Rhythmic alchemists of sound and timbre

The extraordinary global reach of jazz was on full display Friday in the performance of the Zawinul Syndicate at Catalina Bar & Grill.

Start with the group’s leader, Viennese-born keyboardist Josef Zawinul, composer of one of the theme songs of the soul-jazz era, “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” as well as the Weather Report hit “Birdland.”

Add to that a Puerto Rican percussionist, an Indian guitarist, a French drummer, a bassist from Cameroon and a Belgian African singer, and you pretty much have a living, breathing, beyond-boundaries definition of jazz as an international music.

Zawinul arrived at the performance on the crest of recent honors.

His latest album, “Faces & Places,” had just received a Grammy nomination; earlier in the week, he was inducted into Hollywood’s Rock Walk.

The diversity indicated by both honors underscored the far-ranging view of jazz that has continually characterized Zawinul’s half-century career as a prominent artist.

His opening set at Catalina’s was initially plagued by glitches in his complex keyboard setup.

In his typically pragmatic fashion, Zawinul simply began to build a vamping rhythm from the keyboards that were available to him, as a technician hurriedly pushed and pulled wires.

That problem dealt with, he launched into a series of pieces, none announced, virtually all based on roiling rhythmic grooves.

Once the music was in an acceptable state of forward propulsion, Zawinul -- wearing his trademark African cap -- roved around his keyboardists, a musical alchemist combining sounds and timbres from every part of the globe.

Solo passages occasionally surfaced through the mix: a colorful blend of voice and percussion from Manolo Badrena; a soaring vocal cadenza comparable to an Indian classical music alap from guitarist Amit Chatterjee; and hard-driving, collective vocal riffing from the entire ensemble.

And, perhaps best of all, there was the gripping singing of Sabine Kabongo (once a member of Zap Mama), hitting its peak in a passionate rendering of Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday.”