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IMPORTANT NOTICE
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www.zawinulfans.org website.
To see the new website,
click here.
The
Zawinul Syndicate Live in San Francisco The
Zawinul Syndicate in San Francisco Curt
Bianchi already has reviews on his site at: http://www.binkie.net/zawinul/San_Francisco.html
of the Zawinul Syndicate's Weekend shows in San Francisco (
May 6th and 7th ) ( I contributed the review of the Sunday
matinee). But in the interest in transatlantic goodwill
between Zawinul websites I wanted to make a different
contribution for Mario's site, so here it is: In
the San Francisco Bay Area we are blessed with the best jazz
club in the world. Joe Zawinul said so in 1997 the first
time he played there and again in1998 and 1999 and he should
know, he's played in most of the venues in the world. It's
called Yoshi's and unfortunately he wasn't playing there
this time round but in the auditorium of the Palace of Fine
arts in San Francisco.A venue not known for being a music
venue. The sound was OK but not great and it took a while
for even the highly capable soundman, Ivan Zawinul, to get
the sound right. On top of that, the lack of any new
material made it a less exciting experience than previous
Zawinul Syndicate shows I had been to. However,
I will always go to a Zawinul show just to listen to his
unique playing. Age doesn't seem to be slowing down his
technique or his joy of playing. You would often see a
mischievous look in his eyes as he had just thrown a new
change at his fellow band members. His love of sports shows
in the way he seems to treat each show as a game. As he said
himself, "I'm nearly 70 and I'm having a good time" and it
shows. His band members seem to be having a good time too
(when the sound was right anyway). A couple of highlights
that prove this point were Amit Chatterjee playing a sitar
solo via his Roland Guitar synth and Richard Bona joining
the band on stage to pluck the strings of Victor Bailey's
bass while Victor fretted with his left for the final minute
of Carnavalito. Even
with the new drummer and guitarist the Zawinul Syndicate is
still the tightest band around and the audience loves that.
Nathaniel Townsley was making his second and third
appearances with the band and I would never have guessed. If
he made any mistakes I didn't notice. I'm not great on
guitar styles but Amit Chatterjee has that Alan Holdsworth
fluidity which I love, so It will be interesting to see how
he develops in the band. So
if they are coming within 500 miles of where you live, make
sure you go and see them. Here's
the track listing as I perceived it: Intro The
Sunday Matinee show was shorter and stopped at
Bimoya.
May 6th and 7th, 2000
Concert
Review by Andy
Forward
Lost Tribes
Waraya
Two Lines
Zawinul Badrena Duet
Indiscretions
Asi Trabajamos (Manolo Solo)
Bimoya
Intro to Gypsy (Amit's Duet with JZ) (from Tales of the
Danube)
Gypsy
Do You Know Who He Was( Victor's Solo)
Three Postcards
Carnavalito