Tag Archives: Aziz Sahmaoui

Keeping Joe’s Music Alive–Fall 2015

I got a note from Risa Zincke, Joe’s manager for the last thirty years of his life. She reports that the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra performed Joe’s symphony, “Stories Of The Danube,” on October 17 under the direction of Kristjan Järvi. The performance was part of part of the October Festival in Leipzig, Germany, and was paired with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6. Järvi worked with Joe on his last studio project, the album Absolute Zawinul by Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble. You can read an interview I did with Järvi about Joe and that album here. This was the first performance of Joe’s symphony since his passing in 2007. Guest musicians included Aziz Sahmaoui, formerly of the Zawinul Syndicate. You can see photos from the concert here.

The Syndicate, which Frau Zincke manages, continues to perform Joe’s music at venues throughout Europe. The band will celebrate “Zawinul Music Day” in Vienna on Nov. 24 at Porgy & Bess, followed by a Nov. 25 date at Treibhaus in Innsbruck. Those shows will feature vocalist Tini Kainrath, who has written words (in German, I assume) to Joe’s tune “Walk Tall” from his time with Cannonball Adderley. “Walk Tall” will be performed by Kainrath and the band. “Zawinul Music Day” is an event that Frau Zincke has organized in Vienna several times since Joe’s passing. I don’t think she’s been able to arrange one every year, but she continues to champion live performances of Joe’s music.

Keeping Joe’s Music Alive–The Syndicate

The Syndicate continues to perform concerts in Europe. This year they performed at the festival Nogent sur Marne in France on May 24, the Copenhagen Jazz Festival on July 11, and DimaJazz in Constantine, Algeria on September 24. The latter concert included Amit Chatterjee.

The clipping at right is a write-up about the Algeria concert, which included Amit Chatterjee. I don’t read and write French, but a rough translation includes:

After Joe Zawinul passed away The Syndicate wanted to continue playing his music, keeping his music alive. They brought out an album File Under Zawinul, and what an adventure to continue what started 40 years ago.

Percussionist/vocalist Aziz Sahmaoui said, “There is a magic in his music an energy, a music which travels around the world.”

“I joined Joe for eleven years on stages around the world,” Amit Chatterjee said. “I came to his house to work with him on different projects. The music of Joe Zawinul is the richest I ever found in my life. There is no limit in his compositions. He was also a great pianist of classical music, but he never he forgot the music of the folk, the music for the people. With Joe on stage it was always like an entire life.”