Joe Zawinul celebrated his 70th birthday with many friends and companions at the Leverkusener Jazz Festival 2002. Together with his Syndicate, he invited friends and musicians to a special birthday celebration. This exceptional concert-experience is now going to be released on double live CD from ESC Records.With "Midnight Jam" one can experience the Austrian and his music not only on his usual very high artistic interpretative level, but also in exciting new ways. Half of the sessions are interpreted by the WDR Big Band under the direction of Vince Mendoza. The typical Zawinul compositions exude quite a new shine and drive when played in a big Big Band setting.Whoever has seen Joe Zawinul and his Syndicate live knows that his studio CDs bristle with a certain amount of musical vitality and expression. But when performing live the 73 year old musician can still kick it up even higher, to a new energy level. Inimitably, as with the energy with which he drives his bands, there is no trace of artistic fatigue in his music. After having released "Faces & Places" in 2002, an album that earned one prize after another, he now presents "Midnight Jam", a new CD that covers the complete range of his musical versatility and talent. For quite some time now there has been no comparable music that even comes close to matching Zawinul's groove, intensity and genre encroaching style-mix.A double CD with Zawinul live – no risk for disappointments if you like Mr Z and his music. An almost unbelievable synthesis of total flow and perfection. This band is actually given more justice on a live recording, where Zawinul’s perfectionism is balanced by the timing and pulse which these musicians are charged with. There is an enormous drive through the whole record, there are definitely no speed limits but it never gets so fast that it stops swinging and feels rushed. The wreckless interplay between Etienne Mbappé and Paco Sery during the bass solo in the middle of “Two Lines” is an enjoyable example of this. The general sound is dominated by drums/percussion, bass and voices. No thick carpets of sound are spread out over everything. Zawinul delivers his well chosen statements, and between these the music is clear and spacy, it never gets too thick in spite of the tempo and intensity.No horns are included in the band (except on the tracks where the WDR Big Band is featured, among others the Z classic In A Silent Way) but instead, the voices have quite a strong position. Besides vocalists Sabine Kabongo (from Zap Mama) and Maria João, Mbappé and guitarist Amit Chatterjee contribute with some lead vocals. The singers’ and synthesizer’s voices are blended into imaginative sounds from different parts of the world (both from earth and from Mr Z’s own mystical universes...)Miscellaneous old friends from Weather Report such as Victor Bailey, Alex Acuña and Peter Erskine make some appearances along with the WDR Big Band, for example on Badia, the classic from Weather Report album Tale Spinning with Scott Kinsey on keys.