A fusion legend resurrects Weather Report with a 20-piece German jazz army. Chaos? Genius? Both.
Zawinul is onstage with the WDR Big Band from Germany and a special international rhythm section. The music is a tribute to the pioneering 1970s fusion collective Weather Report, originally with Wayne Shorter on sax, Zawinul on keys, and later Jaco Pastorius on bass (among other personnel). Zawinul and the WDR play "Brown Street" and "Carnavalito." Arranger Vince Mendoza re-imagines this colorful, small-group music for Europe's longest-lived jazz orchestra. And they can play!
Direction
Intimate camerawork captures Zawinul's mischievous grin mid-solo.
Sound
Big band thunder meets Weather Report's electric intimacy.
Production
Vince Mendoza's arranging wizardry—small-group spirit, orchestral muscle.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The WDR Big Band is Europe's longest-running jazz orchestra, founded in 1946—Zawinul, born in Austria, found unlikely symbiosis with these German players late in life.
This 2005 performance came during Zawinul's final prolific period; he would die in 2007, making this a document of an artist refusing retirement, still chasing new sounds at 73.
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