11. Joe ZawinulDi•a•lects

If I’m honest I don’t know all his work that well – I have some other CDs in a similar vein – but what I loved about this was that it was world music taken to another level. It’s blended with voice synthesis and electronics, and again, really nice grooves. Some of it pre-dates house music in many ways, when he’s got four-on-the-floor grooves. A lovely album to listen to, and Bobby McFerrin doing a lot of the vocals. I don’t know how good a musician Joe is technically because I’m not a very good musician myself, but I do know I saw a documentary about him a few years ago and he seemed like a lovely guy. I’ve always been wary of people who are too good, in terms of that John McLaughlin thing and too many notes. I think it was Herbie Hancock who said to Miles Davis, "I don’t know what to play on this track." And Miles said, "Well, if you don’t feel anything, don’t play." I look for stuff that’s interesting, that’s rebellious, that’s different from something that you’ve heard.