Joe Zawinul’s 55-year musical career was marked by three major periods: his stint with Cannonball Adderley (1961–1970), the ensemble Weather Report (1970 – ca. 1986) and his own The Zawinul Syndicate (1988–2007). Thus considered, his stylistic development began with hard bop and soul, paving the way for his own debut jazz-rock recordings (1966), then continuing to more avant-garde, experimental forms with Miles Davis (1968–1970), and finally leading to a broader combination of jazz-rock and what came to be known as world music – and what Zawinul himself considered to be something other than jazz. This final chapter in Zawinul’s career, essentially congruent with the Zawinul Syndicate period, is the focus of this study. Zawinul’s musical style with the Syndicate – in particular his sound, harmony, conception of time, musical density and ballad playing – is first considered. Further, the issue of whether or not stylistic elements typical of the Syndicate era were present with Weather Report, or even earlier, is discussed. Hence, such elements can be traced back to his early career, emerging as characteristics not only of his work in the last two decades, but also of the musician in general.
