I am pleased to announce that my in-depth article about Zawinul is the cover story of the issue No. 9 of Wax Poetics magazine. If you aren’t hip to Wax Poetics, you should check it out just for this article–one of the longest to published about Joe. It covers Joe’s development as an electronic keyboardist from 1966–when his use of the Wurlitzer electric piano helped transfrom “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” to a national hit–to his early use of analog synthesizers with Weather Report. The article includes material from new interviews with Zawinul as well as Roger Powell, Brian Risner and Jim Swanson.

I know I’m tooting my own horn a bit, but my friend Andy Forward, the most avid Zawinul collector that I know, calls the article “the best (as in well written and well researched) thing I have read about Joe.” You can find Wax Poetics at Tower Records (in the Dance and Techno section), or check the magazine’s web site for purchasing information. All of the previous issues but one are sold out, so don’t delay if you want this.

Yeah, I know, it’s been a while… I’m going to work my way backwards from the latest news.

First, let’s talk about the Syndicate’s recent line-up changes. The band’s most recent gig at the Hollywood Bowl on August 25 found them sporting a line-up consisting of Sabine Kabongo, bassplayer Linley Marthe, drummer Roger Biwandu, Armenian percussionist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, and… Scott Henderson(!) on guitar. That counts as a major shake-up in my book.

The first change took place before the summer European tour, when percussionist Manolo Badrena left the band, replaced by Jorge Bezerra. Badrena was the longest running member of the Syndicate, and though I have no information as to what precipitated the split, I do know that he is co-leading the group Trio Mundo with guitarist Dave Stryker. The group recently released Rides Again, its follow-up to 2002’s Carnival. On Rides Again, Badrena makes his debut on drum set, and the group has some gigs in the northeastern US this fall. Meanwhile, Nathaniel Townsley was replaced by Karim Ziad on at least some of the summer dates. Ziad has manned the Syndicate drum chair in the past. Townsley may have had prior commitments that prevented him from completing the tour, but that’s just speculation.

After the European summer concert season, the Syndicate was booked for six nights in August at the Blue Note in New York, but those gigs got canceled. However, the Syndicate headlined the August 25 concert at the Hollywood Bowl that included Michael Brecker’s and Dave Holland’s bands. And lo and behold, there was a new but familiar figure on guitar: Scott Henderson. (Check out the Scott Henderson discussion forum for photos.) He needs no introduction to long-time Zawinul fans, having performed on the albums The Immigrants (1988), Black Water (1989). (Man, has it been that long?) Since then, Henderson has lead the fusion group Tribal Tech with Gary Willis, and carved out a successful career as a blues guitarist, with several albums to his name.

So what happened to guitarist/vocalist Amit Chatterjee? Again, hard to know. Chatterjee had been a steady member of the Syndicate since 2001, and his soaring voice and rhythmic guitar playing had become a fixture. He was still with the Syndicate at the end of July. According to a message posted on the Scott Henderson Discussion Forum, purportedly from Henderson himself, Scott canceled a gig at a local club in order to perform with Zawinul that night at the Hollywood Bowl, saying, “I’m sorry but I won’t be playing at La Ve Lee tonight. Joe Zawinul needs me to play in his band at the Hollywood Bowl because his guitar player cancelled.” I don’t know if the guitar player who “canceled” was Chatterjee or someone else.

I understand that Henderson will also perform with Zawinul when the band takes up residence for the week of September 28 at Joe’s Birdland club in Vienna, as well as a six-night run the following week at the Blue Note in Milan, Italy. Beyond that, we’ll have to see. Henderson is much more of a soloist than Chatterjee was–and I don’t think he sings, either :-)–so it will be interesting to see how his presence in the band shapes the music.

Okay, lets cover a few other odds and ends. First, Joe played a few concerts this summer with vocalist Bobby McFerrin. McFerrin collaborated with Joe on his 1986 album Dialects. No word has come my way on what pieces they performed.

And finally, some months back Roger Biwandu was kind enough to send me the new CD by former Syndicate bassplayer Etienne MBappe. Misiya is an engaging album that I have enjoyed playing. It reveals that MBappe is a multifaceted musician, much in the same way that Richard Bona’s albums show off the breadth of his musicianship. Here MBappe composed 13 of the 14 tunes, plays bass and sings the lead vocals, and arranged the string sections. More information, including audio samples, can be found on alapage.com.

The Syndicate is holding forth at Catalina Bar and Grill this week, and Zawinul fan Pete van Nuys of van Nuys Communications, sent in this report.

The Zawinul Syndicate opened their spring tour at the new Catalina Bar & Grill on Sunset last Tuesday, and this may be the most accessible, most watch-able Syndicate ever. Its six members seem to balance perfectly, and singer Sabine Kabongo mitigates the testosterone without canceling any of the power you expect from Zawinul.

I caught the 8:30 shows Tuesday and Thursday and was struck both nights by how young the group is. If Joe wasn’t on the stage they’d look like a rock band: Amit Chatterjee, lead guitar and vocals; Linley Marthe on bass; Nathanel Townsley III, drums; Manolo Badrena (the ol’ guy), percussion; and “girl singer” Sabine gyrating on percussion, too.

But with Zawinul present these pros are strictly business, even when it looks like they’re having fun. Communication buzzes among all band members, but especially between Joe, Sabine, and Amit.

Most of the set could be found on the Faces and Places and World Tour CDs. Notable were:

“Intro to Tower of Silence/Tower of Silence” medley with Chatterjee’s guitar ranging from sitar to Iranian-flamenco-banjo, and his haunting vocals, at first melodic and evocative of his native Calcutta, then bullfrog croaks bouncing off Z’s sampled chorus.

“All About Simon” featured a huge big band swing that soaked the new Catalina B&G in giant water balloons of sound.

A brief “3 Postcards” that was classic Joe: Viennese accordion player one second, the whole damn Basie band the next.

Linley got huge applause both nights with solos that caused my 18-year old son—a budding tenor sax man—to say “I didn’t know you could make a bass sound like that. He was really good!” Indeed, Linley’s got the chops. But they all do.

Manolo brought back Weather Report memories with exuberant vocals and precision percussion solos, and kept the rhythmic tension high throughout the set. Especially infectious was the song “Yelena,” with its rhythmic hitch enhanced by Sabine’s vocal delivery.

And Sabine’s duet with Joe’s sampled vocal chorus on “Café Andulucia” stood out, too.

Needless to say, the Syndicate got standing Os both nights.

If Zawinul were a painter he’d turn out massive multicolored murals eight feet tall and twenty feet wide. His son Ivan Zawinul mixed them down to fit perfectly within the walls of the Catalina this week.

I’ve heard rumors about this for years. Now it sounds like it’s becoming a reality. Plans are underway to open Joe Zawinul’s Birdland jazz club in Vienna, Austria on May 25, 2004. Check out their web site. I wonder who the opening act will be.

Finally! The Zawinul Syndicate has booked performances for Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in April 2004. It’s been a few years since Zawinul has been to my neck of the woods (the Bay Area) and we have sorely missed him! The band will hold forth for a week at Catalina Bar and Grill in Los Angeles, April 13-18, and will perform at Kuumbwa Jazz Center on April 19 and the Palace of Fine Arts on April 20. Given the choice of venues in the Bay Area, Kuumbwa will definitely be the place to be. Also on the itinerary is an April 23 performance at the Tri-C Jazz Festival in Cleveland, Ohio.

Then it’s back to Europe with two concerts at New Morning in Paris, followed by a nine-city, two-week tour of the UK that includes the Barbican Theatre, capped by a five-day stint at Ronnie Scotts, May 10-14. See the Tour Date page for details.

The Zawinul Syndicate has booked performances in Yokohama and Tokyo during the week of October 8-12. These are Zawinul’s first appearances in Japan in several years. According to the info I have received, the drummer will be Nathaniel Townsley, while the rest of the line-up (Linley Marthe on bass, Amit Chatterjee on guitar, and Manolo Badrena on percussion) remains the same. The Syndicate will return to Europe in late October and November. Concerts are booked in Switzerland and Austria.

It would probably be a good time to point out that I do not have an official itinerary for Zawinul. Since I am not given official itineraries, I simply use the best information that I have on the Tour Dates page. I will include a link to the venue or the event, if I can find one. The following seems obvious to me, but I guess it needs saying: Use the Tour Dates page as a guide. Always contact the venue for confirmation and to purchase tickets. Don’t just show up because you read it here.