Obituary: Joe Zawinul, music legend and jazz pioneer dies

By Ivonne Marschall Sep 11, 2007, 9:35 GMT

Vienna - Born in a working class Vienna neighbourhood - one of the most unusual places to bring forth a jazz visionary - Joe Zawinul was one of the frontrunners of jazz fusion.

The keyboardist and composer revolutionized jazz along with Chick Corea, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock.

Zawinul, born on July 7, 1932 in the Austrian capital as Josef Erich Zawinul, passed away in Vienna on September 11, a few months after celebrating his 75th birthday.

'He lives on,' his son Erich Zawinul stressed.

The Austrian keyboarder rose to world fame heading bands like Weather Report and the Zawinul Syndicate, enjoying smash hits of pop dimensions.

The man who introduced new sounds to jazz shared the stage with all the great names in jazz, from Miles Davis to Cannonball Adderley.

Zawinul's contribution to jazz was soft, but persistent, leaving a permanent mark on movements like jazz-rock and world music.

Zawinul was always regarded a category unto himself - one of the few Europeans to strongly influence jazz in the 1970s and 80s with his creativity and attention to detail, creating a unique and very modern sound.

One of the first musicians to integrate electric pianos and synthesizers, Zawinul combined jazz an rock, always on the lookout for new experiments in electric jazz.

'I was very lucky,' Zawinul said on his 70th birthday. In his family, Hungarian, Czech and gypsy backgrounds mixed, marking him early for his later international career.

The ambitious young musician moved to New York in 1959, and soon established himself in the US jazz scene.

In 1966, Zawinul composed his first hit - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy - during his nine-year stint with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet. Three years later, Miles Davis added the European with the grooving rythm to his band, contributing to the albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, creating jazz fusion.

Zawinul enjoyed his biggest hit Birdland, still one of the most easily recognized jazz tunes, with his formation Weather Report, formed in 1970 and dissolved in 1986.

In 1987, the Zawinul Syndicate was created, where the keyboarder played with a number of different jazz stars until shortly before his death.

Despite being a world musician, Zawinul was ever close to his Vienna roots, owning the jazz club Birdland in his home district. Zawinul remained on stage until the very end.

He was hospitalized in early August, but had concerts scheduled in Vienna in late September.

With Joe Zawinul's death, Austria has lost one of its greatest contemporary musicians, and the world a jazz legend.