Saxophonist Rich Lamanna has sent word of his new album, Introspective, which he describes as “a Jaco Pastorius and Weather Report inspired bop-fusion jazz project with a distinct afro-latin flavor.” The album features former Weather Report drummer/percussionist Alex Acuna, and Jaco Pastorius band members Kenwood Dennard and Othello Molineaux. A CD release party/concert will be held Friday, April 21 at the Van Dyke Restaurant in New York. For more information, check out Rich’s web site

Sanctuary Publishing has announced the upcoming publication of In A Silent Way, the authorized biography of Joe Zawinul by Brian Glasser. We’ll update this page when the book is in print.

Former Zawinul Syndicate bass player Richard Bona, whose formidable chops can be heard on the World Tour CD, has a number of concert dates scheduled this spring in North America. A review of Bona’s recent gig at Ronnie Scott’s in London can be found here. And as previously reported, current Syndicate bass player Victor Bailey will tour Europe this spring with his own band.

IMN Richard Bona Concert Listings
PollStar Richard Bona Concert Listings

As visitors to the Zawinul Online Tour Dates page know, the Zawinul Syndicate played two concerts in Hong Kong last month as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The occasion marked Zawinul’s first performances on Chinese soil. In an article in the South China Morning Post, Zawinul talked about the current band, giving us an inkling as to what we might expect this year.

“I have a band right now in session,” Zawinul said in December. “We have a new drummer, and I am writing for the musicians in the band. Before you really know what the future’s going to be in music, you have to know the people you are playing with and the music they are capable of playing. I must also know their personality. I cannot write music for a guy who is not going to be able to play that music. But yes, some [of the music on the program] will be very new and some of the older things. But some of the older things you won’t even recognize because I’m only using it as a canvas.”

According to a review of the February 20 concert, the Syndicate line-up consisted of Zawinul, Victor Bailey on bass, Manolo Badrena on percussion, Karim Ziad on drums, and Amit Chaterjee on guitar. Since then a report on the Zawinul Fans mailing list indicates that this summer’s European tour will include drummer Nathaniel Townsley instead of Ziad.

To my knowledge, the itinerary for the European tour has not been published. In addition to the Syndicate tour in June and July, EMMECI, one of Zawinul’s European booking agents, is also booking August dates for a Joe Zawinul “Special Project,” including Maria Joao on vocals, Lelo Nika on accordian, and a percussionist to be announced.

The Joe Zawinul Unofficial Italian Fan Site has brought to my attention a new album by Dutch keyboard player Michiel Borstlap. According to Borstlap’s web site, the album, called Body Acoustic, “contains acoustic interpretations of Weather Report and features creme de la creme of the dutch jazzscene, like Jesse van Ruller, Eric Vloeimans, Hans Eijkenaar, Tom Beek, Anton Drukker, Jeroen de Rijk, Ernst Glerum, and Han Bennink. It also has multimedia; a videoclip you can watch it in your computer (software is included on the CD).” The album has been released in Europe, and is scheduled for May release in the United States.

Michiel Borstlap Official Web Site
Joe Zawinul Unofficial Italian Fan Site Michiel Borstlap Article

Zawinul Syndicate and former Weather Report bass player Victor Bailey is the subject of a lengthy interview by Bill Milkowski in the January/February issue of BASSICS magazine.

The new Memoribilia section is now opened, featuring a complete 1978 Weather Report tour program, Weather Report and Zawinul Syndicate clothing, and other momentos. If you have any items in your collection that you would like to include, let me know. I also added new photos from the upcoming Az-Iz Zawinul Syndicate documentary.

The world-renowned New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival released its 2000 schedule today, confirming that the Zawinul Syndicate will perform on April 29 as part of the festival’s opening weekend. According to reports from Zawinul’s European booking agent, Victor Bailey will not be available for this performance (or the Denton Jazz Festival performance the previous day) because he will be winding up his own European tour. Bailey will rejoin the Syndicate for its May concerts in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Rumor has it the subsitute bass player will be Richard Bona, but this is unconfirmed.

Tower Records is taking orders for the upcoming tribute album, Celebrating the Music of Weather Report. Additional information, including a list of tracks and personnel, can be found at Tower’s Web Site.

Az-Iz Films has completed post-production work on the documentary Two Years with the Zawinul Syndicate, and the company anticipates a March release. Needless to say, this will be a must-have for Joe Zawinul fans. Az-Iz has graciously allowed me to display some photographic stills from the film.