Pianist and keyboardist Joe Zawinul was at the forefront of so many movements in jazz that it’s sometimes easy to overlook his accomplishments. Never looking back, he went from the soul gospel of bebop with Cannonball Adderley to the dark fusion of Miles Davis without missing a step, finally changing the direction of modern music with Wayne Shorter with the band Weather Report. This release finds Zawinul in a rare retrospective mood, looking back at his older material, but with some fresh ideas, as he’s backed by the WDR big band as well as his working team of Victory Bailey/b, Alex Acuna/perc and Nathaniel Townsley/dr for this gig at a Vienna nightclub in 2005
Zawinul and company add layers and layers of sound like a German chocolate cake to t thrilling a moody take of his classic “In a Silent Way” while his Weather Report years are heard with a fresh coat of paint during “Black Market” and “Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz”. His own solo career is featured on things like “Carnavalito” and ”March of The Lost Children” and the use of Kenny Rampton’s mellow flugelhorn on “Night Passage” make for an album that shows that even when looking back, the great artists are always looking forward.