Joe Zawinul (1932 - 2007)

The jazz world lost Max Roach last month, and today another legend has passed on. Austrian pianist/keyboardist Joe Zawinul, a man who turned down an offer in 1959 to join up with the already legendary Miles Davis (though they would end up working together later on), was integral in the introduction of electronic keyboards and effects into jazz music. When he finally did hook up with Miles, Zawinul played an important role in shaping the development of jazz fusion by performing on and composing for such groundbreaking fusion recordings as In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. He would later co-found the popular fusion group Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, creating some of the best selling and most influential jazz fusion recordings of all time. Zawinul was also often overlooked as a composer, despite the fact that he penned some of the most successful crossover hits in jazz history such as "Mercy Mercy Mercy" (made famous by Cannonball Adderley) and "Birdland" (peformed by Weather Report). The Washington Post reports that he died from complications from a rare form of skin cancer. He will be missed. Read more here.