Joe Zawinul

Keyboardist Joe Zawinul was a pioneer of jazz fusion who brought the electric piano and synthesizer into the jazz sound, and who wrote many well-known songs that have become standards in jazz. He was also known for his work with Miles Davis and Weather Report.

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The quality of keyboardist/composer/bandleader Joe Zawinul's music remained unparalleled to the very end. This titan of the jazz world – whose innovative and genre-bending sensibilities gave rise to such visionary musical entities as Weather Report and the Zawinul Syndicate – took his final bow on September 11, 2007, at age 75 after a battle with cancer. Recorded in concert at a festival date in Lugano, Switzerland, on July 7, 2007, this aptly titled concert video is unwavering proof that Zawinul, like so many great artists, clearly saved some of his best work for last. This is a perfect companion piece to the 75 audio CD, which garnered a GRAMMY in 2010 for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

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Join Joe Zawinul and his musician friends from Weather Update for an evening of experimental jazz fusion. A leader in his field, Zawinul has a unique style that infuses jazz with African, South American, rock, R&B, and gospel flavors. In a special performance with Weather Update members Victor Bailey, Peter Erskine, Robert Thomas Jr., and Steve Khan, Zawinul proves that the years have only strengthened his musical abilities. Total Running Time 90 Minutes

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The quality of keyboardist/composer/bandleader Joe Zawinul's music remained unparalleled to the very end. This titan of the jazz world – whose innovative and genre-bending sensibilities gave rise to such visionary musical entities as Weather Report and the Zawinul Syndicate – took his final bow on September 11, 2007, at age 75 after a battle with cancer. Recorded in concert at a festival date in Lugano, Switzerland, on July 7, 2007, this aptly titled concert video is unwavering proof that Zawinul, like so many great artists, clearly saved some of his best work for last. This is a perfect companion piece to the 75 audio CD, which garnered a GRAMMY in 2010 for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

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Film about Joe Zawinul's earth time, a film about friendships and a great love. A film about his life with the greatest jazz artists; he was undoubtedly one of them. The film accompanies Joe Zawinul during the work on his last unpublished album with Kristjan Järvi and the Absolute Ensemble. It visits Zawinul in his house in Malibu and shows him together with Wayne Shorter during their final sensational performance. Cannonball Adderley, Weather Report, Zawinul's Syndicate and above all Miles Davis. In 1991 they played one more time together in Paris, In a silent way, the number Joe Zawinul composed for his friend Miles Davis.

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A comprehensive history of European Jazz, exploring the origins of the US-influenced Jazz clubs after the Second World War, the first steps independent of American jazz and the various changes of direction that have repeatedly occurred in European jazz in the search for that "own voice" that European jazz musicians have helped to form. Featuring the great masters of European jazz such as Chris Barber, Jan Garbarek, Juliette Gréco, Stefano Bollani and Till Brönner, to name but a few.

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This film by director Mark Kidel about one of the world's leading makers of music programs features an illuminating documentary profile on one of the world's foremost jazz keyboard players and composers, along with an electric performance by the Zawinul Syndicate at the Point in Cardiff, Wales, 2004. Shot in an unusually intimate manner, the film communicates powerfully the immediate excitement of jazz as a no-holds-barred, risk-embracing adventure: the shooting and editing highlight the exceptional collective improvisation and musical dialog which characterize Zawinul's work. From a childhood in Vienna, to a move to the United States in 1958, Zawinul found success with the band Weather Report.

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