NEW RELEASES

JOE ZAWINUL/THE ZAWINUL SYNDICATE “Lost Tribes”

Columbia * * * Pianist-composer Zawinul’s most appealing quality is his continuing quest for wider forms of expression. While not quite a concept album, this collection includes a number of pieces linked by a concern for what Zawinul describes as “an isolation between people.”

“South Africa,” replete with the sounds of gunfire and helicopters, is a powerful anthem for an oppressed nation. “Patriots,” juxtaposing a blues line against a North African motif, takes the smaller perspective of a single African-American soldier in the Gulf War.

“Rua Paula Freitas,” named for a street in Rio de Janeiro in which rich diners and poor children come face to face, was originally composed with Stan Getz in mind; it is performed here with Zawinul playing remarkably effective saxophone-sampled phrases on synthesizer.

Zawinul’s compositions work as well as they do because spontaneity and a kind of edgy rhythmic gusto are everywhere present--due as much to the leader’s creative drive and determination as to the high-voltage support of drummer Mike Baker, guitarist Randy Bernsen, percussionist Bobby Thomas Jr. and bassist Gerald Veasley.