Joe Zawinul Memorial Page
Legendary musician Joe Zawinul passed away on September 11, 2007. He was 75 years old. He was an absolutely unique figure in the jazz world who led an incredible life. Though he left us in body, he remains with us in spirit. He touched the lives of countless individuals around the world, and his recorded legacy of music will enrich us forever.
On the day of Joe’s death, fans began posting messages on this web site; thoughtful and poignant messages of grief and celebration of Joe’s life and work. I have established a new Memorial page as a permanent place in which to display those messages; a place to honor Joe’s memory.
I hope you will continue to add to the memorial as time goes on.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
just heard about joes death at jazzcorner.com’s speakeasy. i am severely saddened very near tears. thank you joe for the many years of great joy i got from your music.
gonzo(fan)
September 11th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I grew up with Ivan and so I had the rare opportunity to personally know the Zawinual family. I am truly saddend by the the losses of both Maxine and Joe. I will always cherish the moments that I spent at the Zawinul home. They were very kind and private people. They now belong to the ages.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
just to thank you for keeping the zawinulonline website, i’m very sad with Zawinul’s death, he was one of my inspirers when i was studying music, and the one who made me change from Clarinet to keyboards, also, hearing his melody/harmony concepts (and his use of synthesizers) made me hear/play music in other way…thank you Joe !
Artur
Portugal
September 11th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Still in shock - heard it this morning. Hope that everyone who was ever inspired by him, will return again and again to his sounds. Saw him in London and Rotterdam this year and was planning to see him again here in London. At the last concerts I saw, I was amazed at his ability to keep covering new ground, playing new things. Burning with strength. Hope that it inspires us - who stay here on earth-time - to do the things we love to do and to not waste any time. Peace.
RIP mr Zawinul
September 11th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
My name is Mike Cravens (Jamie Swanson is an old school friend of mine).
Thanks for maintaining a site for jazz geeks to grieve.
Joe had a tremendous impact on me as a musician. He indirectly influenced, inspired, and shaped, my approach and attitude. My analogy of Joe is he is The Only keyboardist that you could actually feel and hear his breath in his phrasing/solo work whether it was a passing-transitional phrase or a solo piece, I could always hear/feel the breathing pattern and heartbeat through his finger tips. He was cool without trying to be.
My heart aches for the loss, but thatâs my selfishness,
Enjoy your journey Joe, we loved you madly.
Mike Cravens
San Dimas, Ca
September 11th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I just would like to share my sadness about the death of Joe Zawinul. He was one of the few who made music for the peoples of the world and his was a powerful message….
Thanks
Marco Boschele
September 11th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Very sad news indeed! I want to express my condolences to the Zawinul family! And to all people around the world who loved his music and personality. I can’t say this came to me totally unexpected. I had the chance to visit probably one of his last performances in Vezsprem , Hungary on August 1st. It was 10 years after I saw him live for last time and I was very excited about the band. When Joe went on stage he didn’t look well and that made me really sad and worried. But the music was so great and the band was hot. I could see Sabine Kabongo backstage crying and very emotional. That made me even more sad. Wayne Shorter was there too for one last take of “In A Silent Way”. Since then I have been checking regularly the web about his condition. And now my worst expectations came true. It is really sad!
Joe Zawinul is one of my favourite musicians and I am so glad that I had the chance to see him live. I never saw Miles live. When he passed away I was too young to understand this kind of music but later when his music and his world was revealed to me I felt him so close as if I knew and saw him. And although I am not his contemporary for me he is still alive with what he left. Now when Joe is gone I feel the same way about him. He lives on!!!
September 11th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Curt
Thank you for maintaining such a wonderful website.
In the last few years I have seen the Zawinul Syndicate many times across europe and especially in Vienna mostly based on information in your website. During this time I have got to know Joe and the band quite well and hearing them night after night has been a life changing experience.
Music has always been my passion and I have admired Joe as a composer and musician since hearing “Scarlet Woman” distantly across an architecture studio more than 35 years ago. He has provided the soundtrack to my life ever since.
Recently I decided to move to Germany partly because I wanted to have more time for music and composing (which has always been pushed aside by my architecture career) The inspiration for this has come from Joe, his genius, his creative and questing spirit, his humanity and good humour, and above all his wonderful music.
Today’s news is just so sad and cruel to happen in his 75th year. I saw him in March this year in Jazz Cafe, London and then again at Birdland, Wien when they played wondefully as always. I was so happy to see Paco back in the band with his astonishing groove hooking up with Linley’s raw talent. The band was so fresh, exploratory, and life affirming.
The additional shocking news (in your article) that Maxine died in July as well seems doubly cruel.
Like you I have been listening to much of Joe’s music recently (especially “Brown Street”….I was there in Birdland that week thanks to your information). Last night I was listening to various YouTube videos until the early hours not knowing what was to come.
Victory Bailey described Joe (in Birdland) as “my father in music”
I guess that is how I feel too.
RIP Joe.
Curt…..thanks once again for providing the information which has fueled this musical journey.
Keith Tomlinson
Germany
September 11th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
just heard the news, and through my tears i remember
seeing him every tour he conducted here in uk. i still
have the very badly recorded tapes from hammersmith
and i had the opportunity of being a stage-hand a few
times when he used my yamaha grand piano, back in the
early days! joe will never die for because his
inspiration lives on. i saw last at the jazz cafe this
march. long live joe!
jim hawkins
September 11th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Dear Curt Bianchi
I just want to thank you for your work with the incredible website Zawinul Online. It’s been a fantastic source of knowledge and news, as well as inspiration. Just as for you, the music of Joe Zawinul and Weather Report has been a part also of me since I was a teenager, more precisely since 1974. So just as you, I feel very sorry today. However, I also feel very happy for the memories from the last 2 years when I’ve seen him four times, twice in Copenhagen (the last one two months ago in July) and twice in Malmö (two days in a row in 2006). It’s of course very difficult to choose a piece in order to commemorate him, but after I had got the news I played Cannonball. That felt as a good choice. Hope you could subcribe to that.
Again, thank you immensely for the wonderful work with the website and I hope you’ll continute to keep it alive!
Very best regards
/
Mikael from Malmö, Sweden, a reseacher in sociology who has tried to translate (learnt from, got inspired by) the music of Joe Zawinul and Weather report (also as examples of multiculture and integration) into research and in a way succeeded half a year ago when in a lecture I illustrated some ideas by Domino Theory, ended the lecture by playing Black Market (the wonderful version at Brown Street) and got the whole audience (50 persons) to dance to it and my own photos of Malmö, the most multicultural city in Sweden with 165 nationalities, whose potential I tried to highlight by showing the photos, playing Black Market and getting the audience to dance - a marvelleous expericence!
September 11th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Tonight I shed tears for a man whom I met only once, and saw perform only twice - that, I suppose, is some measure of the mark Joe and his music have made on me.
I’m often asked by friends what is the greatest concert I’ve ever been to - I always tell them it’s too difficult to decide but I always mention that Weather Report at the Birminghma Odeon in 1980 would be in the top 2 or 3. Even after 27 years the details of that performance are so clear and vivid - the opening with Night Passage, Jaco’s incredible solo, the finale of Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz - incredible musicianship! Over the previous 3 years of listening to LPs I’d already come to realise that Weather Report were great - but nothing prepared me for this!!!
The performance I saw at the Jazz Cafe earlier this year was in the same category - only this time and had the best view in the house - right next to Joe’s keyboard stack! And it was here that I learned to really appareciate the increbible talent of the man, as he conducted his band and the all the while playing the most wonderful piano. The signed copy of ‘Bown Street’ I obtained after the show is amongst my most treasured musical momentos.
Of course, our loss as fans is nothing compared to the loss of the Zawinul family - if you could pass on my sincere condolances to the them I would be very grateful. They can can take great comfort that Joe made so many people so very happy - that is a great leagacy for anyone to leave.
Finally, I’d like to thank you Curt for maintining your web-sites on Joe and Weather Report - through these pages we’ve become friends of a sort. If Joe and his music stood for anything I believe that it was the world would be a better place if more people could communicate feely with each other - you’ve helped to do that via your work and thats a great leagacy too.
Very Best Wishes,
Nick Bloomfield
Fan of Joe Zawinul and Weather Report
Milton Keynes
Buck
England
September 11th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Very sad. He was simply the best. One simple chord of this man worths more than an entire oeuvre of many keybordists. Thank you very much Mr. zawinul. Your music gave happines to my life.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I’m just a fan of Weather Report for many years, and am saddened by the passing of Joe Zawinul. For some reason, we’re losing many of this generation of jazz too quickly and it all happens to be in this year (Alice Coltrane, Michael Brecker, Max Roach, along with Joe). I just pray that the ones now studying jazz will hear just a fraction of what we heard growing up with these folks.
Joe - RIP.
Thanks,
Steve Mowery
Puxico, Missouri, USA
September 11th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
I heard the sad news early this morning (Tuesday) on BBC radio here in England. I really can’t believe it, his inspirational music has been a part of my life for so long that I felt he was going to be around forever.
Joe Zawinul’s musical concept has had a massive influence on me and many other musicians I know. I’m a pro musician, I play electric bass and I can honestly say that the music of Joe Zawinul - his compositions and playing - has been the single most important influence in my development as a musician.
Joe Zawinul was a genius - and that is the truth. He’s known as a jazz musican but the music that he created went way beyond catagory - it had everything. Truly wonderful, emotionally uplifting music that is of the highest order in every way.With Weather Report he just blew everything else away, no other group could touch them and then he continued to do the same with the Zawinul Syndicate.
I’ll always love his musical concept and it’s as much an inpiration to me now as it ever was.
best regards,
Colin McKenzie
September 11th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
After Bergman, Antognoni and Pavarotti, another great artist leaves us. I was at a concert of Zawinul Syndicate in Napoli, Italy, on 21st July 2002, and still now I remember that concert as one of the best I’ve ever listened to and lived.
Have a good journey, Joe.
Ghirigori Baumann
September 11th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I know I am one of thousands when I say how much I will miss Joe, a man I sadly never got to meet but a man who helped set me on a musical path, a man who kept raising the bar for all of us to aim for and the man who left us all with the most incredible music and musical spirit the man who brought the very best out of all the musicians who he worked with. What he did for music and musicians will be talked about for years to come by serious musicians and artist alike.
Thank-you for this great website, your hard work and your kind words about ……………….. ONE OF THE GREAT ONES !
Miles
September 11th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
I think the music speaks for itself. Zawinul is a main influence for millions of people(musicians or not) all over the world. His music is in the hearts and minds of all of us,forever. Thank you,Joe.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Curt,
we’ve never met, but I did post a review of one of Joe’s performances at the Catalina…
We can consider ourselves blessed, not just for hearing him live or having the chance to speak with him, but first for finding a genre and an artist that spoke so specially to us. Most people, even most professed fans, never find that special connection that elevates music to such a personal art.
Anyway, thanks for your efforts on line. Keep us appraised of any services or even the evolution of Joe’s legacy. His music, more important, his influence will live forever.
Regards,
Pete
September 11th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Just a quick note among many recalling 30 years ago, discovering in “Heavy Weather” the great magic that is the Zawinul sound and harmony … and story … the rich colorful music filled my countless musical hours with great joy. What a treasure Josef Zawinul gave, and gives. I am so sad he is no longer with us, but for in my musical mind, forever.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Dear Zawinul fans - wherever / whoever you are
I went on google after I heard the news to tty and connect with someone whose life was profoundly impacted by the work of Joe Zawinul. I found you.
My wife doesn’t know any of his work, and neither do my kids. I have a couple of friends that I gew up playing music with that we fans of Weather Report.
Joe Zawinul was the man that humaized fusion. He made it sexy, he made it heartbreaking, He made it breath and didn’t command you to listen - he let us in on the journey.
I saw Weather Report in Boston during the Black Market / Heavy Weather era. I cried during that concert as it was so utterly moving in conveying such complex subject matter in a such an easy to understand way. Joyus, sad, profound, and thought provoking are about the only words I can use without minimizing how beatiful his composing, improvisation, sound sculpting truely were.
The world is a better place because of the contribution of this master music maker.
Thanks for giving me a place to express these feelings on this day of reflection. His voice, vision and influence will live forever!
Best
Chris Johnson
ivylanemusic.com
September 11th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
This has been a devastating day for millions, with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and, for many of us, the news of Joe’s death. As a keyboard player who accidentally stumbled onto “Pharoah’s Dance” at a friend’s house in 1970, and has been a fanatic ever since, my heart is beyond broken. I had the joy of seeing the original weather report (with Miroslav) in 1971 and the first Syndicate with Scott Henderson et al and fully expected to see Joe many more times. He just seemed to be beyond death.
But to you, thanks for maintaining the most comprehensive, information-packed website about Josef Zawinul anywhere in the world. Believe me, I DEEPLY share your grief. I hope you won’t abandon the zawinulonline site–it’s been a source of endless news and info to me.
Thanks again, and may we all be thankful.
RICH—————-
September 11th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
This is one of the saddest days in my life.I know a lot a people are feeling the same way,cause Zawinul and his music has been part of the life of many people around the world.
All I know is that Joe will live forever,his music and the way he lived will never cease to be a source of inspiration for musicians and non musicians.
I´m a keyboard player,and you can imagine how much he´s influenced me over the years.But most of all, it makes me want to be a better human being.
I´m going to Vienna by the end of this month, and yesterday I bought the tickets to his show with the Absolute Orchestra, so I was shocked this morning when I read on Scott Kinsey´s MySpace page (Scott was my teacher when I lived in LA) that Joe passed way.
I wanna thank you very much for your hard work over this years helping to spread the word of one of the greatest artists that walked Earth.
May his art live forever.
All the best from Brazil,
Ricardo Fiuza
September 11th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Quite simply, Joe was the greatest musical influence of my life, maybe almost too much influence because at one time I knew every Weather Report tune practically note for note and spent a lot of time learning how to craft the soulful kind of ’sizer sounds that he was, and may always be, the best at doing.
This morning when I woke up a little before 5am Pacific Standard Time (near Seattle), for some reason Joe popped into my head. I had been watching a bunch of YouTube videos of him and his colleagues, like Richard Bona and Bobby McFerrin, and I just had this strangest feeling: “I wonder if he’s okay” is what went through my mind. I guess I’ve had a connection with him that was deeper than even I thought I had.
The other thing that struck me was that, recently, I started thinking about trying to assemble a group of capable players to do a Weather Report/Joe&Wayne tribute. If any of you know anything about Seattle, it’s not the best city in the USA for non-mainstream or non-Dixieland jazz, for whatever reason I don’t know (and it sometimes seems almost hostile to progressive keyboardists). Joe came here last about 8-10 years ago.
So I figured, well, the only way people are going to hear that kind of music around here is if some of the locals play it. Well, now that’s true in a different way, a way I had hoped was still a long way off. I guess I always hoped he’d come back at least one more time.
Thanks, Joe. You are the best of the best–a musician’s musician–and I will try to help to keep your legacy alive.
Marcus Duke
September 11th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Wow! Very sad to hear he is gone. How incredibly ironic that earlier today I was playing keyboard at the Trenton War Memorial with a jazz trio and the last tune I called was Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. On 9-11 no less. Joe must have been listening and smiling.
RIP Joe. What an incredible gift.
Jeff Knoettner
aka jeffjazz
Some on this post today said that one of the best concerts he saw him play was at the Trenton War Memorial. Wow!
September 11th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
thank you for this pages
many years i listen zawinul´s music
many years i love the jaco pastorius bass guitar sound
and many times i hade found informations on your pages
with many thanks
prax55
September 11th, 2007 at 11:36 pm
Just a few days ago I played his tune „Mercy, Mercy, Mercy“ on my birthday with my Soprano Sax & a friend on guitar and now I read this message of his passing. Very sad news…
I experienced his music when I was a teenager. That was around the “Night Passage” Tour and from day on I began to love his playing and experimenting with sounds & rhythms. I saw him the last time playing Live in the Quasimodo Club in Berlin. That was around spring time. What a wonderful concert it was. And still his music keeps me fascinating & inspiring.
Regards
Benjamin
September 12th, 2007 at 12:24 am
One of the greatest musicians have gone. Seen him recently (again) at the North Sea Jazz festival, playing like mad. At the end, something he never did before: thanking the public for all those great years, as if he knew it was his latest concert.
Rest in peace Joe, your world music will live for ever. Thank you for giving me a great time being at your concerts.
Ronald,
Rotterdam - The Netherlands.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Seldom a day was that sad to me, not even on the death of my grand parents (my parents and parents in law are still alive). I was lucky to attend three Syndicate concerts the last years and they all were really great ones. But it’s not only his music, but Joe was a great man - I could always feel his warmth and power, so I’m hoping (though I’m not very religious) to meet Joe again when my time will have come.
Thanks a lot for this homepage which I hope will stay alive. I’ll be able to meet the hearts and spirit of Joe and all my fellow listeners through the words.
Thanks again
Michael (Germany)
September 12th, 2007 at 12:32 am
Zawinul was without a doubt one of the most musical staggering talents of the last 50 years. Not only as one of the pioneering fusion artists but also as a brilliant keyboardist/composer. In a silent way, mercy, mercy, me…are standards today.
I had the good fortune of seeing the Zawinul Syndicate perform in Mumbai India in 1997 - they played a killer set as expected.
He will live forever.
September 12th, 2007 at 1:15 am
I give thanks for God that I saw and heard him Aug 1 in Veszprém, Hungary. When they played a piece together with Wayne Shorter there was a standing ovation. It was the most marvellous and enthusiastic concert that I’ve ever heard and seen.
Thanks a lot for Joe for this and I’m sure he will live forever in our hearts and souls through his music.
God bless him and his family.
Attila,
Budapest - Hungary
September 12th, 2007 at 1:31 am
I was 14 when I heard for the first time “Birdland”. That was for me, a musical revolution. I’ll begin to love the music of Weather Report, and Zawinul Syndicate. I saw him 4 times, and that was wonderful. The last time I saw him, it was in the theater of my father on april 3th , and we spent a long evening together before the show (with his syndicate too.) my dream has been realized!… And during the soundcheck, Paco Séry told me to take his drum sticks (he knew that i’m a drummer, i know him a little bit..) and I was so… impressed by Joe, i didn’t take the drum sticks. Today, I’m very sad. I lost my hero. I’m sad. There is no word to explain my sadness. But his music is still alive! and I hope for a long long long time!! My last dream was the concert in La Villette, on September 6th. He had to play with Zawinul Syndicate, and Wayne Shorter would came on stage to play with them. And that was my biggest dream to see them playing together… but Joe’s illness has forced to cancel this beautiful evening. Now, i hope Joe’s is OK. All my thought are for him and his family.
Bye, Joe!
September 12th, 2007 at 1:46 am
Zawinul and Shorter played together for the last time.Thanks
September 12th, 2007 at 2:21 am
Tears today for my all time hero, Joe. It must be tough for his family to lose a mind of genius to a mere mortal body. He seemed so strong and alive when we met him after his finest performance (to me) at the Jazz Cafe in London, this March. I said Ellington would have been proud of the way he conducted his band that night, and he told me Ellington was his hero, and I told him, “you are mine”. There have been many greats in music, but there will never be another like Joe.
September 12th, 2007 at 2:35 am
The death of the superb musician, great artist and larger than life man deeply saddened me. I will always cherish the memory of meeting him backstage at the Skopje Jazz Festival and shaking his hand as a gratitude to everything he had done for the jazz music in the world and, particularly for that show, the impromptu on a ‘Doncho stipjancheto’ Macedonian folklore theme. A giant of the world music meets the Eternity where his music lives.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Curt,
Thanks for putting so much love into this site- it’s a great resource. I first saw Joe with Weather Report at the Beacon Theater NYC in 1978, and it changed my life. Not only did it make me want to become a bass player (which I did), it also made me aware of the impact that synthesizers and group improvisation could have in the right hands. I feel lucky to have seen WR during their heyday with Jaco on two occasions, and Zawinul was a big influence on me as a synthesist as well. What a brilliant man- Player, composer and synthesist, and absolutely stunning at all three.
I play with the trumpeter Jon Hassell, who was also deeply saddened by yesterday’s news. When we were in Sweden awhile back, I saw Wayne’s group play at the same festival we were at, and it was interesting. Although it was wonderful to see and hear him for the first time since the WR days, it was just so conservative and normal compared to what WR was in the late 70s. It made me realize acutely (again) how Joe and Wayne’s complimentary talents had created the chemical reaction that was the Weather Report juggernaut, and also what an incredible visionary musical force Joe was. What a sad day for music.
Peter Freeman
Los Angeles
September 12th, 2007 at 4:04 am
Ich bin sehr traurig und verneige mich vor Herr Zawinul, der uns so bereichert hat!
Gute Reise!
September 12th, 2007 at 4:38 am
As I drove in to work this morning, I had Mysterious Traveller, perhaps one of WR’s less recognized and appreciated albums and I was blasting my favourite tracks (Scarlet Woman, Cucumber Slumber). I then retrieved my voicemail only to be told by a good friend of Joe’s passing. Chills went up and down my spine as I heard his announcement.
Joe Zawinul is without a doubt, the best keyboard player of his generation and perhaps the best ever. No matter the piano, acoustic or electric, organ or synth, he is a master of them all. He music and influence will live on forever. Interesting how some of his songs received Grammys but not him. I had the pleasure of watching him and his syndicate perform at the Montreal Jazz Festival a few years ago. He was presented with the ‘Miles Davis’ award for lifetime achievement.
My condolences to his sons and all of his family. Somehow, I have this picture in my mind of Zawi and Jaco playing up in the skies….Too cool.
September 12th, 2007 at 6:29 am
I have been looking at your website for Joe this morning, I keep having to find articles online about Joe since I found out about his passing yesterday morning. I still can’t really believe it, I always thought he’d go on forever. His memory will.
Like you, I have been a big fan of Joe’s work thought my life since I was a teenager listening to whatever Weather Report’s latest album was (Black Market was the first for me).
The highlight of my life was three years ago in Cardiff (Wales) when Joe played at the St. David’s Center. Fortunately for me, I knew the organiser of that event and he asked if I wanted to go back stage to meet the man. Of course I said yes please. When I met Joe backstage, I shook his hand but could not say anything other than ‘Hello’, I was so in awe. But I had met my idol face to face.
I would like to extend my deepest condolences to Joe’s sons, and a very big thank you to Joe.
Regards
Roger
September 12th, 2007 at 6:34 am
I dont know where to start, its a very sad time for
everyone, right now I’m just looking at all the news online.
Crazy thing was I was playing Faces and Places last night
and thought I should check my email….I’m just so glad i had
an opportunity to meet Joe and shake the man’s hand, and like
his music you never forget it (that gruff ol voice he had)
and thank you Curt for all of your efforts right from the
start and look forward to hearing from you in time.
John Roder
New Zealand
ps i was shocked to read that his wife recently passed away
also……i had no idea of this.
September 12th, 2007 at 6:41 am
As an aging fan I can still picture exceptional Weather Report performances from the ‘70’s. Aside from his unquestionable musical skills, JZ had a magnetic persona and stage presence. He also commanded the very obvious respect of his band members throughout the years. Fortunately many of his later Zawinul Syndicate performances could be enjoyed at intimate club venues in London like Ronnie Scotts and the Jazz Café (only a few months ago). He seemed to be forever surrounded by musicians of exceptional calibre – always a visual and musical feast!
Fortunately the image of these performances lives on as, of course, does his music - in a timeless way.
I add my own thanks to those of others who show appreciation for your website.
London Richard
September 12th, 2007 at 6:47 am
I am sorry to hear of Joe’s passing and give my condolences to his family. Joe and Weather Report were one of the greatest fusion jazz pioneers to ever enlighten our lives with true music. We will miss him and know he will be waiting for the rest of us in the higher realms of spirituality…May the Supreme Being bless you Joe Zawinul……….
September 12th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Joe Zawinul gave assemblies of circuit boards a Voice. He never settled for a tone that fell short of real, human, and expressive. For this alone he should be paraded through the streets in a sedan chair carried by todays sample-jockeys and button-pushers…. and then there were his compositional chops , his keyboard technique, and his improvisational intuitions.
Whew!
But it seemed to me that what JZ always strived for, more than any of those laudable qualities above, was to be unique…and he made it! There’ll never be another like Joe.
What a huge loss to the ears of humanity.
Big footprints indeed!
September 12th, 2007 at 7:02 am
On a sad sad day
we have been so lucky
to have known him,
to have heard him
to have seen him
Like Ellington and Porter
He was the best we had
Helping us learn, listen and live
bands like String Cheese and others
keep his music alive
and so will we always
we will not forget him!
To all those who share this day of sadness
Listen to Bimoya
The spirit lives on and on and on
I won’t let him be forgotten!
September 12th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Until always, Joe. Although you have gone away in 11 of September, you did not have a twin tower. You are unique. A malignant tumor has uprooted to you of the Earth, but you have seeded the kindness Earth.
Thanks for your site, Curt.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:26 am
Curt,
Thanks for your efforts. In 1972-73 while working at a record store in Boulder,CO. a fairly new and relatively unknown WR was in town, playing for a week at a club, Tulagi, across the street from the store. Musicians tended to come in a check out the stock and generally hang around the area. Joe seemed most interested in hiking the nearby mountains during the daytime that week. Perhaps ingrained from his Austrian youth?
Aren’t we fortunate, in this time of loss to have such a rich trove of recorded work to remember him by. Check out “The Rise & Fall of the Third Stream” (Vortex, 1968) for a different sound.
Thanks Joe!
September 12th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Fond memories of watching Weather Report at a midnight show at Carnegie Hall/NYC. I walked up the aisle during the show with my brother. We made it to the stage and I said to my Brother, “pretend you have a camera in your hands”. We held non-exsistant cameras in out hands and had our elbows on the stage like a couple of pro news photographers. Joe and Jaco both saw this and laughed and smiled at us. The music was magic..the image of Joe’s smiling face permanently burned into my brain via our invisible camera!
As sad as his passing is, can you JUST IMAGINE the gates of heaven opening up to recieve him? You can bet he’s shredding out his best notes at this very second!
September 12th, 2007 at 8:59 am
He lives on for me in something he once said: “Be happy, but don’t be satisfied”. Which is good a way to live your life as I’ve ever heard. Met him many times and he was just that: happy but not satisfied - which is how he kept pushing ahead and making great music for so long. Thanks Joe.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I’m totallly crushed by this news.
As a music journalist, many people often ask me “Who’s your favorite musician?” I always avoided the question because I thought it was an impossible thing to answer. However, when I consider that I’ve seen Joe perform more than 30 times, that I’ve even quit a day job and lost my American health insurance because I knew my boss wouldn’t let me leave early enough to go to a week long run of his shows in Oakland, CA, that I’ve gone to epic lengths to collect as much music as I possibly can by him in every configuration and collaboration I could find, the fact that I traveled to Vienna to visit his club, the fact that almost every album he put out was listened to endlessly, and the fact that I actually slammed back a shot of Slivovitz at his recommendation and nearly passed out :-), the inescapable conclusion emerged: Joe is without question the musician I admire the most.
That Joe played to the very end really says something about the man. His dedication and commitment to the music in my opinion was unmatched. The vast majority of Joe’s recordings will stand the test of time. I believe many future generations of people will discover his music. I think each of us can also play a role in helping ensure people hear his work.
This is a tremendously sad day, but it’s also one in which we can collectively celebrate the great life and music of a phenomenal, unmatched talent. We’ll never, ever see the likes of Joe again.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am
I read this morning of Zawinul’s passing. He was very special, a tremendous life force, and I’m sure his music will continue to enrich our lives.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:21 am
i am very sad. his image and music have been with me for 30 years (forever). it is the only music on this planet that sounds like it’s not from this planet, and that can actually move me to tears. thank you for a place to mourn.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Each note played by Joe is a source of joy and happiness.
Whenever I am sad or desperate I listen to Joe’s music to improve, it is my remedy for bad mood. But now I heard the bad news and there’s no remedy for my sadness.
Thank you, Joe. You have your place in my mind and heart forever.
Georgi
September 12th, 2007 at 10:57 am
Its so empty right now. Joe was and still is My great Mentor, now in over 30 Years of love & inspiration to My heart. Saw Him for the last time 2006 & I have a ticket here to Hes show in Sweden this Year, November 10. Im so sad that this concert never will be now. Thanks for Your amazing Spirit Joe. Roine.
September 12th, 2007 at 11:33 am
As my friend Peter mentioned above, indeed it is a sad day for music. I woke up in the middle of the night and put the radio on just in time to hear the news on NPR. It was surreal. like so many have posted, I too strangely had an impulse (craving) yesterday to listen to Joe and WR from the short list I keep on my iphone, Orphans and Port of Entry.
It may just be percieved but I often feel as though there is such a shortage of true artists today, people who transcend time, technique and technology and really channel a vein of expression that comes from deep within oneself. Joe was so profound in everything he touched and I can only say helped me focus repeatedly on what is really meaningful, beautiful and liberating. The past two years I have had a renewed hunger for that body of work and I can’t recommend enough the WR live in Montruex DVD which recently was finally released. Pristine and awe inspiring, pure.
Curt, I too would like to thank you for all you have put into this site and helping to document such an amazing life, and keeping Joe’s presence at the fore. I was able to see ZS at Lincoln center earlier this year thanks to finding out about it from your efforts. What can one say? Magic, pure spiritual magic.
Condolences to the surviving family and please if there are any organizations or causes they would wish us to contribute to in Joe’s honor keep us posted. It would be the least we could give back.
Don Peebles
NY
September 12th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
When I found out this morning that Joe Zawinul had past away I just lost my breath, and since then there has been a big empty space in my chest. I was kind of puzzeled with this, as I love his music - it is just a part of me - but I have never met the man in person. But still it feels as I know him deeply, that is why I am so touched by this sad news. To me, the music of Joe Zawinul spoke directly to me, to my heart. He spoke about love, of standing up for your beliefs, he spoke of passion, joy and compassion. And I will miss that voice. Thank you Joe, thank you for everything; your voice is gone but your music will be remembered.
Michael Wolde
Sweden
September 12th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Curt, thanks again for the website, hope you will continue.
Glad that you came over to Birdland last September.
Condolences to the Zawinul family, I´d offer my support if there were anything I could do (except spreading Zawinuls music) and thanks to Eric for letting me sneak into the club during the soundcheck.
What a strange situation it has been for the last few weeks, working only a few kilometers away from that hospital.
I have been to 30+ Zawinul concerts during the last 24 years, most of them great. No need to tell you what was so special. The music, the smile, his eyes. I`ll “never” forget that.
One remark: Despite all his awards and fame I think he may still be the most underrated of the great musicians. And the honouring grave the City of Vienna granted him yesterday will not change that.
So next time I will visit him will be in the vicinity of our former presidents of the republic, somewhere near Beethoven, Brahms and Schoenberg.
Though Joe was one of the very few really important people in my life I haven’t shed any major tears so far. I do not believe Joe would have want me to. Better to make music. Maybe drink a schnaps or two. And do what we were born to do.
He did.
Gerhard Hauer
Berndorf, Austria
September 12th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
When I heard the news that one of my favourite muscians, Joe Zawinul has passed away yeasterday I jus lost my breath, And since then I have felt a big empty space in my chest. Though I never met the man in person, I feel so sad, it is just as I have lost one someone very close to me. And so it is. Joes music spoke direct to me, to my heart with a powerful message. It was a message of love and compassion, about standing up for yourself, and of sheer passion for life and joy. Dear Joe, your voice will be missed but your music will be remembered.
Michael Wolde
Sweden
And to you Curt - thank you for keeping this wonderful site up and running!
September 12th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I’m not going to say much for fear I would lose what’s really important… but I miss Joe Zawinul already, and jazz musicians everywhere are worse off without his continuing musical presence. He was progressive and a true artist. Jazz has very little like him left. The day people stop caring about his music is the day I forget jazz entirely and I mean that. R.I.P. and we love you.
September 12th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
A giant musician.
A giant visionary.
A giant human being.
The world just lost one of its colours.
We’ve just now substitued the frontpage of the Rhodes Supersite for a tribute to Joe. http://www.fenderrhodes.com
I guess Joe´s having a good time now. Hangin´with Maxine, Miles, Duke, Ray, Cannonball and the others up there……………..
Freddan
www.freddan.biz
September 12th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
I couldn’t believe it when I read that Joe had passed on. He is one of the greatest heroes of my life. Joe gave me my introduction to jazz and improvised music through Weather Report. As a 13 year old listening to Weather Report for the first time, I was absolutely blown away by the music i was hearing - I was introduced to whole new dimension of sound. When listening back to the music today, I am blown away moreso than I was then.
It’s interesting because I haven’t listened to Joe’s music in a long time. That is, up until last week, when weirdly I began listening to Weather Report and some Zawinul Syndicate stuff and thinking about Joe again. I know it sounds far-fetched, but it was a weird coincidence, and it left me even more shocked and even sadder when I found out.
Joe’s music has touched, changed and inspired so many people throughout his time (just think of the number of people that would have become musicians alone thanks to him and his music - that would be a considerable amount!!!). There is no question his music and spirit will live on to continue to do that.
His spirit will live on forever. I am listening to Jungle Book from Mysterious Traveller right now, and this beautiful piece of music is just one of the reasons why I know Joe will live on in all of lives.
He will always be remembered!
September 12th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Thank you Joe for giving me such incredible music. I’m listening to it since 35 years and I’ll continue to do it indefinitely. You are keeping the first place in my jazz musicians compilation.
Good luck, Joe, you are unforgettable!
Pierangelo Bolis, Italy
September 12th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
This is a very sad day for me. I wasn’t expecting this, as I hadn’t been aware of his health problem.
JZ is someone I admired pretty much right from his first commanding contributions to In a Silent Way. I had been aware of him with Adderley and stupidly missed a chance to catch him live with Adderley’s band back in ’68. By the time of Weather Report, I was already hooked, and that group became The Model in my mind of the finest modern instrumental combo in the world. I was fortunate enough to see/hear WR in concerts about six different times over the 70s & 80s. I was also treated to the opportunity to catch his one-man show at Berklee Performance Center in Boston shortly after WR disbanded, before he got the Syndicate rolling.
Consider the total range of the recordings he’s left us, not to mention the delights of his various live performances, and you see a spectrum of music created by a diligent composer & arranger, and the marvelous touches he brought out through his keyboards (rehearsed and improvised), plus his music as performed by others. That’s quite a display. I always contended that JZ was right there among the greatest composers and arrangers who’ve ever lived. And his keyboard skills were both dazzling and deeply moving.
His 1st three solo albums are all good, but I’ll always have a special place for that wonderful ’70 eponymous third album with its masterful version of ‘Dr. Honoris Causa’. Listening to that will be the only thing that can lift me out of this cloud. The entire world will remain so much poorer now without him still with us.
- Stuart Troutman, Charlotte NC US
September 12th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Dear Curt, I heard about Joe’s health problems over the last few weeks on your site and I sensed things were rough. I checked it at 4pm today and am shattered… I have been in tears all afternoon.
Joe’s music has been in my house for thirty years. He has been an inspiration to me not only for his wonderful music but in the way that he continued to evolve as a spirit and artist…
Joe and Jaco and Miles up there. And we’re all stuck down here without a ticket for the gig…
Best wishes at this sad time,
Des Hughes in Scotland
September 12th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Curt. I learned of Joe’s passing this morning. Odd but just a week ago i was thinking, if i were left on a desert island what composer’s works would i want with me. the answer was easy - Joe Zawinul. His lifetime output spanned so many genres that it would be hard to ever get bored .
I first discovered Joe in the cut-out bin of my favorite record store in 1973. It was the first Weather Report album and it had a sticker stuck to it labeling it “the best jazz album of 1971″ How it got into the cut-out bin is a mystery but I bought it figuring if it was the best album I’d better listen to it. I took it home and found it impenetrable but was at that point old enough to know i’d better give this a chance. I listened until i got it and from there on I was hooked. I then followed joe’s carreer going forward and backward, falling in love with Cannonball Adderly in the process. In 1983 i had the pleasure of seeing weather report perform live. my girfriend and i joined the cround at the stage front to “boogey” with the rest. watching joe i realized that he was eyeing each and everyone of us - making eye cotact — giving a wink or a smile then looking at the next fan.
while much has been made of his more famous compositions such as birdland and mercy mercy mercy (which i do love) my favorite to this day is Badia. Just lovely.
If I had to rate the importance of this artist I would put him in the Duke Ellington category. he is that important. His output as a composer, arranger and leader is hard to match.
Joe we miss you and thank you for all you gave us. My heartfelt sympathies to your family.
Kerkula in Baltimore
September 12th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Very few people left so much joy and meaning to world like Joe. I am happy that I saw him and talked to him. We grew up listening to him, Jaco, Miles and finding out more about ourselves and what it means to be free. There is much to say, but … so long Man, hope to see you again.
Alek Shekoyan
Los Angeles
September 12th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Here he comes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=922LumI2ilo
Alek
LA
September 12th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Hello there.
It’s a sad week for the arts as we lost two great musicians, performers and
human beings. Lucciano Pavarotti and Josef Zawinul…….. Just too much to
handle. Each soooo unique.
It’s high time to bid the word “HAVONA” (Heavy Weather), listen to the music
and Read in The URANTIA BOOK What Havona means: The Center Of The Universe,
Paradise, where all willing humans are bound to be in the very, very long
future.
That’s right, “Born into eternity, September 11th, 2007
What a jam session going on in heaven: Cannonball, Miles, Joe, Jaco, Tony,
Maynard…..!!!!
Best to you and Joe’s sons.
Carlos Ortega-Santos
Caracas, Venezuela.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Hello Curt,
I am so sad to hear about the passing of Mr. Zawinul….I remember that when I was quite a bit younger his music inspired me so much that I drew a picture of him from his album Weather Report Mysterious Traveler.. ..I am not even an artist…but something just made me draw it and I have had it for over twenty years…I have enclosed it…it didn’t scan that well because it was done in pencil it is not a trace…you are welcome to use it on your site if you like.
Sincerely, Rob Santoro
A huge Jaco and Joe fan!
September 12th, 2007 at 10:21 pm
The sonic journeys Mr. Zawinul invited me to take since my discovery of his music have been shared by each of us that have visited this site, that I found on 9/11/2007. I told my kids of his passing and showed them pictures of him at the keyboards. On the weekend, the kids will have a chance to listen to musical pictures, portraits and limitless landscapes by him. As piano students, I trust that my daughters (9, 11), who practice on an electric piano (as it is all we have at the moment), will be invited by Joe to wander off the pages of their lesson books…
RIP Mr. Zawinul and THANK YOU FOR YOUR GIFT!!!
Sincerely,
RJH
September 13th, 2007 at 2:56 am
There was a headline on cnn.com that read: Bitches Brew keyboardist dead! The hairs on my arms and neck literally stood on end and a feeling of dread came over me. ‘Please!! not Zawinul’ I thought - but it was and what horrible news to start a day with. It affected me all day and the sadness will be with me for a long time. Thank goodness - his music is well-documented and we will probably see more come out posthumously.
I attended a Syndicate concert at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen in mid-July. Zawinul and the rest of the guys were in super-form and gave a sold-out concert that left the audience unwilling to leave. It was the 9th time I got to see that band play live - i can’t believe it will be the last time. I’m gonna miss Joe’s music so much. Thanks Joe and rest in peace.
September 13th, 2007 at 3:36 am
Joe has been my biggest inspiration as a musician and many people I play with. The world without him is hard to imagine and I can’t quite believe we’ll never get the experience of listening to him play that wonderful music live again.
The evenings I have spent at his concerts have been some of the most wonderful evenings of my life and I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to thank him personally for everything he’s done.
I feel very sad that he has gone, he was the greatest.
Love to you Joe and thanks again for so much fantastic music.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Joe was one of my great musical heroes, and this is very sad news. I’m probably younger than most of those posting here - I only discovered Weather Report, as a teenager, when their days were already long past - but Joe’s music made a huge impression on me and still does. What an innovator, what a musician, what a composer! There weren’t many in the entire 20th century who changed music like he did.
Condolences to his family, friends and fans. We’ve lost one of the truly great ones.
Best regards,
Mike, Australia
September 13th, 2007 at 6:45 am
Dear Curt,
My name is Milko Lazar, and I am a musician and composer from Slovenia - small European country next to Austria and Joe’s Vienna. I have no words to express my deep sadness. We lost one of the greatest human beings of our time. I would just like to explain a few facts, that may be interesting to You and to all Zawinul lovers.
On the 3rd of August this year, I was at his last concert, in a small Austrian town Gussing. Before and after the concert, I was talking to the band members (Sabine, Allegre, Linley and others). We all knew, after seeing Joe in a wheelchair and in very bad condition, that he will not be long with us. He was unable to walk. The concert was something special. Joe’s playing was on a different level. It was clear in a special way. I had a feeling, that he was already in a different place at that time. After the concert, there was a lot of his old Austrian friends in the backstage, crying and taking care of him. I did not know that his Maxine was already gone at that time. I talked to Paco and Sabine and Aziz, they were all in tears, that we must all go on with the right things. I will never forget the very last moment, when his son Erich was taking him into the car after the concert, and all of us were saying goodbye to him. The next day, he was already in the hospital.
I saw Joe about 20 times live on the concerts, with Weather Report, Syndicate or solo. First time with WR in 1980, when I was 15, in Zagreb (Croatia). It was a Night Passage tour. This concert turned my musical knowledge up side down. It is amazing, that he visited such a small country like Slovenia 10 times. He was two times in my small birth town Maribor, which makes me especially happy. Last time at the end of June this year, as a conductor of a Conse workshop. One of the first European Weather Report concerts was also in Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. He liked these middle and eastern European places a lot, being also many times in other ex-Yugoslave countries (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia).
I know, that he also liked to play in small towns and villages around Italy and Austria, where I met him many times, bringing him a bottle of home made slivovitz, which he liked very much. Every time I spoke to him, I had a feeling that he was a very simple man, and that he would be able to take a shovel in his hands, right after a concert, and make some important work on the field. That kind of the person he was. Very nice and gentle, but also a bit aggressive, direct and without any compromises.
I am coming from jazz, but in the last time I am mostly composing orchestral music. It is a very different music from Joe’s. But I must say, that his influence on my music is much bigger then from any other classical composer. To me, Joe was the greatest orchestrator. The point is not in the style, or anything else, more in the free spirit and direct approach. You have to say, what you have to say in a way, that people can understand you. And Joe was understood by most people. I know that he was underrated by many musicians. But that is because he was taking music to another much higher level than the music itself. That is, where the different spirits are joining together, and where everything is so natural. I am sure that for him, the music was only a media, to say something very important to the people.
It is so nice, that so many different - non musical people, are listening and loving him. When you saw him on the concert, you saw the master, not presenting you something, what is already made, but making the thing. His music is an endless workshop. Dear Curt, thank you for helping all of us with your informations and shearing all this beautiful toughts. I hope, you will continue to do this. You have all support from all of us.
Long live to Joe and Maxine.
Milko Lazar
Slovenia
September 13th, 2007 at 6:53 am
We say “Le roi est mort…Vive le roi” , but there
won’t have anymore king for many years…Zawinul was a
genius like Monk , Davis, Coltrane etc… he had a
great power inside him…Survive the WW2 … try his
chance in USA to play Jazz… Like Miles Davis , he
saw the future…
Each year , I was waiting for his concert in Paris…I
saw many many times since 1998…When I was
discovering Jazz…I saw the evolution of his music
for 10 years…The last period…His music was synonymous
of happiness , hope , open mind … Africa , west
Indies , America , Asia …
He doesn’t deserve to die so young ( today 75 is
young) , it’s why I’m so sad and so surprised ( a
strong man ???? ) but disease can kill the best…
Forever in his message will live in my
behaviour…”Respect of differences”.
Samir from Paris.
September 13th, 2007 at 6:57 am
Josef Erich Zawinul, descanse en paz.
Antonio Lanceta Aragonés
September 13th, 2007 at 7:02 am
07TH JULY 2007 - LUGANO, SWITZERLAND - “ESTIVAL JAZZ “
JOE ZAWINUL SYNDACATE
Pictures and emotions on www.apj.it
Art,Photo & Jazz by P.&.B.Gianquintieri, Italy
thank You Mr. Zawinul
September 13th, 2007 at 9:50 am
He is saying; “Hey, I got more life in me dead than all these cats who think they are living!”
September 13th, 2007 at 10:28 am
I am very sad that my favourite jazz musician has died. Fortunately I have seen him a couple of times. When he entered the stage tears came to my eyes, he was such a special person who somehow (I cannot explain) touched a special place in me.
I like the way he did ’strange’ things on the keyboard, his ‘weird’ sounds and joke-like things during a concert. His drive and energy; so free and expressive! The softness combined with intelligence and inspiration in his eyes was beautiful! And his curiousity for new sounds and music from other cultures…
Dear Joe, may your beautiful soul rest in peace!
September 13th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I join you all in celebrating a great artistic life. I wrote the major paper for my Master’s degree in musicology on Weather Report, but what I learned from Joe is expressed simply: he taught me how to be a happy person.
Aside from being the author of this beautiful music we all feel in our hearts, Joe was a wonderful human being.
I believe he cared for his audience as much as his music. Of the five performances I attended, I remember particularly the day I was able to sit close to the stage at Roy Thompson Hall, an ugly modern classical music hall here in Toronto, and watch how he worked with the band and the listeners. After getting the show going in the first tune, he stopped playing and stood beside his instruments watching the band for maybe 30 seconds, checking them out, I guess to make sure everyone was in tune and in time. Later I noticed that he was focusing on a group in the front row, especially on one woman – looking intently at her as he played. She was wiggling about in her seat, about as demonstrative as a Canadian is likely to get in the front row at Roy Thompson Hall (with all the lights on, imagine!). I saw him catch her eye, and he winked at her, a very friendly gesture. Later, he waved to her, exhorting her to get up and dance, which she clearly wanted to do, but for some reason didn’t. He pulled his chin back and gave her a chiding look, like a father who knows his child wants to do something but is too shy to do it. At the end of the show, he went to the front of the stage and shook hands with the these folks. It was a touching sequence, and evidence to me that his motive was to share his joy and vitality with his audience, to reach into them and help bring their life to light, to reawaken the energy that started it all and which we tend to forget through the trials of existence.
As we all know, he DID communicate that central joy of life. I had a friend years ago to whom I introduced several sophisticated musicians, usually to her total bafflement. I took her to see Joe, and within 30 seconds she turned to me and said: “This is GOOD!”
As for music, I remember the fire he set under Scott Henderson at the Montreal Jazz festival, and his solo feature on the pepe, which spoke directly to my heart in a time of personal pain. I remember the greatest bass player never to play the bass. I remember “Second Sunday in August,” which helped me understand that hard work can be a joy. I remember the solo on Wayne’s “Plaza Real,” which contains the formula for success in this world.
I wept at the news, and I weep now, but I also feel this was a good death. When Jaco passed I was shocked and depressed at the terrible fracturing of a creative life. Today I feel that a wonderful story has ended, and that this valuable and cherished life is complete and will now resonate throughout history, as the lives of all master artists do. I was also touched to learn that Maxine had recently passed – it is one of those strange truths that great couples often leave together, within short periods of time. Perhaps this suggests that the story still goes on.
I know that whenever I saw Joe play, the God responsible for music was always present, because there was simply no other place to be.
Thanks for the wonderful website, and condolences to the Zawinul children, who have obviously suffered the greatest loss of all.
Michael
September 13th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Maxine and Joe were great people to me growing up. I will cherish the memories. I send my best to Anthony, Erich and Ivan and their respective families.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I listen to Zawinul every week. His music for some reason really hits me. Papa was a great composer and player, all of you know of his rich talent and contributions he gave us. Miles Davis owes him big time. God, here we go, starting to loose our best..nothing but retreads out there now, there’s been no balls in Jazz for a long time, bunch of pussys playing the same old same old. Jeezz I’m mad. Papa was 75 so that’s about as long as we have on this blue ball. Bill Walsh, Zawinul both had the best Med. that money could buy and they are gone now.
I’m going to see the Sons this Sat. and dance, I’m going to write more tunes, I’m going to play my Drums, I’m going to Love my wife and kids, I’m going to hike the hills, I’m going to breath deep, I’m going to Love life, I’m going to listen to Papa because his music lets me do all of these things better. I’m in the hills, I’m in Love, I’m with my Parents, I’m with my friends when I hear Zawinul play.
Joe was bad to the bone. Go and give Papa a listen.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
A crying shame that he has gone. But what a great legacy of music he has left.
(Maybe he’s jamming with Jaco and Miles right now?)
Chris
September 13th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
A friend texted me to say that joe had died today, I hadn’t even heard that it had been the 11th, but its hit me really hard. I first heard weather report when I was about 17 (i’m 43 now) I had just started getting into a whole load of fusion bands like mahavishu, bruford, brand x, stanley clarke etc but weather report really blew me away and still do….. I managed to see the Zawinul syndicate a couple of years ago in Poole, Dorset , where I live… the band was staggering and zawinul awesome…..what can I say, I never met the man, but I feel like I’ve lost someone….fuck it, I love Joe Zawinul…..and its painful….
September 13th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
It is the end of an era. Judging from certain reviews over the years not everyone got Joe’s thing, but for those of us who did it inspired a lifelong passion.
I’ve been lucky to see Weather Report six times, including three visits to the legendary Hammersmith Odeon, and I caught the Syndicate twelve times including all three visits to Ronnie Scott’s. I’ve travelled a few thousand miles to hear him live and I’m glad I did.
Five years ago Joe was signing cd’s in the entrance of Ronnie’s, I told Joe how I’d loved his music for a long time and thanked him for everything he’d shared with me and shook his hand - he had a grip like a blacksmith. Joe replied “Well my friend , I’ve given you something, now you’ve given me something , so it keeps going round.” How gracious! I’m really glad I had the opportunity to tell him.
In May 2004 Joe played Cheltenham Town Hall, which forms the fourth side of a Georgian square. After my friend parked his car we witnessed Joe, 72 years old, playing football (soccer) with his band and crew on the green at the back of the hall. I’ll never forget that scene as he directed Amit Chatterjee, gentle giant Linley Marthe etc, barely half his age. Two weeks later it’s 2am and my friend and I are hanging (as in tired), while Joe is standing in the middle of Ronnie Scott’s, beaming and looking fit to do it all over again.
Last March at London’s Jazz Cafe and Joe was still in total control of a phenomenal band. I’m still in shock that such a vital force has gone. Whenever I saw Miles in the eighties it always felt like it could be the last time he came by, with Joe it was always like he could go on for ever.
Thanks Joe for all the music full of love and life.
Thank you Ivan for twenty years of great sound.
Thank you Curt for advance warning of so many wonderful gigs.
My warmest regards to Anthony, Eric, and Ivan for the loss of both their mother and father.
Mike Sheppard
September 13th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
As a member of the Senior production staff for the IAJE Conferences, I had the good fortune and luck to be the person tabbed to pick him up from his Malibu beach house and bring him to the 2002 Conference in Long Beach, CA.
I arrived there in the limo they provided - he was the recipient of the International Jazz Festival Organization Lifetime Award, presented at the Conference - and the driver had to wait a while. Joe was wonderfully gracious and invited me into his house, showed me his new private recording studio (boy did I salivate), hung out a bit, and then we slammed shots of Slivovitz all the way back to Long Beach. I was useless when I got back.
That night, the WDR Big Band played Vince Mendoza arrangements of Joe’s tunes, with Peter Erskine, Omar Hakim, Scott Kinsey, and Alex Acuna as the rhythm section. That’s a day and night I’ll never forget.
Thanks for everything you gave to us, Joe.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I am still stunned by the news - though from Curt’s postings I had a sad feeling Joe’s time was close. And now I reflect: since a night in August 1972, when the beauty of Joe’s chords and spacing on the Rhodes (behind Wayne) on “Waterfall” … snuck up and floored me - that everyday I have thought about his music and his approach to life. Over the years his compositions took me backwards and forward in time simultaneously, with futuristic textures, tribal rhythm layerings and sparse but rich melodies. And what a message the music delivered - Be brave … and recognize your own spirit and creativity! What a mentor (!), though I never met the man.
I am so grateful we have the internet now to share our appreciation of this man, and so many thanks to Curt for his tasteful / informative work in building and maintaining this site for us.
David B.
Kelowna B.C.
September 13th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
My background is a guitar player, listening to McLauglin DiMeola and of course WP, in my opinion Joe is one of the most important musicians of the past 50 years and certainly of the 20th Century, personally this news is very sad for me.
I would not be the person or musician I am today without the likes of Joe and Jaco and Miles. The main lesson I have learned through their music is that to be a great musician requires synchronicity of the mind, the heart and the spirit (not that I make any claims to having mastered this but this has guided me me on my musical journey).
When masters such as Joe, Jaco and Miles pass it really does bring home that time is finite and that we should all concentrate on the important things in life and explore our talent to the best of our ability, time is short.
What a band Joe, Miles, Jaco, Tony Williams and to really mix things up may be Django and /or Jimi what do you think?
Lets hope heaven has the marshalls permanently set at 11
Michael
September 14th, 2007 at 6:59 am
Joe Zawinul
Towering legend of Jazz. Put together in Weather Report one of the finest bands ever. Fact. End of.
RIP
September 14th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
One of the greatest and most important musicians in the history of music has left us.
What a loss.
What we still have is his music and that will never die.
Now he is up there jamming with Jaco, Miles, Louis, Duke, Bird, Trane and all the other great ones.
Thank you for everything.
You will never be forgotten
Arne Petter Ugelvik
September 15th, 2007 at 5:35 am
A giant has left us in body, but those of us he touched are here to witness to this great innovator and life force.
Thank you Joe for all the years I have seen you live and just been transported to that soul space, either with WR or the Syndicate. It was my upmost joy to introduce my daughter to your music with the Syndicate, and all three times she saw you live in Europe she was so immersed in joy. Even my wife seeing you in Geneva this past March for the first time she understood why I just lived for your music.
We have been given a wonderful gift to have had you these particular 75 years on this planet. We are so fortunate and grateful for this.
September 16th, 2007 at 6:11 am
joe was the most important person musically for me.in this dark age,joe’s music lifted my soul like that of an angel sent from our dear lord.thank you for the memories.you will live forever and i will miss you deeply.x.
September 16th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I’ve just heard about Joe Zawinul’s passing. I had the great fortune to see Weather Report live in 1982 at both the Hammersmith Odeon, and Manchester Apollo Theatres. During the 1980’s their music changed my life. I also was fortunate enough to meet the band prior to the Manchester gig - it is something i will never forget, and as an excited 20 year old will stay with me forever. Live, Weather Report were awesome, and unsurpassable then and now. As one American attendee rightly stated, the experience was’ totally organic’ - and one of the best live musical experiences I’ve ever personally witnessed.
Joe Zawinul was a giant in the jazz world - and he leaves a huge legacy. A sad day for jazz indeed.
With gratitude and respect,
Peter Maz (UK).
September 16th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Joe: tu arte ha hecho mas hermosa nuestra permanencia en este mundo. Adios queridísimo hermano musical.
Jorge Salúm
Argentina
September 16th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Hearing the news of Joe’s passing three of four days after the event i realized how drawn into my own mental entrapments i had become and once again how Zawinul’s music always reminded me to live in the moment as i would always seem to do each time i heard his waltz of dreams and blessings over any speaker system. Buying the first vinyl in my music collection with Zawinul’s name and face on the cover was the essential live Jazz lp called Operation Bread Basket by Cannonball Adderley in the late sixties. Who was this face looking so intently and with such purpose staring straight at Cannonball on this album cover? All i need do is take the plastic cover off the lp drop the disk and sit back and listen. Mercy Mercy Mercy knocked me out but listening to the opening of Rhodes piano chords to Country Preacher was like listening to a musical sermon of the mount.
Living in Hawaii in the 70’s brought me face to face with the first Weather Report live concert at the University of Hawaii campus. It was then that my life with music was changed forever. I was to search and encounter this music back in Los Angeles as Weather Report blazed a comet trail across music’s horizon. A chance meeting in a recreation room of a small North Hollywood apartment complex had me face to face over a friendly pool table 8 ball game with Jaco Pastorius who was the new kid in the band relaxing between Hollywood Bowl shows. Again the serge of anticipation was almost too much to bare as I took my seat that night under the stars and was transported out of my body by what Zawinul and his band offered the masses. It was now my self appointed duty to speak the name Weather Report to any and all that i encountered from here on. To that end i can say that many friends were made and engaging conversations were had with total strangers over Zawinul’s musical blessings.
Jobs in the music industry soon followed and working for Burt Superman on Midnight Special Weather Report was at its Zenith performing just feet in front of me as i again was blown away and wondered if everyone there was receiving the same blessing i was getting through this music. What ever it took i was determined to witness this musicial phenomenon at any chance i got. Good fortune was mine on several other occasions and concerts over the years. It is not enough to just say that Joe Zawinul was merely a great musician. We who encountered this sound were collectively changed by what we all heard. Feelings all across the range human emotions were served through this vessel that was Joe Zawinul, that no one can deny.
I dreamed recently that some how where ever there was war and strive hatred and evil over the earth that for just a moment all that would hear Joe Zawinul’s solo on lets say for instance ” A remark you made” played over there heads. They all looked up and for that time had no desire to fire a shot or do any harm to any one or any thing. And just at that moment the sky opened up and the stars danced and swirled to the texture of Joe Zawinul’s music. Dear God let us all continue to dream. I know Joe did.
September 17th, 2007 at 5:08 am
Curt,
Thanks you for this fantastic website. I always take info on it for Zawinul concerts in Europe .
Joe was my favorite Jazz musician for more than 35 years> I travelled all over Europe for his concerts also for the opening week of the birdland club in Vienna I enjoy a lot.
For me Joe was papa music, in his improvisations he sounded like my father he was also a jazz piano player and a great fan of Django Reinhardt and Duke Ellington. It’s a huge missing not hearing him anymore life.
Joe was an unique person he was content with his life and his wonderful gift and he enjoy this fantastic gift he could share with us.
Still in shock that Joe passed away. When a heard he was in hospital in August I couldn’t speak anymore, my voice was gone for 2 days and I sent him a bouquet of sunflowers with good recovery wishes.
At the concert in Zoetermeer in spring of this year I saw that Joe lost a lot of weight and he was tired. I asked his agent Risa if he was ill… she answered no,no, Joe is a strong man.
I think the most of joe’s fans thought he was a physical giant. He was doing boxing and drinking slymovitz as medicine and become 200 years…
In Rotterdam he gave a great concert. After I booked for Paris, the news came that Joe was hospitalized and the concert was cancelled.
Now for the last time I am packing my suitcase to go to Joe Zawinull. I go to Vienna to Joe’s funeral ceremony where Zawinul music plays a great role in, on 25 September at Zentralfriedhof.
Thank you Joe for all the worderful fantastic music and joy. You will always be in our hearts and live there forever.
Annemie
Belgium
September 17th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Joe’s music has had a huge impact on my life for decades. Having seen him live with Weather Report and after as a solo act his passion for producing intense, multi layered, world music is unequaled.
I saw Joe this year in Santa Cruz and I sat physically feet away from him by the stage. Watching him play and seeing the joy in his face as he conducted in unbelievable band is one of my music highlights.
I will miss his genius very much but we will always have his music.
September 17th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
I was driving home from my band’s gig in San Diego tonight (9/17/07)… my iPod on song-shuffle. At the darkest part of the trek on the 5 fwy back up to Huntington Beach, a live cut from Weather Report’s “8:30″ LP come up… it’s the tune “In A Silent Way”. For anyone that’s ever listened to that track it’s one of the most amazing examples of spirit and emotion in the music. The interplay between Joe’s synth chords and Wayne’s melody (Shorter) is so amazing.
Then I get home tonight and through a picture on Jaco Pastorius’ “My Space” page I learn that Joe Zawinul passed away on Sept 11th. Joe & Wayne created probably the most sought after and copied jazz fusion super group ever to grace the face of this planet. I still listen to Weather Report albums at least once or twice a week. Joe, Wayne, Jaco (Pastorius), Peter (Erskine)… all the different players that had a stint in Weather Report… all students of master musicians… Joe Zawinul & Wayne Shorter. Joe now joins the premier bassist Jaco Pastorius on that spiritual plane… the next level.
Not too long ago another great left us… tenor saxophonist, Michael Brecker. These are some of the greatest voices of modern Jazz. They are all one of a kind. To this day and for many years to come… there will be an abyss in the modern jazz community.
Joe Zawinul is gone. His music will live on forever, inspiring us all… showing us the limitless boundaries of musical creativity. Tears came to my eyes because for some reason his music was so much larger than life. I almost thought he was immortal. They don’t make talent like Joe’s much anymore.
Well Joe… you are immortal. I’m still listening to your music and will do so till the day I die.
I love you man… Scott Carter (guitarist)
September 18th, 2007 at 5:26 am
I have often wondered how it would feel if I had seen Miles live in the summer of 91. Now I know. Last year in Rotterdam, after an amazing concert (and a gift to all of us who were too young to catch WR live), I made one wish, to see him next year too. And I did and I thought he would play forever, he certainly seemed capable of that. What a sad, cruel summer. And yet. I will never forget the smile on his musicians faces every time they were looking at him, the smile and the pride in his face after their solos, how he was at the same time their leader and their first fan. I’m sorry I never managed to see him live at his home, in Vienna, it must have been special. But Joe was special, and his live performances were special, as is his music. I couldn’t listen to Weather Report on the night after his death, it’s such a joyous music and I was so saddened. But I’m not so sad anymore. He’s together with Maxine now (what a cruel and ugly July it must have been for him) and we will always be blessed by his music and his memory. I will never forget his “belles mustaches” (as one obituary here in Belgium put it), his smiling eyes and the colours on his hat and in his music. Thank you Joe for everything. The summers in Rotterdam won’t be the same without you.
September 18th, 2007 at 5:28 am
A friend of me called to tell one of my heroes died. I still feel sad when I recall this moment. The message Joe died created tears in my eyes.
I have seen Joe so many times; first with Weather Report and later on with Weather Update and Zawinul’s Syndicate. Sometimes I thought: ‘Well, now I think I know his music, wouldn’t it be boring to see and hear him again after so many times??’ No way - he always knew how to surprise with his complex world music. It made me smile a big smile on my face. It was not possible to stand still on his great rhythms.
Deep admiration how this ‘old’ man could keep on finding new young musicians and playing his music loaded with energy. I compared people of his age waiting for their death in houses for elderly people.
I am happy I saw him with the WDR Big Band at North Sea Jazz. My intention to once go to Birdland in Vienna to see Joe play in his own club is now gone.
North Sea Jazz without Joe won’t be the same anymore. I will miss him incredibly.
THANKS JOE FOR YOUR GREAT MUSIC AND INSPIRATION.
Peter van Soest
The Hague
The Netherlands
September 18th, 2007 at 5:33 am
I’m deeply saddened by Joe’s passing. What an empty space there is now. Although in my 50’s Joe was, and will continue to be my hero. I’ve been lucky to see him some 20 times over the last 30 years. No one hit the spot like you, maestro. A WR, Syndicate concert, and indeed his duo work with Trilok Gurtu was always something to be cherished. Joe’s grooves, chords, fantastic written pieces and improvisational skills, I believe put him in the genius category. We have lost a truly great musician. My heartfelt condolences go to his three boys and their families having lost both their mum and dad so quickly. God Bless. Arnie
September 18th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Hi,
In tears I was when the sad news reached me.
Joe has always been my great role model.
I owe him a lot, he inspired me. To me he showed respect for ethnic music and he saw the great influence of this cultural richness in the world.
I thank him for being who he was, a great composer and a fantastic musician, they only come once in a life time and I am grateful to have known him.
Once , after a concert I went to shake his hand, but all I could say was: “I love you man,” which I really meant of course, but now I wished I had told him what he really meant to me, which would of course have taken too much of his time an I felt so humble next to him.
He will always continue to be my musical bigger brother and he will always live on through his wonderful music. Unforgettable Joe, Weather Report, Syndicate, whatever, all sessions great. Thanks.
September 18th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
le plus brillante des étoiles de mon ciel musical…
il dégageait de sa musique tellement de bonheur, d’énergie, de sensibilité, de générosité, sa créativité était intarissable, tellement fluide et infinie!
il est parti trop tôt, il va nous manquer.
d’alger et chaque jour un peu plus triste, yamo.
September 18th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
A Salute To You Sir Joe! One Of The True ‘Elegant People’. you will so be missed and thank god for the music that you you have left us all.An absolute true pioneer and most human sounding keyboard player ever! bet you’re up there already jamming with Jaco and Miles. A true inspiration for all musicians.
our hearts go out to out to the Zawinul family.
We miss you already Joe..d..x
September 18th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
An AP article stated ‘ ORF later reported that “there is no mortal danger” to Zawinul. ‘. The point of our existance is how we are recognized by our actions. A few of us get beyond our own satisfactions. Josef Zawinul shared his amazing thoughts with us. I can’t begin to describe the many notes that fit so easily… there is no other that I can audibly recognize with just one single well placed chord. To be ‘Free inside of yourself’ is the way for Zawinul and all of us. Mr. Zawinul is in no danger of ever going away - I carry his notes at all times and I’m sure others do to.
I am very greatfull to have been in the same time slot. All my words are overshadowed by ‘In a Silent way’…
September 18th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
A few words about one of the most remarkable musicians ever…
What can I even say? Joe influenced me even more than I realize. What an extraordinary musical mind. I was heartbroken. I heard about his wife as well. My heart goes out to his family. I’ve been walking around in a daze for about a week, going to work, but just not there… Reading everything, every article posted, every interview, watching every video I can watch. There is this emptiness. Damn.
I last saw them at the Blue Note NY in 2005. The band cooked – I mean cooked! – for 2 hours straight. After the show I felt as if I had been on vacation for a month; you can’t describe that feeling. I tried to see him in the dressing room after their set. He looked at me – that “you better have something good to say” look, and I chickened out! I never saw them again. I guess I always thought I have another chance. I wouldn’t have known what to say to him anyway, expect thanks.
I do have some great memories…seeing WR in 1978 – the 8:30 tour. Oh jeez. Unreal. That bit at the end, after Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz medly, where the lights go out and the train comes through…the lights come up and they’re gone. That made a hell of an impression on me.
WR again, in NYC. Domino theory tour. Zawinul played this…it looked like a typewriter with strings. Does anyone even know what this is? You can hear it at the end of “When it Was Now” off of the 2nd WR disc.
Zawinul shouting at Peter Erskine during a “Weather Update” show in NYC. Hey!
The Eureka moment came for me at NAMM 1996. I was demo-ing a midi wireless unit for a small company called Aquila. In between playing I was running around… and suddenly here was the Syndicate, jamming in this room. I went up and sat as close to him as I could get, and set to studying, observing. They were playing an almost unrecognizable version of “Scarlet Woman”… Something was weird: what I heard did not match what I saw his hands doing! I watched so closely. What the f**k?? That’s when I realized – this man is in a league of his own; he has no equal. I decided to learn everything about his technique that I could. His synth playing is like some kind of secret; I tried to recreate his sounds, and learned some amazing things in the process.
Then there’s the little story from Keyboard Mag a few years back – Joe showed up for a gig but his gear didn’t. He started to play – and sounded….exactly like Joe. Like Bill Evans making a small upright sound like a concert grand. It’s the MAN, not the machine.
His influence on me as a composer, a musician, a bandleader, a synthesist and programmer, is extraordinarily profound, beyond measure. I remember the first time I inverted the keyboard on one of my synths, and figured out how to play the melody from Black Market. Wow. I learned everything I could from listening to his sounds, his concepts – both musically and technically. We have lost one of the great masters – the great innovators – of jazz. What negativity he endured from the jazz community for embracing electronics. People still don’t realize how far ahead this man was. Man, he was something else.. RIP Joe – “I’ll Never Forget You”…
The NAIL, NY
September 19th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
When Joe was staying at vienna, the city had a different sound. Since 2004 we had the heaven on earth.
Thank You to Joe
A. Liling
September 19th, 2007 at 7:10 pm
My deepest sympathies to Joe’s family.
I was always inspired by Joe’s music. I first heard about him when I listened to Miles Davis. Later I had an opportunity to see him live with Jaco and Wayne. I’ve seen him a few times solo and most recently with the Syndicate in 2006.
Every single time he would bring a smile to my face and would make me forget the daily problems. He would pass his energy and joy of playing wonderful music to everyone around him.
Thank you Joe!
Forever and Ever!
Bogdan
Washington, DC
September 19th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
hola joe ,me compré un sombrero para quitarmelo ante ud hace 34 años.Oigo su
musica siempre,Ud no ha muerto,siempre vive y está conmigo.
September 20th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Joe Zawinul was the loftiest type of musician. He was able to bridge borders and made hitherto unknown or unexpected connections. For all of us he left a legacy of music to make us laugh, or introspective, or all out dance. Like Louis Armstrong, there was something about his work that made you smile inside.
Among the many highlights of his work In A Silent Way stands out. It is a composition so good even Miles was jealous to put Zawinul’s name on the record!
Soon after hearing the news of his death, I heard the old Weatehr Report tune, Cucumber Slumber, on the radio–I love the funky, understated solo he does on this. It brought tears.
Thank you, Joe Zawinul for your work and many gifts and inspiration.
September 20th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
This man’s music. What can anyone say? I loved his sound more than any music that I have ever heard. The first time that I ever saw him was at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Cal. In 1978. Can I say that it changed my life right then and there. I actually thought that I would leave the planet that day and go somewhere wonderful in the universe. I was fortunate to meet him on several occasions and expressed to him my complete wonder at his music. He seemed to leave this world behind him when he played and I journeyed with him on those occasions that I was able to see him in person. His music changed my life and made me open my eyes to the possibility of life.
The last time that I had the opportunity to see him was at Yoshi’s In Oakland, Calif. It was the night of Princess Diana’s death and he asked me to join him for a drink. He said to me I know you get it and was he ever right. Each time that I heard him play I always traveled away from this earth and its mediocre existence to someplace that was wonderful. I thank you Joe for each and every moment of joy that you have given me in this life with your amazing talent and your autographed photo from the SF Chronicle proudly hangs in my home. I will forever hold your music close and will be joyous to see you on the other side.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I’ve just heard about Joe’s death. It’s like an uncle´s death, so used I was to his approach, and his company since I heard him on Miles records at the end of the sixties.
So, what to say? Nothin’, just that I’ll miss his drumming on the keyboards, feeling the precise moment to hit …
Regards
José from Chile
September 21st, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Dear Joe-
I cannot add to the accolades, but I must submit my tribute. Others will testify, your music and style are peerless and cannot be compared to any of the best. Your music has been in my life from a very young age, and will be carried in my soul forever. You always had that little part of me that no one else came close to. You helped me through difficult times even though you never knew. Thank you for your inspiration, and some day I may be able to thank you in person. Jim H. Mpls MN
September 21st, 2007 at 10:58 pm
I am so very sad that we will not here any more from Joe. I thought he would go on forever
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Dear Joe,
You’ve uplifted me with more musical rejoice than any other contemporary musician I can memorize. You’ve injected more youthfulness into my life than most people being only half or less your age. You’ve set a mark of your own by, for example, bringing the beautiful poem by Erich Fried on record (World Tour). You are and will continue to be among my most influential mentors in life, though we never met.
Thank you for sharing you musical gems and human curiosity on people and places with us.
Regards,
Anders Fahlén
Sweden
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:09 pm
I feel lucky to have known the music of Zawinul for over the last 30
years. This summer I was at his concert in Copenhagen so it came as a
shock to hear that he was in hospital a month later. In 2002 I was lucky
to meet him after the concert with Zawinul Syndicate and had the
opportunity to thank him for all the joy he had brought to my life. His
sound and joy will remain and his good vibes.
Thank you Joe,
Kristjan Valsson
Iceland
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:34 am
Found out about his death too late. I remember the time I discovered Weather Report age 17. The music was simply not of this earth, pure magic. More then 20 years later my feelings about the music stay the same. Joe Zawinul was one of the foremost composers of the 20th century no doubt.
September 23rd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
I had heard he liked prune snapps and I had ordered some across the street from YOSHI’S. Well, I went to buy it for him and he had already bought the case and said sit down and have some. I asked if he would sign a pic taken at the Keyboard mag event. He said where is mine. I came back and he signed it. He then said he had a problem with his OBxpander. I said it might need a new battery. So then began the friendship of someone who gave me so much. See ya soon Joe
JOHN “MIDIACE DALCINO
September 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 pm
I just found out yesterday.
I met Joe years ago and I remember he was a very good man.
When I found it out I suddenly felt that a part of me passed away because Joe has always been part of my life.
His music permeated the texture of my existence and because of this I thought of him as a constant in life that will never go away.
Music today sounds like this also because of him and there will never be precise words to describe his worth.
I grew up listening to Jazz in a family where my dad felt the missing spot caused by the departure of Bird, John Coltrane and Dizzy and after Miles was gone I began to understand this.
Like Miles, Joe will always be in my thoughts because it’s the least I can do for what he gave me along the years.
I give my condolences to his family who I never had the pleasure to meet.
I want to tell Joe’s family that they will never be alone in remembering him.
I think that in a few weeks Joe will organize a gig in Heaven with Miles and Jaco.
So long Joe!
Giovanni Principe
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I am very saddened to hear of Joe’s passing. I came to know of Weather Report through an Australian band, Ayers Rock, who did a cover of Boogie Woogie Waltz - in concert they always announced - “here’s a song by a great band, Weather Report”. From there it was a great procees of discovery for me… Joe’s music affected me deeply as a young teenager, through the revelations of Mysterious Traveller and Tail Spinnin’, followed by Black Market.
I had the pleasure of seeing Weather Report in Australia in 1978, and the Zawinul Syndicate just a few years ago.
Ellington was a somewhat late discovery for me. As I explored his music, I would listen to classic arrangements, and think, “My gosh, that sounds like Weather Report!”.
Nothing can replace the unique signature of Zawinul’s music. It will stand the test of time.