Joe Zawinul - Brown Street (2006) [FLAC]

Like his friend and onetime collaborator Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul was not one to look back on his past and

savor the view. Yet as in the case of Miles (his parting concert in Montreux), Zawinul finally took the plunge

in central Europe late in life by revisiting his old Weather Report repertoire -- live at his Vienna

nightclub, Joe Zawinul\'s Birdland. The significant difference is that while Miles doubled back to a re-

creation of the original Gil Evans charts, Zawinul retrofitted his tunes with new big-band arrangements by

Vince Mendoza, read with gusto and heft by the crack visiting WDR Big Band of Cologne, Germany. To this,

Zawinul added his own synthesizer virtuosity and some overdubs from his Malibu studio, two distinguished WR

alumni who still play with him off and on -- bassist Victor Bailey and percussionist Alex AcuÃ±a -- and drummer

Nathaniel Townsley. In just about every case, Mendoza\'s charts replicate and flesh out every twist and turn in

the Weather Report originals, paying off big-time with \"Brown Street,\" an overlooked swinger from the WR 8:30

album that gets the remake album off to a percolating start. Occasionally he piles on additional harmonic

tissue, as in the Miles-period \"In a Silent Way.\" Some of the writing seems a bit redundant, yet things never

become too overloaded thanks to the ceaseless drive of the rhythm section, and there is plenty of room for

solos. Only on \"Procession\" does Zawinul write his own big-band chart; though tied tightly to the original

recording, it sounds looser than most of the Mendoza charts as it works out over the drone. A few of the song

choices are unexpected: the frantic \"Fast City\" and the strutting title tune from the Night Passage album; the

former features some liquid synth solos by Zawinul and stimulating tenor sax by Paul Heller, and the latter

some relaxed flÃ¼gelhorn from Kenny Rampton. Others aren\'t from the WR catalog at all; \"Silent Way\" predates

it, of course, though WR did play the tune in concert, and \"March of the Lost Children\" and the perennial

\"Carnavalito\" are from the post-WR solo years. Unlike most jazz tribute projects -- including a fairly

bloodless, multi-artist 1999 salute to Weather Report on Telarc -- this double-CD set isn\'t burdened with

artificial nostalgia, and it benefits a lot from the presence of one of the two founding co-leaders (the other

being the absent Wayne Shorter). And Zawinul is the crucial one, because the crusty Austrian keyboardist sees

to it that the swing is the thing and that the groove is deep.

CD1

1 Brown Street Shorter, Zawinul 10:58
2 In a Silent Way Zawinul 5:15
3 Fast City Zawinul 9:04
4 Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz Zawinul 11:45
5 Black Market Zawinul

CD2

1 March of the Lost Children Zawinul 5:50
2 A Remark You Made Zawinul 8:06
3 Night Passage Zawinul 6:26
4 Procession Zawinul 9:02
5 Carnavalito Zawinul 10:41

Joe Zawinul Arranger, Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Vocoder
Joachim Becker Mixing, Producer
Rob Bruynen Band, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Mattis Cederberg Band, Trombone (Bass), Tuba
Klaus Genuit Mixing
Andy Haderer Band, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Annette Hauber Production Coordination
Dave Horler Band, Trombone
Ines Kaiser Photography
John Marshall Band, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Vince Mendoza Arranger
Jens Neufang Band, Clarinet (Bass), Sax (Baritone), Sax (Bass)
Ludwig Nuss Band, Trombone
Joachim Oster Design
Klaus Osterloh Band, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Olivier Peters Band, Clarinet, Flute, Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor)
Kenny Rampton Band, Flugelhorn, Trumpet
Lucas Schmid Executive Producer
Koji Paul Shigihara Band, Guitar
Wayne Shorter Composer
Karolina Strassmayer Band, Clarinet, Flute, Sax (Alto)
Nathaniel Townsley Drums
Heiner Wiberny Band, Clarinet, Flute, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano)
Ivan Zawinul Engineer, Mixing, Sound Effects