RIGA - Joe Zawinul, the genius jazz keyboardist who half-invented world music with his band Weather Report in the '70s and '80s, says that he hasn't listened to anyone's music but his own in 30 years.
"I don't listen to music," he says on the phone from his home in Malibu, California. "I'm a musician and I make music." When he's finished playing his music, "the moment is done."
But how did he figure out his world music beats without listening to, well, music from the rest of the world.
"I'm a world citizen," he says. "But my music is my own. I didn't take it from anywhere." People from the rest of the world, he claims, started listening to his work, came out and imitated it. "Our music is spread out."
Well, be that as it may, Zawinul, 73, will soon be coming to the Baltics (it will be his third time in Riga), trekking his band The Zawinul Syndicate right behind him. The first couple of times were great, he says. One time the Riga Symphony Orchestra, "one of the best in the world," played one of his works. "They got it exactly right."
What will he play this time around?
"I can't tell you that. We have a huge repertoire. Music is something else. We have an incredible, talented group of musicians. People will be shocked, frankly speaking."
At the moment his band is made up of one guy from Marrakesh, three Brazilians, an American and some dude from an island off the east coast of Africa. Alegre Correa is on guitar. He's also got Linley Marthe, "one of the best bassists in the world, no doubt about it."
Now, Latvians are well-known for sitting very still at rock concerts and listening very politely. Will that be a problem here?
"I'm a party person. If we play music we have fun, and we project that to the audience. When we play in Japan people are always going crazy."
Zawinul was born in Austria in 1932, grew up in Vienna (the city with all those cool jazz folks like Mozart) and emigrated to America in the late 50's. The 60's were good to him. He played with Dinah Washington and Maynard Ferguson. He composed one of Miles Davis' great later tunes, "In a Silent Way" and the great funk hit "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." He also helped Miles out on "Bitches Brew," which, if I remember correctly, is still often played in quite a few dorm rooms over a good bong. And then there was Weather Report, the groundbreaking band that helped create jazz fusion and world music.
From the sound of it, he's played everywhere: weird islands in the Indian Ocean, Rio, Boston, Riga. He's gone back to Austria in recent years to set up his own club, but he certainly doesn't live there.
When I asked him how Latvian audiences compared to Austrians or Americans: "Look, no time for chit-chat. The Austrians were fine. The Latvians were fine."
Did he ever compare notes with his fellow keyboardist Herbie Hancock?
"He's a friend. What do we have to compare notes on?"
A few more stupid questions and then:
"You're not getting into my mind."
But the phone call ended on a decent note.
"Make sure to say hi to us in Riga."
Joe Zawinul and The Zawinul Syndicate
Vilnius' Ice Hall 's March 21
Tallinn's Estonia Concert Hall 's March 22
Riga's Congress House 's March 23
