitude of cultures with joy, honesty and intensity.
Given an accordian at the age of six, Zawinul began studying classical music at the Vienna Conservatory from the age of seven. After World War II, he became interested in jazz after seeing the film Stormy Weather, starring Lena Horne and featuring Louis Armstrong. In 1952, he began working with the austrian saxophonist Hans Killer, and from 1953 to 1958 he worked with various leading Austrian musicians, as well as playing at clubs in Germany and France with his own trio. In 1959, he won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and emigrated to America. Shortly after arriving, he joined Maynard Ferguson's big band and toured with that aggregation for eight months. After working briefly with Slide Hampton, Zawinul became the accompanist to singer Dinah Washington from October 1959 to March 1961. There followed brief stints with Harry "Sweets" Edison and singer Joe Williams before he joined the Cnnonball Adderley quintet, becoming a key member of the group and remaining until the autumn of 1970. Toward the end of his tenure with Adderley, Joe also participated in four important Miles Davis albums -- In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Live-Evil and Big Fun.
In 1971, Zawinul formed Weather Report with Davis' former tenor saxophonist, Wayne Shorter. Over the course of the band's 15-year existence, there were several personnel changes while the direction of the group gradually shifted from provocative free improvisations to more strictly composed pieces in its middle and later periods. In it's heyday, Weather Report was regarded as the premier fusion band with a huge international following. A host of great musicians passed through its ranks, including bassists Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, Jaco Pastorius and Victor Bailey, drummers Eric Gravatt, Ndugu Chanceler, Chester Thompson, Alex Acuna, Peter Erskine and Omar Hakim, percussionists Don Alias, Dom Um Romao, Manolo Badrena, Robert Thomas Jr., Jose Rossy and Mino Cinelu. Likewise, the Zawinul Syndicate has seen its share of great musicians passing through, including drummers Cornell Rochester, Rodney Holmes, Paco Sery and Mike Baker; bassists Gerald Veasley, Matthew Garrison, Richard Bona, Victor Bailey and Etienne Mbappe; guitarists Scott Henderson, Randy Bernsen, Gary Poulson and Amit Chatterjee; percussionists Manolo Badrena and Arto Tuncboyaciyan.
"This record is very nice," Zawinul says of the live Vienna Nights, "because the groove, the rotation among the players is so enormous. It moves more than ever before and I can really get into this. In the past I've often had to be a part of making the rhythm happen. There were times in the past if I stopped for four bars you could really feel a drop in the energy. And that cannot be. But these guys, man...they're rotating and marching and are slick with it. And because the groove is so solid I can be much more spacious in my way of expressing myself."
Understandly proud of his current edition o the Zawinul Syndicate, he notes, "We're setting some high standards because we sing, we entertain and we bring a high grade music. That was always the thing I wanted to do in my life and I learned this not from Duke Ellington, I learned this when I was in Vienna. That was the old musician standard. You had to go out there and play faultless, first grade music and entertain people. I really believe in that, and the great masters of the jazz music like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Cannonball Adderley were into the same thing. I am totally into this, man, and it's been wonderful. I've been playing better than ever and we just continue growing. We have something now to reckon with on a serious level."
Stay tuned for upcoming Zawinul Syndicate tours this summer in Europe and autumn in the States. Until then, feel the heat of Joe's most scintillating outfit to date on the live Vienna Nights.
Author: Bill Milkowski
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