Electric Piano / Piano / Keyboards

Joe Zawinul

(1932–2007)

Austria

Joe Zawinul (1932–2007) — Electric Piano, Piano. Led Black Market, Heavy Weather. Worked with Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Chick Corea.

Known more for synthesizers and electric keyboards than for piano. With Wayne Shorter in Weather Report, he brought electronics into jazz in earnest. Mercy, Mercy, Mercy — written when he was in Cannonball Adderley's band — shows that his compositional gift came first. He built orchestral layers of sound from electronic instruments.

Joe Zawinul's videos

Jaco Pastorius

Jaco Pastorius · 1976

September 1978, WDR's Rockpalast. The complete Weather Report concert during Jaco PastoriusJaco PastoriusJaco Pastorius · 1976's tenure, including his solo feature — one of the most important fusion concert films.

— Weather Report — Rockpalast Offenbach 1978, 1978

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Wayne Shorter

Jaco Pastorius

Videos featuring Joe Zawinul

Weather Report album co-led by Joe Zawinul

Black Market

Weather Report · 1976

Weather Report was built on the tension between Wayne ShorterWayne Shorterウェイン・ショーター's and Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル's opposite sensibilities. Zawinul controlled structure and groove; Shorter threaded unpredictable lines through the gaps.

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Wayne Shorter

Joe Zawinul's albums

Joe Zawinul's videos

1969, NRK studio. The Cannonball AdderleyCannonball Adderleyキャノンボール・アダレイ Quintet during the Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル years — Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル on electric piano, with the funk vocabulary starting to seep in.

— Cannonball Adderley — Oslo 1969, 1969

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Cannonball Adderley

Videos featuring Joe Zawinul

Weather Report album co-led by Joe Zawinul

Heavy Weather

Weather Report · 1977

Heavy WeatherHeavy WeatherWeather Report · 1977 (1977) shifted Weather Report's center of gravity after Jaco PastoriusJaco Pastoriusジャコ・パストリアス joined. What anchors Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル's Birdland is not a bass ostinato but a singing harmonic line.

— Heavy Weather (album), Wikipedia, 2024

Jaco Pastorius

Joe Zawinul's albums

In a Silent Way

Miles Davis · 1969

The title track of In a Silent WayIn a Silent WayMiles Davis · 1969 (1969) was a meditative chorale Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル brought to Miles DavisMiles Davisマイルス・デイヴィス. Miles stripped the chords from the lead sheet, leaving only melody — pre-figuring the ECM aesthetic.

— In a Silent Way, Wikipedia, 2024

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Miles Davis

Joe Zawinul's albums

The 1966 Cannonball AdderleyCannonball Adderleyキャノンボール・アダレイ hit Mercy, Mercy, Mercy was Joe ZawinulJoe Zawinulジョー・ザヴィヌル's first chart success placing the Wurlitzer at the center of a commercial record — the start of his electric-keyboard obsession.

— 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy!': Cannonball Adderley's Hit Record, uDiscover Music, 2023

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Cannonball Adderley