A visit to the Sony Legacy Recordings web site confirms that Live & Unreleased will be released on October 1.

Journalist Anil Prasad brought to my attention Mike Zwerin’s interview of Pacy Sery, the Zawinul Syndicate drummer. Good reading. There are a number of other interesting interviews Zwerin’s site as well. And don’t forget Zwerin’s Sons of Miles series, which includes an interview with Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, among many others.

An anonymous emailer tipped me off that the 70th birthday gala (mentioned here many months ago) has been set for November 7, at the Leverkusener Jazz Festival. Reprising their IAJE Conference performance honoring Zawinul will be the WDR Big Band playing the music of Weather Report, conducted by Vince Mendoza, with guests Victor Bailey, Alex Acuna, Peter Erskine, and Scott Kinsey. The Zawinul Syndicate will perform as well.

I understand that Zawinul’s new CD, Faces and Places, has been released in parts of Europe. The United States release is scheduled for September 17.