Josef Erich Zawinul ( / ˈ z ɒ v ɪ n əl / ZOV -in-əl ; 7 July 1932 – 11 September 2007) was an Austrian musician who played the keyboard and wrote music. He first gained recognition while working with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley. Later, he played with jazz musician Miles Davis and helped create jazz fusion, a music style that mixes jazz with rock. Zawinul co-founded the musical groups Weather Report and The Zawinul Syndicate. He was among the first to use electric piano and synthesizer in music. He received the title "Best Electric Keyboardist" twenty-eight times from readers of DownBeat magazine.

Biography

Joe Zawinul was born in Vienna, Austria. He first learned to play the accordion. When he was six or seven years old, he studied clarinet, violin, and piano at the Vienna Conservatory (Konservatorium Wien). In the 1950s, he worked as a pianist for a music company called Polydor. He also played jazz with musicians such as Hans Koller, Friedrich Gulda, Karl Drewo, and Fatty George. In 1959, he went to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music, but a week later he received a job offer from Maynard Ferguson. He left school and began touring with Ferguson. Later, he played with Dinah Washington. During the 1960s, he worked with Cannonball Adderley. While with Adderley, he wrote songs like "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Walk Tall," and "Country Preacher." He also played electric piano. A New York Times article mentioned that it was unusual for a Black bandleader like Adderley to hire a white musician like Zawinul. Zawinul said in a 1997 interview that he sometimes had to sit in the back of a car during tours in the southern United States. He added that he did not let these challenges stop him from playing music with the best musicians.

At the end of the 1960s, Zawinul recorded with Miles Davis on albums called In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. These albums helped create a new style of music called jazz fusion, which combined jazz with rock.

In 1970, Zawinul started a band called Weather Report with Wayne Shorter. For the first two years, the band focused on group improvisation, similar to what Miles Davis was doing. However, Zawinul began changing the band's sound with their third album, Sweetnighter. He introduced elements like bass guitar and a wah-wah pedal. On their fourth album, Mysterious Traveller, the band used musical structures similar to classical music. This helped Weather Report become more popular.

The band's most successful song was "Birdland," written by Zawinul for the 1977 album Heavy Weather. The song reached number 30 on the Billboard pop albums chart. It was recorded by many famous musicians, including The Manhattan Transfer, Quincy Jones, Maynard Ferguson, and Buddy Rich. Zawinul won three Grammy Awards for his work.

Weather Report remained active until the mid-1980s. Zawinul and Shorter were the only members who stayed with the band through many changes in the group. After recording Sportin' Life, Zawinul and Shorter decided to make one more album to fulfill their contract with CBS Records. This album, This Is This!, became the band's final recording.

In 1991, Zawinul received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. He performed with musicians Matthew Garrison, Torsten de Winkel, Abe Laboriel Jr., and Melvin Butler during the ceremony.

The Zawinul Syndicate was a band formed in 1988. It developed from Weather Report. The band's music combined unusual rhythms, strong beats, and influences from many different musical traditions. Zawinul said the name "Syndicate" was chosen because the group felt more like a family than just a band.

After Zawinul's death in 2007, some members of the Zawinul Syndicate decided to perform his music live under the name "The Syndicate."

Important members of the Syndicate over the years included Scott Henderson, Bobby Thomas Jr., Linley Marthe, Paco Sery, Manolo Badrena, Nathaniel Townsley, Sabine Kabongo, Gary Poulson, Richard Bona, and Victor Bailey.

Zawinul also wrote a symphony called Stories of the Danube. It was commissioned by the Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria. The symphony was first performed during the opening of the 1993 Bruckner Festival. It was recorded in 1995 by the Czech State Philharmonic Orchestra, Brno, conducted by Caspar Richter.

Zawinul became ill in 2007 after finishing a five-week tour in Europe. He was hospitalized in Vienna, Austria, and died on September 11, 2007, from a rare type of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma. He was cremated and his ashes were buried in Vienna Central Cemetery. His wife, Maxine, had died earlier the same year. They were survived by their sons: Erich, Ivan, and Anthony.

Keyboardist and composer Dave Greenslade wrote a song called "Born in Eternity Time" on his 2011 album Routes/Roots as a tribute to Zawinul. In the album's notes, Greenslade explained that the title came from a comment Zawinul's son made after his father's death: "His father was now born in eternity time."

Discography

• Concerto Retitled (Atlantic, 1976)
• Joe Zawinul and the Austrian All Stars, His Majesty Swinging Nephews 1954–1957 (RST, 1992)
• The ESC Years (ESC, 2011)

As leader of Weather Report

• 1971: Weather Report (Columbia, 1971)
• 1972: I Sing the Body Electric (Columbia, 1972)
• 1972: Live in Tokyo (CBS/Sony, 1972) – live
• 1973: Sweetnighter (Columbia, 1973)
• 1974: Mysterious Traveller (Columbia, 1974)
• 1975: Tale Spinnin' (Columbia, 1975)
• 1975–76: Black Market (Columbia, 1976)
• 1976–77: Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1977)
• 1978: Mr. Gone (Columbia, 1978)
• 1978–79: 8:30 (Columbia, 1979) – live
• 1980: Night Passage (Columbia, 1980)
• 1981: Weather Report (Columbia, 1982)
• 1983: Procession (Columbia, 1983)
• 1983: Domino Theory (Columbia, 1984)
• 1984: Sportin' Life (Columbia, 1985)
• 1985: This Is This! (Columbia, 1986)

Posthumous compilations

• Live and Unreleased (Columbia, 2002)[2CD]
• Forecast: Tomorrow (Columbia, 2006)[3CD & DVD-Video]
• The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978–1981 (Columbia, 2015)[4CD]

As leader of Weather Update

• Joe Zawinul and Weather Update (Pioneer/Geneon, 2005)[DVD-Video] – live recording from 1986 at the Munich Philharmonic Hall. Posthumous release.

With Cannonball Adderley

With Dinah Washington