CD, стоящие на полке рядом : Jazz (Fusion)      

Zawinul Syndicate

Now reduced in size to a quintet (dropping the extra percussionist), Zawinul's Syndicate delivers its most overtly political album — or shall we say, its most anti-political album with its forget-our-differences, one-world tone poems. If Lost Tribes sounds more like a Weather Report album than its Syndicate predecessors, it may be because the CD is loaded with Zawinul's uncanny impersonations of Wayne Shorter on his Pepe synthesizer. Yet the album also cuts down on the pop and straight jazz strains of yore as it explores the sounds and grooves of world music, and Zawinul also resumes using introductory sound collages that produce effects not unlike twisting a short-wave radio dial. The record begins powerfully with the circulating, tense "Patriots" — depicting, oddly enough, the role of black soldiers in the Persian Gulf War — and segues into the relaxed, swinging "South Africa," a celebratory sequel to "Black Water" with vocals by Perri. Bass player Gerald Veasley contributes a track called "San Sebastian" which comes very close to pure flamenco. This CD ranks above the other Syndicate Columbias because it is emotionally deeper; Zawinul allows himself to brood and ponder as well as party.

— Richard S. Ginell

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Joe Zawinul likes to describe the music on this album as "tone paintings." It is a description which in my mind speaks poetically to the immediacy and emotional impact of music in general, and Zawinul's music in particular, on our perceptions and interpretations of the world around us. The idea that music is also a visual medium is embedded in the very language we employ to talk about it. We use the same word, "tone," to describe values in both sound and color. We speak of colors and the chromatic scale in music. And it is music's power to conjure strong visual images, no less than that of poetry or painting, that enables it to communicate to us as forcefully as it does. Joe Zawinul mixes his musical pigments from a rich palette of electronic and acoustic sound sources, painting vivid portraits of the human family in earth tones and laser-light blues.

Zawinul lives in the global village; touring the world, speaking the Esperanto of jazz, and observing the human condition. Lost Tribes offers his further insights on that condition. The album's title track, he notes, was inspired by a paradox; the movement of more and more people away from the isolation of rural living to the big cities and dreams of a better life, only to find themselves lost and isolated in the crowd. Zawinul's vocal - inflected as if possessed of the many peoples' languages and thoughts - reminds us that music is itself a language; holding the line against social entropy, gathering up the scattered tongues, repairing Babel. Music can bind the world together. Today, more than at any time in the past, the world's lost tribes can share in a universal language, a world music, formed of the songs and sounds of their disparate cultural origins. The didjeridu, gong and drum that open "Lost Tribes" suggest the music's origins in some of the world's oldest cultures. The blend of ancient and modern musical technologies extend the meaning of the music in time before it returns to its source, the drum.

Wars, trade and the diffusion of different religious ideas are all facets of the human condition, and each has influenced the development and spread of musical ideas, language and culture. In conjuring up the atmosphere of a Flamenco club, bassist Gerald Veasley's "San Sebastian" also illustrates the influence of North Africa on the music of Spain following the Moorish invasion in the mid ninth century. The rhythms of the Flamenco, the intense melodic ornamentation, and Zawinul's unmeasured opening on the guitar are all characteristic of music heard throughout the Islamic world. The introduction of the guitar itself to Spanish culture can be traced in the evolution of the word, from the Arabic qitara to the Spanish guitarra.

But the musical ideas and influences have moved back and forth in all directions. American troops in World Wars I and II, and in Korea and Vietnam exported jazz, rhythm & blues, rock and soul to the far corners of the world and brought back indigenous musical influences, contributing to the development of a world music. That the divisiveness of war could in any way influence the development of an artistic medium, music, capable of healing and bringing the world together is another paradox. Many a soldier has said that - away from home, Isolated In the Jungles of Southeast Asia or the desert of Saudi Arabia - it was the music that saw him through. Zawinul wrote "Patriots" for the people who risk everything, Including their lives to make their country, and any place on the planet, a better place for all the people. But he dedicates it particularly to the African American soldiers of Operation Desert Storm who, in the absence of a draft, and In spite of the indifference, discrimination and injustice African Americans have encountered upon their return from every war, nevertheless represented more than 40% of the men and women who served in the Gulf War. Zawinul's slow blues lines against the fast beat and the artillery accents that burst from Mike Baker's bass drum evoke the tension between a sustained state of alert in anticipation of combat and the waiting and loneliness of the soldiers. The tension is resolved as Zawinul's keyboard picks up the momentum of American troops rolling across the desert, and "Patriots" ends with cheers for the victory.

Excellently sequenced, side one segues right into "South Africa," which opens with the sounds of real arms fire, distant screams, whirring choppers, and the rallying chant of South African freedom fighters. Zawinul comments: "I want the listener to be there, seeing the riots and killings in the townships, seeing the wrong of It all, and hearing the story of patriots like Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison before returning to play a major part in finally ending (if only by law) this dreadful Injustice and stupidity." That the music of South Africa is today so instantly identifiable in America, that it has in fact been incorporated into the lexicon of the world beat, is due in large measure to groups like Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and to Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba before them. These artists, who gave voice to the struggle through their music, remind us of the role music has played In the struggle for civil rights here in America and in liberation movements throughout the world.

"Rua Paula Freitas" reminds us, as Zawinul himself is often reminded in the course of his travels, that there is a great need for struggle on many fronts. The title of this cut is taken from a street in Rio de Janeiro, where Zawinul and his wife have gone for the last 20 years to eat in a small restaurant with a sidewalk patio. With his plaintive playing on the saxophone-like Korg pepe and the clank of silverware on empty plates, Zawinul evokes strong sensory impressions of the poor, hungry kids who come to beg for food right there at the tables, making one acutely aware of the spread between the haves and the have-nots.

Music all over the world has this one thing in common: it is a human activity and, as such, reflects human values and concerns. We all love. We all feel pain. We all eventually become aware of our own mortality, and we all ask the same basic questions: why are we here? Music can at least center you. As Thoreau noted in his meditations at Walden Pond, we are not lost and alone but on a planet with millions of others, huddled together against the immeasurable emptiness of space. Music takes empty space and shapes it, like architecture, Into a home, a secure and familiar place, a nest to shelter us. "Night Clock" is a salf portrait of Zawinul in reverie. Flying at night, suspended in time and space, relaxing beyond the reach of telephones and away from responsibilities for a few hours to reflect and, perhaps, compose - this is Zawinul's Walden Pond.

But respite is often all too brief. The struggle everywhere continues, and so "Changes" Is a fitting final statement for this collection of tone paintings. Looking to the future with hope, "Changes" forecasts the pace of change for the next few years. And Zawinul on piano, improvising on chords changing every beat, demonstrates again why the art of the improviser continues to be a dazzling model for dealing creatively with life's changes.

- Dr. George Butler