Zawinul fan Rolf Langhans sent this report of the Syndicate’s May 2 performance.

The Zawinul Syndicate was in Berlin at the Club Quasimodo. It’s really a nice club, seating maybe 200 to 250 people. The band and the music was incredible—so much energy. (It was pretty loud, too.) At 70 years old, Zawinul’s playing is so fresh, I can’t believe it. Manolo Badrena still looks like his Weather Report photos of 27 years ago. Paco Sery was great , although he messed up the fast swing tune "Two Lines." It was too fast for him. [I find that hard to believe! —Curt] But everyone in the band took it with a smile. The guitar player was a little boring—blues-pentatonic licks and scale runs.

The new bass man, Etienne M’Bappe, is a killer. He has a more percussive sound than Victor Bailey, and he also has a penchant for slapping. It was my fifth Syndicate concert (I am too young to have seen Weather Report), and the musicians usually look at Zawinul like children all the time. Etienne M’Bappe was the first I saw who didn’t seem to be so intimidated by Zawinul, often played with his back to Zawinul.

Being in Germany, Zawinul spoke in his mother tongue. I like his Vienna dialect. And he really has a sense of humor. One tune featured an African marimba player whose name I don’t know, but he played his ass off! So all in all, it was a really great concert. They played new songs and some old ones, but no Weather Report tunes. Although Berlin is a huge city with a lot of music, concerts of this caliber and quality are pretty rare!

The Zawinul Syndicate European tour began with a concert in Amsterdam, Holland last night. Tony Wawryk sent me this report.

Last night’s show at Melkweg, which seats about 800-1000 people, was sold out and steaming! Hard to believe Joe Zawinul is 70 this year! Still, if he keeps surrounding himself with musicians like the current line up, they’ll keep him going another decade at least. First time I’d been exposed to Amit Chatterjee and Etienne M’Bappe live—what players! I have had the great good fortune to see Weather Report a number of times, particularly at their peak (IMO) in the mid to late 70s, and although JZ has not found , nor is he likely to find, another partner like Wayne to bounce off, these guys will more than do! And Joe certainly makes them earn their keep. I was about 5 meters from the stage and had a marvelous view of the interaction between the players, and the way they kept their eyes on Joe while he led them through the changes was a joy to behold, especially his small gestures of appreciation as one or other of the band hit the spot.

There seemed to be a couple of minor technical hiccups with the keyboards, possibly due to the heat in the venue, possibly due to it being the first date of the tour. Joe also cut his hand/wrist on an edge during the very first number, and required plasters to keep from bleeding on the keyboards. Didn’t stop him, though! A couple of new pieces (names not announced) were played—if they’re on the new album it bodes well—and there were some Weather Report quotes: "Port of Entry" with some fabulous bass from M’Bappe, and Badrena reprised to a degree at least, his duet with Alex Acuna ("Rumba Mama" from Heavy Weather), but this time with Paco Sery, whose birthday was yesterday also. He got a rousing cheer from the crowd, who clearly had a great time, and evidently so did the band.

A reader let us know that the Blue Note in New York informed him that “The Zawinul Syndicate will not be performing here in June. They canceled on us.”

Those of you interested in the latest hijinks of former Zawinul Syndicate sidemen Scott Henderson and Kirk Covington (as well as keyboardist Scott Kinsey, who has a hand in Zawinul’s new album) might want to check out the unofficial Tribal Tech tour diary, maintained by yours truly and chronicling the band’s nearly month-long tour of Europe. There are actually members of the audience shouting out suggestions from the diary, so apparently someone is reading it!

Unofficial Tribal Tech Tour Diary

Work on the new Zawinul album, Faces and Places, is just about complete. I am told that it is scheduled to be mastered in April and will be released this fall. According to the ESC Records web site, guest musicians include Paco Sery, Maria Joao, Etienne M’Bappe, Sabine Kabongo, Victor Bailey, Richard Bona, Richard Page and Alex Acuna.

The Zawinul Syndicate, with the incomparable Paco Sery back in the drum chair, will tour Europe this spring and summer, as well as this fall, in what is being billed as the “70th Birthday Tour.” (Zawinul will celebrate his 70th birthday on July 7.) Plans are pretty solid for May, as I have reported on the Tour Dates page. The Syndicate starts off with 12 straight one-nighters in Holland, Germany, France and Switzerland, followed by an encore performance at the St. Louis Jazz Festival in Senegal, Africa, where the Syndicate performed in 1997. Then it’s back to Europe for more gigs in France and Norway. The Syndicate will return to the US at the end of May and will hold forth at the Blue Note in New York, June 11-16. I’ll post more tour dates as I get them.

I understand that a big birthday celebration will be held in Vienna this summer, and in November there will be another big gala in Germany featuring the Zawinul Syndicate and a repeat of the IAJE/EJFO tribute to Zawinul with the WDR German Radio Big Band, plus lots of special guests sitting in.

Meanwhile, Victor Bailey is taking his own band to Europe this summer, with Jim Beard, Bennie Maupin, David Gilmore and Poogie Bell.

Finally, I saw the Pat Metheny Group in concert a couple of weeks ago. As reported here earlier, former Syndicate bassplayer Richard Bona joined the group some months back, recording their new album Speaking Of Now. With Pat Metheny, Bona is singing and playing a variety of instruments including percussion and guitar. Metheny already has Steve Rodby on acoustic and electric bass, so Bona has only a couple of chances to play the electric bass. One of the tunes on the set list is a trio number with Metheny, drummer Antonio Sanchez (who is very impressive!) and Bona on electric bass. Bona also has a solo spot near the end of the show in which he scats and plays electric bass in unison. All in all, I think the exposure that Bona is getting with the Pat Metheny Group will be very helpful in boosting his career. Most of the folks in the audience have no idea who he is, but are blown away when they hear him sing and play.

Journalist Anil Prasad reports that Sony is releasing three remastered Weather Report albums on June 4: Mysterious Traveller, Tale Spinnin’ and Black Market. We’ll know it’s official when they show up on the Sony Legacy Recordings New Releases web page. Prasad also reports that Sony plans a “Best of Weather Report” album, and that negotiations are underway regarding the long-awaited boxed set of unreleased studio and live recordings. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

As reported earlier, Zawinul was the recipient of the European Jazz Festivals Organization (EJFO) inaugural International Jazz Award during the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference this past December in Long Beach, California. Aside from receiving the award and a $20,000 honorarium, Zawinul was honored by a special concert by the WDR German Radio Big Band, performing Zawinul compositions arranged and conducted by Vince Mendoza. Performing with the band were Weather Report and Zawinul alumni Peter Erskine, Victor Bailey and Alex Acuna. Manning the keyboards was Tribal Tech keyboardist Scott Kinsey. Zawinul himself was busy working on his own album, and did not participate in the rehearsals. The set list consisted of “Fast City,” “Dreamclock,” “Carnavalito,” “Rua Paula Freitas,” “In a Silent Way,” and “Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz.”

I’m told that Zawinul and the WDR Big Band will do it again in November in Germany.

The performers take a bow. Left to right: Alex Acuna, Scott Kinsey, Victor Bailey, Peter Erskine, Joe Zawinul, Vince Mendoza. Photo: Cheryl Graul.

Just in time to celebrate the 30th anniversary year of Weather Report’s first album, we bring you Weather Report: The Annotated Discography. The intent is to describe each Weather Report album, and track if possible, in the words of the musicians themselves. The next phase will be to include information about unofficial recordings.

Rumor has it that the WDR German Radio Big Band will be joined by Weather Report alumni Peter Erskine, Victor Bailey and Alex Acuna. And on keyboards? Scott Kinsey—an excellent choice in my humble opinion!

The International Association for Jazz Education will hold its 29th annual conference January 9-12, 2002, in Long Beach, California. Among the highlights will be the presentation of the first EJFO International Award to Joe Zawinul. According to the IAJE web site, “The European Jazz Festivals Organization and the IAJE have partnered to create a new award to recognize international artists who have contributed significantly to the evolution of jazz. The inaugural award, which includes a $20,000 honorarium, will be presented to Austrian keyboardist, bandleader, and composer Joe Zawinul. A special tribute concert honoring Joe will be presented on Saturday, January 12, by the WDR German Radio Big Band under the direction of multiple Grammy winner Vince Mendoza. The concert will also feature guest artists who have played with Joe during his extensive career.”