Journalist Josef Woodard wrote a review for JazzTimes of the Zawinul Syndicate’s recent performance at Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood. Thanks to Bill Eckle for the heads up.

ESC Records, Zawinul’s record label, has announced the itinerary for the Zawinul Syndicate spring European tour. The tour starts on March 15 in Germany, and includes gigs in The Netherlands, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. The complete itinerary can be found at the ESC Records web site, or on the Zawinul Online Tour Dates page. I don’t know if Paco Sery will be with the band, or if Roger Biwandu will take over the drum chair during the tour.

Former Syndicate members Victor Bailey and Scott Henderson will also be in Europe, and their itineraries are also on the ESC Records site.

Last week the Zawinul Syndicate played its first gig in the states in quite some time, with a Thursday night performance at the Korg 40th Anniversary Party, in conjunction with the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) tradeshow in Anaheim. Making his Syndicate debut on drums was Roger Biwandu, a drummer out of France who over the past few years has played in the band Chic Hot with Syndicate bassplayer Etienne M’Bappe. Tonight Zawinul told his Blue Note audience that Paco Sery had visa problems, among other things, and was unable to make the dates here in the states. Biwandu’s first rehearsal with the band was at the soundcheck before the Korg party! In any event, reports from the Catalina’s gigs over the weekend indicate that Biwandu was settling in quite rapidly. Whether this means Biwandu will stay with the Syndicate during its upcoming spring and summer tour of Europe remains to be seen.

Earlier last week Zawinul was inducted into Guitar Center’s Hollywood Rockwalk, along with Herbie Hancock and Korg founder and chairman Tsutomu Katoh.

Tonight’s Zawinul Syndicate performance at the Blue Note in New York will be broadcast on the web live, starting at 8:00 p.m. EST.

Blue Note New York Web Site

The BBC Radio 3 web site has a complete Zawinul Syndicate concert available for listening. The concert was recorded at Ronnie Scott’s on October 17, and while I have yet to hear it, those that attended the concert say the band was on fire. [The concert is no longer available on the BBC Radio 3 site.]

Josef Woodard wrote an article about Zawinul that appeared in last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times Calendar section. I don’t know how long it will be available on the Times web site, but it’s there now. [The article is no available without a fee.]

Last week the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences unveiled the 45th annual GRAMMY Awards nominations, and Joe Zawinul’s album Faces & Places was nominated in the Best Contemporary Jazz Album category. The other nominees in the category are Deep Into It, Larry Carlton; Speaking Of Now, Pat Metheny Group; Überjam, The John Scofield Band; and Mint Jam by the Yellowjackets. The awards will be announced on February 23.

Faces & Places continues to garner critical acclaim. Down Beat reviewer Ed Enright gave the album a 4-1/2 star review (out of five) in the January issue of the magazine, saying, “A critic’s notes could go on forever in reviewing this material, with its deep, ever-developing grooves and richly layered production. The level of talent is virtually unsurpassed; the musicians and vocalists make even the most complex (and high-speed) syncopated lines sound as easy and natural as riffin’ on the blues. The world rhythm never fails, even in its most frantic percussive moments. And the abundant unison and tutti sections are so tight, you’ll be raising your ears trying to distinguish the individual instruments and voices that merge to create a transparent timbre and multiplied presence.” Zawinul also topped the Electric Keyboard/Synthesizer category for the umpteenth time in the 67th Annual Down Beat Readers Poll, announced in the December issue. Zawinul has virtually owned that category since its inception in the early 1970s.

Meanwhile, JazzTimes magazine named Faces & Places the fourth best jazz album of 2002, commenting, “Ambition isn’t a dirty word to Zawinul, and his latest project touches on everything from jazz to vocalese to world music. Grand statements don’t come down the pike often enough in jazz, but Faces & Places is just that. ” The selection was based on a poll of 37 critics and writers. Several of them rated Faces & Places among the top three albums of 2002, including Owen Cordle, Jim Miller, Stuart Nicholson, Paul Tingen, and Josef Woodard. Weather Report Live & Unreleased also rate on several lists, and Weather Report cofounder Wayne Shorter topped the list with his album Footprints–Live!. Zawinul also won the Electric Keyboards category in the JazzTimes readers poll, while Shorter was named Artist of the Year and topped the Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone and New Release categories. Congratulations to Zawinul and Shorter!

Sorry for the lack of updates these past few months. Things have been busy around these parts. Nevertheless, Zawinul and Weather Report fans have got to be pleased. First off, ESC Records released Zawinul’s new album, Faces and Places. It is an absolute must for Zawinul fans, and is perhaps his strongest post-Weather Report statement. (My People would have to be considered in that category as well.) Stuart Nicholson had a superb article/interview in the September 2002 issue of the UK magazine JazzWise, and describes Faces and Places as “one of the most important albums in Zawinul’s long and distinguished discography,” tracing Zawinul’s post-Weather Report evolution and the impact that producing Salif Keita’s 1991 album Amen has had on his music. “It was a revelation to Zawinul,” writes Nicholson, “especially when he learned that all the musicians from Keita’s band and Youssou n’ Dour’s band were all Weather Report fans, with albums such as Black Market having made a huge impact among African musicians. Amen, Zawinul’s collaboration with Keita, was released in 1991, and triggered a change in Zawinul’s musical direction, although this would only appear gradually as he evolved a new musical aesthetic.”

Faces and Places is blessed with the reuniting of Zawinul and the phenomenal drummer Paco Sery, who has got to be the drummer for Zawinul’s music. Syndicate bassplayer Ettiene M’Bappe is featured on several tracks, as well as Richard Bona, Victor Bailey, vocalist Maria Joao, and many others. I also notice that Faces and Places is getting good promotion here in the states. At Tower Records it has had prime placement for quite some time. I can’t say that about all ESC Records releases, however. It took months before Victor Bailey’s CD That’s Right showed up in any record store I’ve been in. And I’ve only ever seen one copy of it–the one I bought. I’d also like to purchase the new Dennis Chambers CD from ESC, but it is nowhere to be found, either. I guess I’ll have to order it over the Internet.

On the heals of Faces and Places, Sony Legacy finally released the long-awaited and much anticipated Weather Report set of live material. Live & Unreleased contains tracks from six concerts spanning the years 1975 to 1983. Some of the highlights include the only recorded version (that I know of) of Wayne Shorter’s composition, “Cignano;” an ultra funky version of “Cucumber Slumber” with the Alphonso Johnson-Chester Thompson rhythm section; some tunes by the band with Jaco on bass and Alex Acuna on drums, and Jaco’s solo rendition of “Portrait of Tracy.” Interestingly, there is no version of two of Weather Report’s more significant tunes, at least from a commercial standpoint: “Birdland” and “Boogie Woogie Waltz.”

I understand that the choice of material was ultimately limited to the handful of gigs in the Sony-Legacy vaults, thus eliminating the possible use of the many excellent recordings that exist in the archives of several European state radio stations. Nevertheless, Live & Unreleased is a most welcome addition to the Weather Report catalog. Listening to these tracks today only reaffirms what a great band Weather Report was in concert. To me these tracks hold up quite well 20-25 years after the fact. Let’s hope Sony-Legacy can license material outside of their own holdings and produce Live & Unreleased Volume 2. By the way, with repeat to the “unreleased” part of the Live & Unreleased, I understand there are a couple of completed studio cuts in the vaults, but they were rejected for inclusion in this set.

And of course, 2002 also saw the re-release of the Weather Report albums, Mysterious Traveller, Tale Spinnin’ and Black Market, as well as Zawinul’s 1986 synthesizer tour de force, Dialects. Sony Legacy treated these release right, with all-new liner notes and quality packaging. All in all, it has been a year of plenty for Zawinul fans.

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.