Persona Music Jazz

Lois Armstrong
Wayne Shorter
Miles Davis
Chick Corea
Joe Zawinul
Louis Armstrong
Pat Metheny
Tom Jobim and João Gilberto
Dave Sanborn
Rippingtons
Herbie Hancock

Albums

Examples of  Persona Recordings playable online are offered as music history, music appreciation, education and demonstrations of Persona Studio's arranging, recording and mastering techniques. All the recordings are completed in house by Stephen Gislason. The music selections and their history are described in the book, Sound of Music.

Joe Zawinul

Joe Zawinul was a multifaceted, innovative man who is considered a pioneer in electronic music and studio production since the early 60’s. He was a major composer and player of jazz innovations involved with  the Weather Report, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Santana, Salif Keïta, and his own band, the Zawinul Syndicate. 

Weather Report, featured Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Jacob Pastorius.  Zawinul, a jazz keyboardist and composer pioneered the use of synthesizers and was widely admired. He won the "Best Keyboardist" award 30 times from American jazz magazine.

Paul Tingen described him at age 70: “he's got more energy than men half his age…last year he released a wholly contemporary-sounding album with the Zawinul Syndicate, Faces & Places, and embarked on a lengthy world tour. His band has been called "the hottest band in jazz today" with boiling, uptempo grooves that would wear out people half his age. And is he thinking of retiring? No way. "I can play another 20 years, man," he declared with a grin… Joe Zawinul has gone so deeply into African-American music, and has had such a big impact on it, that he has been called the "greatest white black musician alive" in the US. He's also been voted the best keyboard player in jazz 21 times in the American jazz magazine Downbeat. Zawinul reveled in his ability to play every part:" I played all the parts, man. I think if one person can play everything, then have you a more unique and more organic way of playing music. In all honesty, it's my favorite way to play. "

In 1965, Zawinul wrote the Cannonball band's greatest hit, 'Mercy, Mercy, Mercy'. Zawinul used the Wurlitzer electric piano, first introduced in 1959 by Ray Charles. 

Weather Report

Zawinul co-founded the jazz-rock band, Weather Report with Wayne Shorter. They recorded a successful debut album in 1971 and continued to record 14 studio albums until 1886. Zawinul objected to the "fusion" classification. He stated that Weather Report played its own creative music: “You can’t call it rock or fusion or all these comical words. I love that word ‘jazz,’ man. Jazz is a beautiful word. I connect jazz not with what’s happening today in America so much as when I was young and listened to Jimmie Lunceford, Ellington, Miles Davis, Bird, Dizzy Gillespie: how beautiful music was then and how exciting music was then. That’s what I connect myself with.”

Heavy Weather was their most popular album. In his January 2001 Down Beat retrospective on the band, Woodard wrote: "In 2000, Heavy Weather still sounds like a milestone in the cultural unconscious of jazz history… the album is the crowning achievement of the band's recorded output, a towering landmark of fusion. Birdland was the first WR tune from that album that I choose to arrange and record. Woodward wrote:” Birdland changed the landscape for the band, which had already gained a solid following and crossed over into the rock scene…  audible charm on an album that seems like a thing of near perfection and unprecedented taste, a shining example of the artistic possibilities of fusion's cultural mash process."  Birdland was the famous New York jazz club. Zawinul's Stated "All of us in Vienna knew about this fabulous place. Friederich Gulda, the great pianist, played there with a jazz group and told me all about it. We all dreamed about visiting Birdland some day ... That club made such an impact on me. I met Miles there, and Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong; I met my wife Maxine there. Everyone I worshiped I met at Birdland."

Shorter and Zawinul, A Tribute to Wayne Shorter and Zoe Zawinul

This album contains jazz classics by  Wayne Shorter, Zoe Zawinul, and Pastorius, featuring pieces that they wrote separately and  together as Weather Report. Arrangements and performance by Stephen Gislason Album  Download

Wayne Shorter's Palladium (Palladium Jazz Club in New York City)
Pinocchio was originally recorded by the Miles Davis Quintet (Nefertiti album 1967)
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, the Zawinul/Adderley hit of 1965
Birdland, a hit for Weather Report.
Children of the Night
Speak no Evil (1965)
Footprints
Black Velvet Blues
Chicken (Pastorius)

Play Birdland, Mercy Mercy Mercy, and Pinocchio  by P2500 Band

Persona Music Recordings  Our Music Catalogue includes recorded performances by the P2500 Band, Em4U, and the Persona Classical Consort. Music downloads are delivered from our companion website: Persona Digital Online. Music Downloads are albums, packaged as MP3 files in a zip folder. Download  the zip folder and save.  In Windows, click on the folder and choose the extract all option to unzip the files to your hard drive. A new folder containing the MP3 files will be created. The MP3 files will play on all computers, laptops, notebooks, smart phones, iPods,. iPads, CD and DVD players and all portable music players. Some albums contain liner notes or minibooks as PDF files that introduce the music. Some music recordings and Free Music Downloads are offered to illustrate music history, advance music  education and appreciation. The recordings presented online demonstrate Persona Studio's arranging, recording and mastering techniques. All the recordings are completed in house by Stephen Gislason. The music selections and their history are explained in the book, Sound of Music. More About Downloads.

Persona Digital Studio is located on the Sunshine Coast, Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada.
 www.personadigitalstudio.com  email  music@personadigitalstudio.com.
Our Music Catalogue includes recorded performances by the P2500 Band, Em4U, and the Persona Classical Consort. Music downloads and books are available from our companion website: Persona Digital Online.