This record can be seen as a companion piece to Miles' "In A Silent Way", as it incorporates not only that tune, but that sound and style. It has been said that Miles Davis (and in post-production, producer Teo Macero) deconstructed Zawinul's landmark composition, in various degrees, both melodically and chordally, and this is evidenced on the great "Complete In A Silent Way Sessions" Columbia box set. The evolution that the piece went through in order to arrive at the iconic LP version is remarkable. "Zawinul", released just prior to the first Weather Report LP, gives us a chance to observe this music as originally envisioned by its composer, while still remaining firmly in the early psychedelic fusion sound that characterized both the Miles release and the first Weather Report release. This fantastic record also includes the well-known (to Miles fans) "Double Image", in a rather different musical context here as well. It is so refreshing to hear the different angles approached by much of the same personnel, at the onset of the jazz fusion movement, but in three different collective headspaces. For this reason, I recommend Miles Davis' "In A Silent Way", Joe Zawinul's "Zawinul", and the eponymously titled Weather Report album as an inseparable set of records that document so well the fountainhead of one of the most important and influential musical movements of the 20th century.