Customer Reviews

Rise & Fall of Third Stream/Mon

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Money in the Pocket is a real joy. It is historical, and a great demonstration of Joe Zawinul's instrumental finesse and greatness. He had not yet completely developed his own unique style yet, although he was pushing the funky side more than most pianists of the time, but his chops were second to none. His soulfulness is out front and demanding. There is a solid R&B feel to some of the songs, while others are much softer and less beat oriented. The harmonies are complex and compelling, and the swing is sometimes driving and sometimes relaxing. I highly recommend this album to anyone, especially those Zawinul fans who must have his complete history - of which I am one.

I must disagree with the previous review - especially with regard to his statement that much of Zawinul's later work could be characterized as godawful. While I agree that Money in the Pocket is a great album, I must strongly disagree that Zawinul's recent work is weak - quite the contrary! Perhaps the first reviewer is a traditional jazz purist. Let me remind him that Zawinul, along with Miles Davis and other greats of the late '50s and early '60's revolutionized jazz. Money in the Pocket is part of that revolution. Joe Zawinul continued to revolutionize music into his 70's. Listen to 75th, his last recording, recorded live at the Lugano Jazz Festival on 07/07/07 - Joe's 75th birthday. It is GREAT! I was there in Lugano for that concert, and I have the DVD. In fact, I have everything Joe has done, other than a few tracks he was a sideman on. Yes, some of the later Weather Report is weaker (in particular, This is This), but the Zawinul Syndicate was the greatest world-jazz-funk-fusion band of the 90's and 2000's right up until Zawinul's death in September 2007. Stories of the Danube (1996) is a great classical album from Joe. He did not decline in his later years. Zawinlul had some short periods of stagnation (like ALL creative greats), and that, in fact, is why Weather Report broke up. Joe and Wayne needed both to do a refresh and start again. Take a listen to the newer work - it is great too!

Zawinuo is one of those genius musicians whose creative output ranges wildly, from great to godawful. I'd put these two Atlantic sessions in the great category, along with the first 6-8 Weather Report albums.

While subsequent WR albums had flashes of greatness, they declined steadily in compositional quality and mostly sucked by comparison to those first 6-8 WR LPs--in part because of JZ's increasing dominance in the mix over Shorter, coupled with JZ's decreasing compositional/melodic inspiration.

As for JZ's post-WR albums, they reflect this declining compositional/melodic inspiration and his increasing affection for monochromatic, synthesizer-dominated sound that lacked warmth or variety. I stopped buying JZ's solo LPs after getting 4 that disappointed severely.

I've read that most musicians' melodic inspiriation declines after age 30, and JZ's ever-diminishing abilities would seem to fit that pattern. Or maybe, based on his truly stellar creations through the late WR period, he believes he's such a genius that anything he does is great.

Because he has given us such great music in the past, I hope we witness a return to creative form, perhaps through a collaboration with a true compostional peer like Shorter, and/or the guidance of a gifted producer.