Sanctuary Publishing has announced the upcoming publication of In A Silent Way, the authorized biography of Joe Zawinul by Brian Glasser. We’ll update this page when the book is in print.

Former Zawinul Syndicate bass player Richard Bona, whose formidable chops can be heard on the World Tour CD, has a number of concert dates scheduled this spring in North America. A review of Bona’s recent gig at Ronnie Scott’s in London can be found here. And as previously reported, current Syndicate bass player Victor Bailey will tour Europe this spring with his own band.

IMN Richard Bona Concert Listings
PollStar Richard Bona Concert Listings

As visitors to the Zawinul Online Tour Dates page know, the Zawinul Syndicate played two concerts in Hong Kong last month as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The occasion marked Zawinul’s first performances on Chinese soil. In an article in the South China Morning Post, Zawinul talked about the current band, giving us an inkling as to what we might expect this year.

“I have a band right now in session,” Zawinul said in December. “We have a new drummer, and I am writing for the musicians in the band. Before you really know what the future’s going to be in music, you have to know the people you are playing with and the music they are capable of playing. I must also know their personality. I cannot write music for a guy who is not going to be able to play that music. But yes, some [of the music on the program] will be very new and some of the older things. But some of the older things you won’t even recognize because I’m only using it as a canvas.”

According to a review of the February 20 concert, the Syndicate line-up consisted of Zawinul, Victor Bailey on bass, Manolo Badrena on percussion, Karim Ziad on drums, and Amit Chaterjee on guitar. Since then a report on the Zawinul Fans mailing list indicates that this summer’s European tour will include drummer Nathaniel Townsley instead of Ziad.

To my knowledge, the itinerary for the European tour has not been published. In addition to the Syndicate tour in June and July, EMMECI, one of Zawinul’s European booking agents, is also booking August dates for a Joe Zawinul “Special Project,” including Maria Joao on vocals, Lelo Nika on accordian, and a percussionist to be announced.

The Joe Zawinul Unofficial Italian Fan Site has brought to my attention a new album by Dutch keyboard player Michiel Borstlap. According to Borstlap’s web site, the album, called Body Acoustic, “contains acoustic interpretations of Weather Report and features creme de la creme of the dutch jazzscene, like Jesse van Ruller, Eric Vloeimans, Hans Eijkenaar, Tom Beek, Anton Drukker, Jeroen de Rijk, Ernst Glerum, and Han Bennink. It also has multimedia; a videoclip you can watch it in your computer (software is included on the CD).” The album has been released in Europe, and is scheduled for May release in the United States.

Michiel Borstlap Official Web Site
Joe Zawinul Unofficial Italian Fan Site Michiel Borstlap Article