Thursday 13 September 2007

Weather Report's Joe Zawinul


When I was listening to Weather Report's Birdland a few days ago, I never thought it would come to this.

But yesterday morning, I learnt that Joe Zawinul - he was one of the two co-founders of this fusion jazz group, Weather Report - had died in Vienna reportedly of skin cancer.

Actually, I never knew much about Zawinul but I knew that he co-founded Weather Report with Wayne Shorter. I also knew he played with Miles Davis and he was a co-composer with Cannonball Adderley of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy that was recorded by The Buckinghams way back in the 1960s.

I had always enjoyed Birdland whether it was playing on my hifi system or on my car stereo. Birdland also had the brilliant bassist, Jaco Pastorius, but alas, he's also dead.

Weather Report only featured in two of my music collection: Heavy Weather on vinyl and of course, This Is Jazz #10 on CD.

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