ESC Records sends word that Zawinul’s new album, Faces And Places, will be released on September 2 in “G/A/S” (is that Germany, Austria and…?), and September 16 in the rest of Europe. No word on the United States release. Meanwhile, ESC has added a lot of new information about the album on their web site, including audio clips, musician and track listings, and liner notes by Bill Milkowski.

An early birthday party—Zawinul turns 70 on July 7—was held on June 30 at Jazzfest Wien in Joe’s hometown of Vienna, Austria. Pictures and video clips can be found at the Jazzfest Wien web site. (The direct link to the pictures and video clips is here.) According to my friend Thomas Kober, who said a television broadcast of the concert, the women on stage with the Syndicate are Sabine Kabongo and Mavana (Lucile, Eliane, Annie Andriamanana and Monique Raoiliarimalala).

Meanwhile, Zawinul’s record label, ESC Records, promises that this month’s news on their web site will be dedicated to Zawinul. So far two updates in four days, so check it out.

The Lugano Estival Jazz festival will be broadcasting performances live on the web, including the Zawinul Syndicate performance on July 6. For more information, visit the festival web site.

On the heals of their recent Weather Report reissues, Sony is due to release Zawinul’s 1986 solo album, Dialects, on July 16. I have always liked this album, and it is an absolute tour de force in its use of synthesizers and drum machines. The reissue will also feature liner notes penned by Zawinul himself. So far as I know, until this release Dialects has only been available on CD as an import from Japan.

Sony also released a SACD version of Mysterious Traveller on June 18.

I have it on good authority that the Weather Report boxed set project is in the works. I am told that it will include live recordings that span the history of the band. I don’t know how many discs will be included, nor the release date, but it looks like things are getting serious.

In the meantime, the Sony reissues of Mysterious Traveller, Tale Spinnin’, and Black Market are in the stores. I noticed that Tower Records has them on sale for the bargain price of $7.99. The packaging is better than the previous US versions. Each disc includes fine new liner notes written by Hal Miller. As for sound, they sound good to me, though I haven’t compared them to the previous US versions, nor do I have the Japanese MasterSound versions, which have long been acknowledged as sonically superior to their American counterparts.

Zawinul Online visitor John Miller reports from the UK that Zawinul is booked for a six-day engagement at the legendary London jazz club Ronnie Scott’s, Oct. 14-19. The booking is billed as the Joe Zawinul Quartet, but I assume they mean the Zawinul Syndicate. Zawinul is also booked at the London Hammersmith Apollo (formerly the Hammersmith Odeon) on Sunday, July 28 as part of the North Sea Jazz Festival tour.

David Fishel, host of the Jazz Scene web site, has produced a new interview with Joe Zawinul, recorded this past month while the Zawinul Syndicate was in Norway. It is an hour-long audio interview that requires RealPlayer, and consists of an interview with Joe, interspersed with musical clips from his career.

Jazz Scene Joe Zawinul Interview

Joe Zawinul will perform a special concert in New York City on May 31 with internationally acclaimed guitarist and composer Wolfgang Muthspiel. The concert is part of the Mostly Jazz festival being presented by the Austrian Culture Forum in New York. The concert is free, but due to limited seating, a ticket must be obtained on the day of the show, on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, visit the Mostly Jazz web site.

On June 4 Sony Legacy Recordings will release reissues of three Weather Report recordings, as well as a Weather Report "best of" CD. The three reissues are Mysterious Traveller, Tale Spinnin’, and Black Market. For those wondering, it does not appear that there will be any bonus tracks.

Journalist Bill Milkowski interviewed Zawinul about the albums, and Zawinul’s track-by-track descriptions are on the JazzTimes web site. Milkowski says that Wayne Shorter will comment on Weather Report and the reissues in the June issue of JazzTimes magazine.

I should have posted this sooner, but Zawinul was on the cover of the May issue of Down Beat magazine. The article, by Zan Stewart, was based on an interview Stewart conducted in front of a live audience at the 29th Annual International Association for Jazz Education Conference held in January. For well-read Zawinul and Weather Report fans, there is nothing new in the article, and there were no details offered about Zawinul’s upcoming album, Faces and Places.