Absolute Ensemble & Joe Zawinul - Absolute Zawinul

Legendary keyboard player Joe Zawinul was best known as leader of two of the best fusion bands of last four decades, Weather Report and The Zawinul Syndicate. 'Absolute Zawinul', the last studio recording he made before he passed away in 2007, is a superb collaboration with conductor Kristjan Jarvi's Absolute Ensemble and features startling new arrangements of Weather Report and Syndicate compositions.

Any concerns on the listeners part that this might be a typical jazz-meets-classical outing will soon be dispelled by the uplifting groove of the opening Bimoya originally on The Syndicate's 'Faces & Places'. In selecting the music for the CD Zawinul deliberately aimed to keep the music fresh and not include obvious Weather Report numbers, resulting in two memorable and quite different compositions from the bands final years being performed - The Peasant and Ice-Pick Willy. Also, three tracks originally recorded on solo keyboards by Zawinul on his groundbreaking 'Dialects' album are given more expansive treatment here - Sultan, Great Empire and Peace.

Joining the co-leader on keyboards are the horns, strings and percussion of the 22 strong Absolute Ensemble plus vocalist Sabine Kabongo, bassist Linley Marthe and drummer Paco Sery from later editions of The Zawinul Syndicate.

This recording is an excellent example of how Joe Zawinul and a large group could blend together seemingly disparate music and is dedicated to his memory.