Zawinul has launched a new official web site, www.zawinulmusic.com. There are some cool pictures in the gallery, including a young Joe with his very first accordion. There are also photographs from the opening of Joe Zawinul’s Birdland in Vienna.

ESC Records has announced a January 31, 2005 release date for Midnight Jam, the live double CD recording of Zawinul’s 70th birthday party concert at the Leverkusener Jazztage in 2002. That seems to be a European release date. No word on the stateside release yet. ESC has posted additional information about the release, including the tunes on the recording. Much of the CD captures the 2002 edition of the Syndicate, with Paco Sery, Etienne MBappé, Amit Chatterjee, Manolo Badrena and Sabine Kabongo. Maria Joao performs on two cuts, and Alex Acuña guests on three.

The WDR Big Band, under the direction of Vince Mendoza, gets four tracks, performing “Night Passage,” “In A Silent Way,” “Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz,” and “D Flat Waltz.” Guests of the big band are Peter Erskine on drums, Victor Bailey on bass, Alex Acuña on percussion, and Scott Kinsey on keyboards.

Meanwhile, Zawinul will release a live recording of the Syndicate’s performances at his club Birdland in Vienna, Austria. The bulk of the material comes from the band’s week-long stand at the end of September, featuring musicians from around the globe: Linley Marthe (Bass) from Mauritius, Karim Ziad (Drums, vocals) from Algeria, Sabine Kabongo (vocals) from Belgium via the Congo, Marc Aziz Sahmaoui (gembri, perc, vocals) from Morocco, Arto Tuncboyaciyan (percussion, vocals) from Armenia, Alegre Corrêa (guitar) from Vienna via Brasil, and Scott Henderson (guitar) from the United States. Also included will be two songs recorded during the Syndicate’s May performances which opened the club. The line-up then was Zawinul, Nathaniel Townsley III (drums), Marthe, Kabongo, Badrena and Chatterjee. This album will be released on Zawinul’s new label, BirdJam, created solely for live performances of artists appearing at Birdland. No word yet on a release date.

The readers of Down Beat magazine named Zawinul the top synthesist for the umpteenth time in the magazine’s annual readers poll, published in the December issue. I wonder when and if the readers will vote Zawinul into the magazine’s Hall of Fame. (Yes, there is actually a Down Beat Hall of Fame Museum in Orlando, Florida.) I’ve been a subscriber for years, but I have never voted, so it’s not like this weighs on my mind. But Wayne Shorter was voted into the hall last year by the music critics, and Jaco Pastorius was voted in by the readers in 1988 following his death. Zawinul, however, has never appeared to have gotten close.

This year the readers elected McCoy Tyner–certainly deserving. Ray Charles came in second, and he will almost assuredly go in next year by either the critics or the readers. After Charles, the readers voted for Nancy Wilson, Mark Murphy, Joe Williams, Four Freshman, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Steve Lacey, Lee Konitz, Illinois Jacquet, Errol Garner, Sonny Stitt, and Billy Higgins. Come on… you can’t tell me that Zawinul shouldn’t rank amongst them somewhere. I guess I need to start voting.

ESC Records is finally close to releasing Midnight Jam, a live recording of Zawinul’s 70th birthday party concert at the Leverkusener Jazztage in 2002. Due out next month, the double CD includes the WDR Big Band performing Zawinul’s tunes under the direction of Vince Mendoza. Scott Kinsey manned the keyboards, and Peter Erskine, Victor Bailey and Alex Acuna rounded out the rhythm section. The Zawinul Syndicate also performed, and so far as I know the album will include performances by both bands. The long awaited DVD of the event will have to wait a little longer. It’s still in development, but the word I have is that it won’t be released until next year. [As of January 2007, this album has not been released.]

Zawinul and Bobby McFerrin played a series of three concerts together in August, and Roger Biwandu, the drummer on those dates, filled me in on the performances.

The line up with Zawinul and McFerrin was just Linley [Marthe] on bass and me–a great quartet. We saw each other during the soundcheck in Germany to see what we could play. It was already great and we knew that there would be a lot of improvisations. To me the first show was the best, surely because of the magic of first shows. We were like connected, the beginning and the ending, the solos, everything was some pure magic. The audience felt it, and it was awesome. The last show was in Marciac, one of the bigger jazz festivals in the world. A lot of media people were there and the huge place was sold out. The shows we did in Germany and in Spain were very crowded too, but Marciac is really big. Joe and Bobby started the show together by improvising for half an hour, and when Linley and I arrived on stage it was to play a fast and very energic “Bimoya” that the Syndicate fans know for sure. We also played “Badia” and “Fast City/Two Lines.” It was great and the crowd was on fire!!!

It was a very great experience and really nice to be on stage and to improvise with this music genius. Bobby is a big Weather Report fan (like everybody), so often we were singing some old tunes written by Joe that he himself cannot remember!!! It was just fun.

You can check out Roger’s other projects at his web site, www.rogerbiwandu.com.

Photographer Johann Marcus Streitner captured Zawinul’s first performance this week at his Vienna club Birdland. [The photos appear to be no longer posted on the Internet.]

Former Weather Report keyboard tech Jim Swanson sent some photos from the Syndicate’s August 25th performance at the Hollywood Bowl. (That’s Jim and Brian Risner, Weather Report’s Chief Meteorologist, on the right.) Jim was invited by Joe’s son Ivan to help out with the concert, and along with another WR alumnus, Brian Risner, it was a bit of reunion. Jim reports that Amit Chatterjee was called away due to a family emergency, and Scott Henderson filled on short notice, cancelling his 50th birthday gig at La Va Lee’s and learning the charts on the day of the show. Reports are that he sounded great with the band–even at rehearsal.

Henderson will perform with the band in Vienna and Milan (see the Tour Dates page), along with Linley Marthe, Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Sabine Kabongo, and Karim Ziad on drums. Also scheduled to play with the band in Vienna is guitarist Alegre Corréa. With Henderson and multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Tuncboyaciyan and Ziad, Zawinul has a new palette of sounds to draw from. I don’t know how long it will last, but it will be interesting to see how this new line-up evolves.

By the way, I picked up the new Trio Mundo CD with Manolo Badrena. I like it. Check it out!

Former Syndicate bassist Gerald Veasley opened his own jazz club last weekend, Gerald Veasley’s Jazz Base at the Sheraton Reading Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania. For more information, check out the club’s web site.