JAZZ REVIEW : Zawinul Syndicate: Fusion Band for the ‘90s

To objectively judge the Zawinul Syndicate, heard Wednesday at the Palace, it is necessary to erase one’s mental slate; to forget about Weather Report (not easy) and even avoid comparisons with “The Immigrants,” Joe Zawinul’s last album.

Such artists as Abraham Laboriel, Alex Acuna and the vocal quartet Perri, all valuable contributors to that recording, were not involved in this trimmed-down touring version of his current band. Nevertheless, what was presented succeeded, at least partially, in achieving the synthesizer virtuoso’s main goal of uniting many musical cultures within a powerful and at times rhythmically intoxicating framework.

Guitarist Scott Henderson and drummer Cornell Rochester, both heard on the record, were flanked by two other percussionists and a bassist at the start of the two-hour set. At first, it seemed that the listener was to be subjected to a barrage of highly intense cross-rhythms, with very little of melodic interest, but halfway through his second composition, Zawinul got up a head of steam as the various ethnic influences--layered textures of Latin, West Indian, African, even quasi-Scottish sounds--began to work their magic.

Zawinul’s use of the vocoder for vocal distortions resulted only in some incoherent mumbling that works better in the carefully balanced record. Of the band members who sang, by far the most remarkable was Lynn Figmont, the conga player. In “Shadow and Light” (sung on the record by Richard Page, who wrote the lyrics), and in the lead vocal on the new version of “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” (Zawinul’s mid-1960s hit), she drew from a bottomless well of soul in two stirring performances.

Cornell Rochester’s drum specialty was hypnotically powerful; he is the owner of the fastest feet and hands--and the most responsive bass drum--in the West. Later in the set, Zawinul began blowing into an instrument of his own invention, the Korg Pepe, an oddity that manages, with its bassoon-like mouthpiece and button-key design, to sound like everything from an accordion to a tenor sax.

Token acknowledgment to jazz was offered in a quirky version of Thelonious Monk’s “Little Rootie Tootie.” For the rest, though, this was essentially Zawinul’s personal trip as composer and leader of what may yet develop into one of the most versatile and appealing fusion bands of the 1990s.