Joe Zawinul

Austrian jazz and fusion keyboard player, pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger (born on 7 July 1932 in Vienna, Austria; died of skin cancer on 11 September 2007 in Vienna, Austria, aged 75).

Zawinul's introduction to music was playing the accordion with his family. As a jazz musician he began getting noticed in 1952, when he began working with [a=Hans Koller]. However, he is most recognized for his work as a musician and composer on the [a=Miles Davis] albums recorded between 1969 and 1972: "[m=8408]" (1969), "[m=8260]" (1970), "[m=62392]" (1971), and "[m=62306]" (1974).

Zawinul is also recognized for co-founding [a=Weather Report] in 1970, one of the seminal jazz-fusion bands of the 1970s, along with [a=Wayne Shorter] – who was also an ex-Davis musician. Since the split of Weather Report in 1986, he did some solo tours and recordings and formed [a=The Zawinul Syndicate] and played in several other bands.

He was additionally a great composer, and known as one of the great pioneers of electronic keyboards in jazz music.