Joe Zawinul, who helped found Weather Report, dies in Vienna
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Joe Zawinul, a pianist and composer who helped usher in the jazz fusion movement of the 1970s with the group Weather Report, died early this morning in Vienna, Austria, according to a hospital spokesman. He was 75.
According to the Associated Press, Mr. Zawinul had been at the Vienna Wilhelmania Clinic since last month.
His manager, Risa Zincke, said he suffered from a rare form of skin cancer.
Mr. Zawinul grew up in Vienna and at the age of 12 entered the Vienna Conservatory on a scholarship. World War II was raging, and many of his friends and classmates were killed in the relentless Allied bombing. He was among some students evacuated to a music school in Czechoslovakia, where a student in American jazz played Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" on the piano. Mr. Zawinul was hooked.
As an adult, he came to America on a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in 1959. Mr. Zawinul played with Maynard Ferguson and Dinah Washington.
In the early 1960s, Mr. Zawinul recorded on electric piano with Cannonball Adderley pioneering a new sound in jazz. He wrote "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" a huge hit for Mr. Adderley, as well as the pop group The Buckinghams.
In the late 1960s, Mr. Zawinul was hired by Miles Davis. He wrote the title track to Davis' "In A Silent Way" and he played on "Bitches Brew."
In 1971, he and saxophonist Wayne Shorter and bassist Miroslav Vitous formed the group Weather Report. The group recorded a series of well-received albums, including "Black Market" and "Heavy Weather," which featured the astounding electric bassist Jaco Pastorius.
Pittsburgh drummer Spider Rondenelli recalls meeting Zawinul and Mr. Shorter in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands in 1969.
"We were playing at the Admiral Dingy and they would come down from New York," said Mr. Rondenelli. "They would be loafing in the joint and it was in the club that they came up with the name Weather Report. He was nice guy. He appreciated being in this country and his calling card was "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy."
In 1997, Mr. Zawinul appeared at South Park as part of the Mellon Jazz Festival.
Earlier this year, he released "Brown Street" on Heads Up Records. Recorded live at Birdland in Vienna, the albums re-examines many of the classics from the Weather Report catalog.
Funeral arrangements were not released.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
First Published September 11, 2007 3:17 pm
