Concert
For more than ten years Joe Zawinul has been trying to elevate jazz on a global level with the Zawinul Syndicate. The festival in its long history of supporting (radio) big band culture in Germany encourages yet again the Cologne radio station’s WDR Big Band to return to Berlin. The band’s Zawinul project has already been tried and tested once and will now be broadened with new compositions and some newly invited musical guests of honour. Zawinul’s Birdland club in Vienna is the perfect “warm-up”-venue before their Berlin performance to get the band into ‘working temperature’.
It all started with an audiotape titled “These are my roots / Clifford Jordan plays Leadbelly“ which made a profound impression on young Fredrik Lundin – he claims that Leadbelly’s music has stayed with him ever since. In 2000 he founded his 11 piece band Overdrive and as a natural consequence his recent album Belly-up turned out as a compilation of cover versions of Huddie Ledbetter a/k/a Leadbelly-songs. With all due respect to the originator, Lundin’s interpretations are far from being just plain reconstructions but reveal a very personal approach, yet preserving the vintage quality of the originals.
Joe Zawinul – keyboards, leader
Victor Bailey – bass
Nathaniel Townsley – drums
Alex Acuña – percussion
Heiner Wiberny, Karolina Strassmayer, Olivier Peters, Paul Heller, Jens Neufang – saxophones
Andy Haderer, Rob Bruynen, Klaus Osterloh, John Marshall – trumpets
Ludwig Nuss, Dave Horler, Bernt Laukamp, Mattis Cederberg – trombones
Paul Shigihara – guitar
Fredrik Lundin – saxes
Krister Jonsson – guitar
Henrik Gunde – keyboards
Jens Kristian Uhrenholdt – double bass
Jonas Johansen – drums
Emil De Waal – drums
Maj Berit Guassora – trumpet
Lis Wessberg – trombone
Mia Engsager – trombone
Ola Nordquist – bass trombone
Klaus Löhrer – bass trombone, tuba