Zawinul Syndicate

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Zawinul Syndicate was a jazz fusion band founded in 1988 by the Austrian keyboard player Joe Zawinul, after his previous group Weather Report had developed into something else. It was a changing company of musicians from all kinds of countries. Zawinul chose the name Syndicate because, in his view, such a group is more like a family than just a band. The debut The Immigrants was released the same year, with, among others, Abraham Laboriel on bass, Cornell Rochester on drums and Scott Henderson on guitar.

Music and breakthrough

Black Water (1989) and Lost Tribes (1992) followed, with Mike Baker on drums and Randy Bernsen on guitar. The live albums World Tour (1998) and Vienna Nights (2005) came later, as did 75th (2008), which won a Grammy. The musicians who played in it include Paco Sery, Manolo Badrena, Arto Tunçboyacıyan, Richard Bona, Victor Bailey, Karim Ziad and Aziz Sahmaoui. The group's last concert took place on 3 August 2007 in Güssing, six weeks before Zawinul's death. Afterwards some members continued under the shorter name The Syndicate.

Influence

The sound consists of a jazz groove with rhythms from all over the world, supplemented with vocals, percussion from Africa and Latin America and Zawinul's synthesizers. The band held on to the improvisation of jazz, but relied just as much on driving, swinging grooves. In this way it continued the line of Weather Report and became a model for world music within jazz.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1988The Immigrants
• 1989Black Water
• 1992Lost Tribes
• 2004Midnight Jam