Joe Zawinul
Joe Zawinul was a Swiss-born keyboardist who made a big mark in the jazz scenes of the 1960s and 1970s. After writing the hit “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” for Cannonball Adderley’s band in the mid-sixties, he went on, with Weather Report, to pioneer “fusion” as well as helping to birth the ambient music genre. He passed away today at age 75 in Vienna.
In his memory, I’m posting the unspeakably beautiful, Zawinul-penned title track from Miles Davis’ landmark 1969 In a Silent Way album. Rest in peace.
posted by Stuart Shea at 9:30 AM
2 Comments:
Joe's passing really affected me more than I would have thought. I was really into the earlier, more-ambient Weather Report albums up to and including Mysterious Traveller. After that they got a little too fusion-y, a little too "look at me, I play bass like I have 14 fingers!", for my tastes.
But boy, when I pulled the older albums out of the racks, and played them this past week, the memories came flooding back: late nights along Lake Michigan, road trips with "I Sing The Body Electric" on 8-track, bongwater being spilled on expensive Persian rugs to a background of "Bogie Woogie Waltz", the excitement of finding truly new music...
Thanks, Joe, for your arrangements, your compositions, and your pioneering keyboard playing.
5:56 AM, September 19, 2007
Wow. What a cool post. Thank you!!!
8:53 AM, September 19, 2007
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