RIP, Joe Zawinul (1932-2007)

Jazz keyboardist and composer Joe Zawinul died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna, Austria, at the age of 75. Zawinul was hospitalized in his native Vienna after concluding a five-week European tour and died from a rare form of skin cancer. He is buried in the Zentralfriedhof Cemetery in Vienna.

Critic Richard S. Ginell describes Zawinul as "a category unto himself — a European from the heartland of the classical music tradition (Vienna) who learned to swing as freely as any American jazzer, and whose appetite for growth and change remained insatiable."

Zawinul first played with Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis before co-founding the groups Weather Report and the world fusion group Zawinul Syndicate. He was also a pioneer in the use of the electric piano and synthesizers in jazz and was named "Best Electric Keyboardist" 28 times by the readers of Down Beat magazine.

Weather Report plays "In a Silent Way," one of the more lyrical pieces from the 8:30 album, here:

In his book, The 101 Best Jazz Albums, Len Lyons recommends the Weather Report album, 8:30 (Columbia), which is available from Amazon.com.

Robert
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