1. Orient Express
2. Madagascar
3. Clario
4. Scarlet Woman
5. Fast City / Two Lines
6. Zansa II
7. Café Andalusia
8. Badia / Boogie Woogie Waltz
9. In A Silent Way
Joe Zawinul - Keyboards, vocoder
Sabine Kabongo - Vocals, percussion
Alegre Correa - Guitar, vocals, berimbau
Linley Marthe - Bass
Paco Sery - Drums, kalimba, vocals
Jorge Bezerra, Aziz Sahmaoui - Percussion, vocals
Wayne Shorter - Soprano sax (track 9)
This is a DVD version of the double
CD I reviewed here last year. I was fairly hard on the album,
recorded at the Lugano Jazz Festival in 2007 on Joe Zawinul's 75th
birthday (7 July) - two months before Joe died. Perhaps because this
DVD has better balanced sound, or perhaps just because it allows you
to see what is happening, this filmed version avoids the lack of coordination
which bedevilled the double CD. You can actually see who is playing
what, and it helps to clarify the music.
Joe Zawinul himself looks quite impassive, except for the occasional
smile, but the other musicians can be very physical - and that adds
to the visual impact of the DVD, especially when one of the percussionists
juggles with a tambourine after coaxing a wide variety of sounds from
it! Singer Sabine Kabongo dances and sways around, and it is stunning
to see the amazing guitar work from Alegre Correa in Clario. The
outdoor ambience adds to the effect, as darkness falls over the piazza
in Lugano. However, as with too many modern DVDs, the camerawork is
too jumpy, preventing watchers from concentrating on one musician
for any length of time.
You might call this world music, as the musicians come from all over
the world. However, this has the drawback that the vocalists sing
in a variety of unintelligible languages. On several other points,
the comments in my CD review still hold good. Certainly this is a
high-powered band and some of the tunes outstay their welcome. But
there are plenty of highspots, like Paco Sery's virtuosic use of the
thumb piano in Zansa II, and the embracing wash of sound in
Scarlet Woman that you can just lie back and wallow in. As
on the CD, the DVD ends with Zawinul reunited with his old Weather
Report colleague, Wayne Shorter, for In a Silent Way - filmed
in Hungary in August 2007. The DVD also includes audio versions of
this and Hymn.
Having felt that the CD was an unworthy tribute to the late, great
Joe Zawinul, I am heartened to note that this DVD provides a much
more acceptable memorial of one of his last concerts.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
BirdJam BHM DVD 06
