I’ll go out on a limb and say Miles Davis couldn’t have done it without him. On the occasion of Zawinul’s death from cancer at 75, I thought I’d relink to my October ’06 Jazz Times review of Forecast: Tomorrow, the recent three-disc Weather Report collection from Legacy.
I saw Zawinul only once, with Weather Update, his retooled, ethereal, vamp-oriented, Wayne Shorter-less edition of the famous group. Steve Khan was on guitar, Victor Bailey on bass, Robert Thomas, Jr. on percussion, I can’t recall who else. It was in Boston in 1986, a few weeks after my arrival at Berklee. John McLaughlin’s ’80s-era Mahavishnu Orchestra had to cancel (a huge disappointment). But trumpeter Tiger Okoshi filled in, with Kai Eckhardt on bass, giving me an important glimpse into the Berklee culture of the time. (Aydin Esen and Donny McCaslin were among the other campus stars.)
It wasn’t Zawinul at his best, but still, one very memorable night.
Comments are closed.