Alphonso is best known to Zawinul fans for his two-year stint with Weather Report. He first came to Joe and Wayne’s attention in 1973, when Weather Report shared a bill with Chuck Mangione in Johnson’s hometown of Philadelphia. Alphonso was Mangione’s bass player at the time and Wayne and Joe liked what they heard. They later invited him to audition during the recording of Mysterious Traveller. He had just turned 23 years of age.

“Alphonso Johnson had a lot,” Zawinul recalled years later. “He was young, he was bright, he was disciplined, and he could lay down a groove that hurt and that’s what I wanted.” Alphonso was the linchpin that enabled Weather Report to transition into its mature phase that led to a string of ground-breaking albums. On Mysterious Traveller, Johnson memorably improvised the bass hook that launched the band into a jam that produced the ultra-funky tune “Cucumber Slumber.” He also brought in the composition “Scarlet Woman.”

Johnson toured with Weather Report throughout 1974 and 1975, and when Chester Thompson took over the drum chair, the band jelled and produced some blistering music that can be heard on the album Live and Unreleased. He also played on the albums Tale Spinnin’ and Black Market. The last track on the latter was “Hernandu,” which Joe once described as “a great tune by Alphonso Johnson.”

Joe and Wayne’s respect for Alphonso remained undiminished decades later. When I casually mentioned Johnson’s name to Joe during a 2004 interview, his response was immediate and unequivocal: “Ohh! He had the funk, man! He was the funkiest of ‘em all–even more than Jaco.”

And in an interview last year, Wayne gave a more abstract but equally meaningful response when asked about Alphonso: “We liked the way he set a groove–we use to say a ‘loping’ kind of groove. And we liked him as a person. He was well-mannered. He was tall and he carried his height well. He didn’t have a problem with self-esteem. He didn’t hide behind his instrument, or hide behind being a musician. He was well-tutored by his mother and father. Miles [Davis] used to say, (imitating Miles), ‘Some people are raised well.’”

In addition to Chuck Mangione and Weather Report, Alphonso has performed or recorded with Santana, Woody Herman, The Crusaders, Bob Weir, George Duke, En Vogue, Wayne Shorter, Sergio Mendes, Tony Williams, Joe Williams, Gregory Hines, Eddie Henderson, Flora Purim, Quincy Jones, Lee Ritenour, Phil Collins, The Whispers, John McLaughlin, Jeffrey Osborne, Sarah Vaughan, Dori Caymmi, Carl Anderson, and The Meeting. He also has three albums under his own name.

Alphonso is also a music educator, and he is currently on the faculty of the University of Southern California Jazz Studies Department.

Bass Player LIVE! is an annual two-day event that “brings players, manufacturers, and artists together in an intimate environment for hands-on access to the latest instruments, equipment and instruction on playing technique and application.” Previous recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Charlie Haden, Rocco Prestia, Tony Levin, Lee Sklar, Verdine White, Anthony Jackson, Will Lee, Oteil Burbridge, Leo Fender, Percy Heath, Milt Hinton, Jerry Jemmott, Al McKibbon, Joe Osborn, Chuck Rainey, Bobby Rodriguez, and Billy Sheehan.

Congrats to Alphonso. If you’re in L.A. in October, get out to the Key Club and give him his props.

BHM Records has announced that it will release Fast City, a tribute to Joe Zawinul performed by the Metropole Orchestra under the direction of Vince Mendoza. The release is scheduled for Germany in October. If past practice is an indicator, a US distributor won’t pick it up until many months later, although AbstractLogix frequently stocks import CDs for purchase in the US.

I wrote about the orchestra’s Zawinul tribute in April 2009. The orchestration and performances are amazing. Mendoza is a gifted orchestrator and his empathy for Zawinul’s compositions makes for transcendent music. Songs such as “Peace,” “Jungle Book” and “Nubian Sundance” are noteworthy both because one wouldn’t expect to ever hear them played live, but also for the way in which the Metropole Orchestra reveals layers that extend beyond the original recordings by Joe and Weather Report.

Fast City will consists of six tracks recorded on January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. The remaining three tracks were recorded live at the North Sea Jazz Festival on July 11, 2008. Guest artists on both occasions included Peter Erskine, Amit Chatterjee, Victor Bailey, and Jim Beard. Alex Acuña plays percussion on the Concertgebouw tracks while Efrain Toro handles percussion on the North Sea recordings.

More in October.

Track List

1. “Jungle Book” (07:39) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. Recorded January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

2. “Orient Express” (09:32) - Joe Zawinul/arr. Vince Mendoza. Recorded July 11, 2008 at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

3. “The Juggler” (05:24) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. Recorded July 11, 2008 at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

4. “Nubian Sundance” (10:29) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

5. “Dream Clock” (07:37) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

6. “Fast City” (06:07) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. Recorded July 11, 2008 at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

7. “Peace” (11:05) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

8. “Tower Of Silence” (06:47) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

9. “In A Silent Way” (04:20) - Joe Zawinul/ arr. Vince Mendoza. January 26, 2008 at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

“If you study the title, it has little fragments of the names of five or six really influential jazz-rock fusion bands, like Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House, Miles Davis of course, Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Tony Williams Lifetime, Return to Forever, and Weather Report,” he explains. “And that tune, if you listen to it really carefully, you’ll hear elements of all those bands—although to me it sounds more like Weather Report than anybody.

“Even though I was in Return to Forever, and I love Mahavishnu Orchestra and Miles and all that stuff, to me the most creative out of all those bands was Weather Report,” he adds. “Don’t tell Chick I said that!”

Really? Corea wouldn’t be bothered by this well-deserved nod to the late Joe Zawinul, would he?

“Ah,” says Clarke, laughing, “you don’t know Chick like I know him!”

I also happened upon a couple of videos of the band:

Photo: Celigge

The Syndicate, the band formed by several members of the Zawinul Syndicate in order to carry on Joe’s legacy, has several concerts scheduled for this spring. The Syndicate features four members of the final edition of the Zawinul Syndicate: Drummer Paco Sery, percussionist/vocalist Aziz Sahmaoui, percussionist Jorge Bezerra, and guitarist Alegre Corrêa. Additional members are Aloune Wade on bass, Emile Parisien on sax, and Thierry Eliez on keyboards.

The following concerts are scheduled for next week: Mar. 16, Moods, Zurich, Switzerland; Mar. 17, Blue Note, Milano, Italy; Mar. 18, Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria; Mar. 20, Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Additional concerts on the books for this year are: May 1, Budapest; May 19-22, Festival Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Jul. 24, Parc Floral, Paris; Aug. 27, Güssing, Austria; and Nov. 26, Prague, Czechoslovakia.

I haven’t heard this band, but my guess is that this is as close to the Zawinul Syndicate as you’re going to get without Joe. If anyone reading this does attend one of their concerts, drop me a note and let me know what it was like.

It was Joe’s first Grammy win for an album under his own name. Several of his post-Weather Report albums were nominated, as was the Zawinul-produced Salif Keita album, Amen. Congratulations to Joe and the Zawinul estate.

Joe’s post-Weather Report albums have been nominated several times, but have never won. Weather Report did win a Grammy for 8:30, and Cannonball Adderley won for the album Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.

In case you’re wondering, here’s the Grammy nomination process, courtesy Wikipedia:

Record companies and individuals may submit recordings to be nominated. The entries are entered online and then a physical copy of the product must be sent to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Once a work is entered, reviewing sessions are held by over 150 experts from the recording industry. This is done only to determine whether or not a work is eligible or entered into the proper category for official nomination. They may vote to nominate in the general field (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist) and in no more than nine out of 30 other fields on their ballots. Only 5 acts can be nominated for each category. Following this process the votes are tabulated. The 5 recordings that earn the most votes become the nominees. There may be more than five nominees if there is a tie in the nomination process. After the nominations are announced final voting ballots are sent to Recording Academy members. They may then vote in the general field and in no more than eight of the 30 fields. Ballots are tabulated secretly by the major independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Following the tabulation of votes the winners are announced at the Grammy Awards. The recording with the most votes in a category wins and it is possible to have a tie. Winners are presented with the Grammy Award and those who don’t win are given a medal for their nomination. Academy members in the nomination process and final voting process are to vote based upon quality alone. They are not supposed to be influenced by sales, chart performance, personal friendships, regional preferences or company loyalty. The acceptance of gifts is prohibited. Members are urged to vote in a manner that preserves the integrity of the academy. The nomination and final voting processes requires that members vote only in their fields of expertise. The eligibility period for the 2010 Grammy awards is October 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009.