Jazz Great Joe Zawinul Dies at 75

Austrian born composer and Jazz musician Joe Zawinul listens to a journalist's question during a press conference in Vienna, on Monday, Oct. 2, 2006. Jazz legend Zawinul, who soared to fame in the 1950s as one of the world's greatest jazz pianists and both performed and recorded with Miles Davis, has died at a Viennese hospital at the age of 75, on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2007. (AP Photo/Hans Punz, file) (Hans Punz - AP)

VIENNA, Austria -- Joe Zawinul, the jazz keyboardist who soared to fame as one of the creators of jazz-rock fusion with the band Weather Report, has died, a hospital official said. He was 75.

Zawinul died early Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Vienna's Wilhelmina Clinic said, without giving details. He had been hospitalized since last month and suffered from a rare form of skin cancer, said Risa Zincke, his manager, according to the Austria Press Agency.

Zawinul won acclaim for his keyboard work on chart-topping Miles Davis albums such as "In A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew," and was a leading force behind the so-called "Electric Jazz" movement.

In 1970, Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter founded Weather Report and produced a series of albums including "Heavy Weather," "Black Market," "I Sing the Body Electric," and the Grammy-winning live recording "8:30."

He is credited with bringing the electric piano and synthesizer into the jazz mainstream, but was frustrated by the lack of respect for electric keyboards and new technology among jazz purists.

"There is no difference between a Stradivarius or a beautiful synthesizer sound," Zawinul told Jazziz magazine earlier this year. "People make a big mistake in putting down electronic music. Yes, it's been misused and abused, but that's true of every music.

"There is nothing wrong with electronic music as long as you're putting some soul behind the technology."

Herbie Hancock, who took part in the "Bitches Brew" session, called Zawinul "a force" in the jazz world.

"Joe Zawinul is one of my oldest friends in the music business," Hancock said in a statement released through his publicist. "He was a force as a composer and an amazing conceptualizer.

"He opened up a doorway between jazz and rock n' roll and was a major influence on Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and me. The world has never been the same since he made his contribution to our society."

Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer praised Zawinul's "unpretentious way of dealing with listeners" and said he wasn't "blinded by superficialities."

Born in 1932, Zawinul grew up in a working-class family during World War II in the Austrian capital. He played accordion on the streets to make money and received classical piano training as a child prodigy at the Vienna Conservatory. In the postwar years, he grew interested in American jazz, playing in a dance band that included the future Austrian President Thomas Klestil and making a name for himself on the local jazz scene in bands led by saxophonist Hans Koller and others.