JOE ZAWINUL
Weather Update

Geneon

Read the Jazzitude review of Joe Zawinul/Faces & Places
Read the Jazzitude review of the Weather Report box set Forecast: Tomorrow

Weather Update was a post-Weather Report project put together by keyboard player Joe Zawinul after Weather Report was disbanded. The group toured briefly, but never recorded. This DVD release purports to be one of the few known recordings of the group, making it an item of interest to hard core Weather Report and Zawinul fans. After this group’s brief tour, Joe Zawinul formed Zawinul Syndicate, which continued many of the experiments of Weather Report, but with an added emphasis on various world music influences that had not been extensively explored in the previous band. There are some hints of the shift on this Weather Update DVD, but overall it is not terribly different than the music Weather Report had been playing by the time they disbanded.

Joining Zawinul on this performance are bassist Victor Bailey, who worked with Hugh Masakela prior to joining the group. Former Weather Report member Omar Hakim had recommended Bailey to Zawinul for Weather Report. After that group disbanded, Zawinul brought Bailey aboard for Weather Update. The collaboration was a fruitful one, and he stayed on to play with Zawinul Syndicate. Drummer Peter Erskine had already played on more than 400 albums with performers as diverse as Steely Dan, Joe Henderson, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, and Kurt Elling. In addition, he had been a member of later editions of Weather Report, recording on the scorching live album 8:30, which also included Jaco Pastorious in the band. Guitarist Steve Khan, who cut his teeth performing with guitarist Larry Coryell and the Brecker Brothers. He has also worked with Miles Davis, Steely Dan, and Eddie Palmieri, among others. Percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. is a self taught percussionist who lends the right finishing touches to the work of Zawinul and the rest of the band. Actually, Erskine, Bailey, and Thomas were all members of late editions of Weather Report, so they play together easily and well, not to mention their rapport with Zawinul himself.

This DVD is only one hour long, and reportedly several numbers were dropped from the performance for reasons that are unknown. However, what is here is excellent. The overall camera work is good, if not great, and the sound quality is very good. There is little in the way of extras—just biographical blurbs on each of the musicians. Nonetheless, its an entrancing performance that will be of interest both to those who loved Weather Report live and to those who never got the chance to see them. Particularly noteworthy is the band’s blowout performance of “Badia” and Bailey’s amazing bass playing on “Consequently.” Most of the tunes here are longish jams that lack some of the focus of the best Weather Report material. To be fair, the group was only beginning to feel its way into new territory, and Zawinul was determined not to play much of the old Weather Report book, even though Erskine and Khan wanted to do so until they had stronger original material.

Still, not much had changed here with regard to Zawinul’s compositional style. In Zawinul’s music, various fragments of melodic statement are passed from one instrument to another, so if the listener tunes out it causes him to miss vital information. In this respect, it is very mindful music. Zawinul’s keyboard work here is representative and demonstrates what makes his work so interesting—it is not just his keyboard technique, which is formidable, but also his ability to manipulate these electronic instruments in real time. No other musician, inside or outside of jazz music, has managed to forge such a personal sound with synthesizers. When the band kicks into the high energy Weather Report raveup “This Is This,” the band really gels and it’s great to hear.

While at times certain grooves wear a tad thin, this is an important document because it makes explicit that much of Zawinul’s work was already embedded with elements that would come to be known as ‘world music,’ as well as pointing the way to the more strongly groove-oriented, world music approach of Zawinul Syndicate.