WEATHER REPORT

Weather Report's debut was warmly received by the press as one of the best examples of early Fusion, but its release was followed by the departure of Airto Moreira, who's commitments with Miles Davis prevented him from following the band's schedule.He proposed Dom Um Romao as his replacement, but disagreements on tour resulted another major loss.Drummer Alphonse Mouzon quit from his responsibilities and was replaced by Eric Gravatt.The updated Weather Report line-up recorded another album, ''I Sing the Body Electric'' in November 71' and January 72', released on Columbia in May 72' for the US market and on CBS for Europe.

While Waether Report's debut was a bit of a semi-loose but well-constructed affair, their sophomore work sounds a bit headscratching to my ears.The first four tracks are studio cuts, recorded at Columbia Studios in New York, but while having an instant Fusion delivery, they sound too Avant-Garde for my tastes, like a mix of Avant-Fusion, Experimental Jazz with a touches of Fusion reminiscent of their debut.Too smooth at moments, with long individual solos and lacking the dominant keyboard techniques of Zawinul as captured on their debut.Still there are some impressive moments with the band in full collaboration, performing an edgy and very powerful Jazz/Fusion with great instrumental depth, but these are too few compared to the more free approach of these pieces.

The final three pieces were captured live in Shibuya Kokaido Hall in Tokyo, Japan, sometime in January 72'.All of them along with a few more are contained in the first live album of the group ''Live in Tokyo'', released also in 1972 on CBS, originally headed for the Japanese audience.These sound a bit better than the first pieces, which were rather dissapointing.They still lack even a bit of structured textures and rely heavily on Shorter's sax improvisations, but they are much into Jazz/Fusion than more experimental forms.Dynamic percussion parts, swirling electric piano by Zawinul and a frenetic rhythm section offer some good ideas of virtuosic musicianship.Some passages are too jazzy in my opinion, but most of them fall into the aesthetics of the growing Fusion sound.

''I Sing the Body Electric'' is not what I actually expect by a band with so many talent.Too loose and even too experimental at moments, it fails to grab me from the start and only the live pieces have some really interesting moments.Definitely not a winner, but a good purchase for those starving for some diverse but a bit dated Fusion sound...2.5 stars.

Heavy Weather is an unusually weak and lazy album by an otherwise wonderful band, Weather Report. This weakness is especially disappointing after the sequence of great albums they had made before Heavy Weather (the immediate predecessor, Black Market, being probably the coolest).

It all begins with the first two songs on Side A, amounting to almost 13 minutes of dumbed-down, repetitive pop music. A note to the producers: If you are going to record some generic pop stuff, at least have the decency to make the songs short & sweet ... 3 minutes if perfectly enough, maybe stretching into 4 minutes with a slowly fading refrain.

The saving grace kicks in with the 3rd title, Teen Town, where the most impressive Mr. Pastorius finally gets around to playing his trademark bass solo. Unfortunately, the rest of the band does next to nothing on this track, and Mr. Pastorius's impro hits the limit switch in less than 3 minutes .. what a bummer.

Things improve somewhat after Teen Town, and a new quality of energy is ushered in by the übercool exotic chants in the beginning of the Side B, but, all in all, this already short (37') album is a little short on innovation and virtuoso musicianship that Weather Report used to be famous for.

|B-| A diverse, over-complicated, groovy, and occasionally beautiful work of jazz-fusion.

Tale Spinnin' seems the be considered somewhat of the red-headed stepchild of the group's early work (as in before the famed Heavy Weather, I suppose). As it has been awhile since I've done a review on here, I figured I'd do this one since I should probably give my LP copy back to my old friends (from whom I borrowed it) at some point soon. As this is my first real excursion into Weather Report's music, I don't have other albums for comparison, so this review will be very much focused on the album in it of itself (unlike most reviews on it) in the context my general understanding of jazz-fusion, which is limited but not in ignorance.

I think this bit from the liner notes can tell a lot about the unique variety of jazz-fusion that this particular album might possess: "The harmonies of Tale Spinnin' come from street celebrations, the harmonies of different peoples of different cultures gathering to participate in the most basic and essential of musical activities, song and dance." And as it also says in the liner notes, harmony, for Weather report, is synonymous with music itself, and that dance itself had a lot to do with their mentality in creating the album.

Thus, I wonder how much of the red-headed stepchild praise on this album is really due to the use of dance harmonies with may not be well understood by more heavily "western culture" oriented people, where the traditional harmonic format is sufficiently different, and thus perhaps less relate-able to most of us in America or Europe, not unlike Piazzolla's work with tango (though he had even more western art music influence, for sure). This might just be speculation on my part, but I've been exposed to enough Latin American music to have some foundation in that assertion, I hope.

Anyway, on to my musical analysis: Man in the Green Shirt was, as far as the liner notes say, inspired by an old man in a green shirt dancing off to the side to the St. Thomas Steel Band's performance in the Virgin Islands. Lots of creative, brilliant Latin-American percussion for the whole piece, with some great melodies and song-like solo work on the Soprano Sax by Wayne Shorter, one of the biggest names among jazz Saxophonists. I love the dialogue that he and Josef Zawinul have in the between the saxophone solos. This is definitely a complex and heavy piece of jazz fusion. The album quickly breaks into Lusitanos, which is a slower, more groovy, with a heavily "wah"ed out bass, and thick chords from Zawinul. I think this is a pretty cool and interesting piece, really, and Shorter really sings the sax. There's some pretty crazy, awesome work on the piano by Zawinul, which is a real treat since you don't often hear just regular acoustic piano in jazz fusion, or at least I haven't. Between the Thighs (interesting enough title if I might say so...) is probably my favorite work off the album, starting off with a fantastic, groovy riff from the guitar by itself with lots of wah, and the whole piece is just great in the way it unfolds itself into a real dance-able groove, and I especially like Al Johnson's work on bass. I see why this ended up the longest work on the album, I think the band just really locked into a great vibe about the material for this track, and thus kept jamming on it, adding new great ideas to previous great ideas. Flipping the LP over (I know, aren't I so old school...), the piece Badia has a very folk-ethnic sound, using non-western percussion in a solemn, meditative way, with piano harmonies and acoustic bass bends adding to the meditative sound, eventually with a sweet synth melody, and some instruments I've never heard of, Melodica, Mzuthra, West Afric (??). I'll probably look those instruments up after this review. What's more, the main melody is apparently based on a japanese-influenced melody sang by the drummer, Ndugu. it's a really great, beautiful work of art music, probably among the band's best, I'd expect. Freezing Fire is definitely the opposite of the last trick, starting off with more frantic sort of druming, with some heavy, thick long-tone chords from Zawinul, and to me this piece really is the weakest part of the album, the long-tones just don't compliment the fast playing by the drums and bass, it's just a really weird and overly complicated piece, and even Zawinul's solo playing just sounds really technical and, just "there", not adding much to the appeal of the piece, in my opinion, though he plays around with harmony in cools ways every so often. I don't know what the band was thinking making this piece, let alone what they might have been getting at. The next piece Five Short Stories, luckily, starts off with slow, beautiful piano playing, with some great timbre texture experiments with saxophone and organ. There are no drums in the entire work, just lush playing from the two musicians, Shorter and Zawinul.

I'd say I personally enjoy and respect this album enough the warrant it a bit more credit than many others seem to. I understand why some might find it a difficult album, and it does really stretch the ears of the listener on numerous occasions. [However, the main weakness I find in the album, which I recall finding in other material (here and there) that I have heard over the years, is this, from the liner notes: "The music of Weather Report has always been built upon the foundations of details, on the smallest touches," which I feel that the band, whatever their positive attributes, sometimes really fail to see the forest for the trees, often forgetting about the album - and sometimes even a particular piece - as a whole cohesive work, and focusing a bit too much on complicated details constantly.]

Nonetheless, as an enthusiastic, yet occasional connoisseur of jazz-fusion, this is an album which is I always enjoy putting on to simultaneously groove and contemplate, and I do think it to be an "excellent addition to any prog rock music collection", particularly for the jazz-fusion listener.

This is really one of those albums that requires a few listenings; the music has to grow on you a bit. I'll be the first to admit that I was a tad meh'ish upon my first listening, but by the 3rd or 4th listening, I was really starting to appreciate what was going on. You can't fairly compare this to other WR albums because the direction is obviously different than it's predecessors. And to me, that's the inherent beauty of Night Passages; it's it's own musical entity, so to speak. The musicality of previous releases is still there, as are the compositional skills. Give this album a fair shake and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Heavy Weather is the bands highest selling record, and it isn't difficult to see why. Musically, this isn't nearly as adventurous as the 'Romantic Warriors' or 'Inner Mounting Flames' the of the genre. What we have here some easy listening jazz fusion (though it is a bit closer to jazz than rock). I wouldn't say this is a completely bad thing, but after a few listening it seems as if there should be substance.

'Birdland' is the obvious star of the album, and is considered a jazz standard. 'Teen Town' has some amazing driving bass from Jaco, as does 'Havanah.' The remaining tracks are average at best.

This is a decent album, but far from the best Jazz fusion has to offer.

5/10

Weather Reports most well known album, Heavy Weather, is hailed by many as a landmark in jazz fusion. Well, I'm not quite sure I would call it a landmark, as I find Steely Dan's pop jazz works to be much more entertaining and better than this album. But, this is not a bad record.

Heavy Weather starts off with WR's most well known song, Birdland, which is a very nice groovy pop jazz song, and it has some nice synth playing by Joe Zawinul. The next song, A Remark You Made, is a boring slow jazz song that you might here at an upscale restaurant. Not very interesting at all, bland sax soloing, and very anonymous. The next song is probably my favorite on this entire record. Teen Town returns to upbeat playing, and is dominated by Jaco Pastorius's great bass playing. The other highlights on this album are the live Rumba Mama, which is a live recording of african (I think...) tribal shouting, and some nice drum and congo soloing. The next two tracks, Palladium, and The Juggler are not bad, but very forgettable poppy jazz tracks. The last track here, Havona, is my second favorite track here, mainly because it sees the WR crew come somewhat out of their strict controlled pop jazz on most of the other tracks, and really ( somewhat, anyway) let go and play. It is an intricate track, with great soloing from Shorter, Zawinul, and Pastorius, and is definantly the best way they could have brought this album to a close.

While not bad, it isn't amazing either. If you enjoy the poppier side of Jazz Fusion you will probably enjoy this a lot, but if you are loking for intricate and complex, playing you won't find much to please you here.

On Mysterious Traveller a shuffling of the line-up enables a step toward the funkier, slicker fusion the band would soon be playing, but a sound they hadn't full embraced just yet, as not every piece turns away from the more ethereal music of earlier albums.

The first few Weather Report albums produced some of my favourite pieces in jazz fusion, but across this record I don't find the funkier pieces as effective. This doesn't mean I think Mysterious Traveller irreversibly flawed either, but 'Cucumber Slumber' for instance, doesn't seem to have enough variation to hold my interest the whole way through. New bassist Alphonso Johnson certainly adds some pep to the piece, but I find the group's approach to funk much more satisfying on the exciting 'Nubian Sundance' which also incorporates some African elements, mixed in with Zawinul's sonic layering. In fact, he trots out a fair range of sounds on the song, seeming to have a great time with Wilburn's urgent beat to ride atop of.

While some of Zawinul's explorations on the keys don't exactly fall down, something like the moody 'Scarlet Woman' is fascinating to me ? because I can't decide whether I enjoy it or find my ears getting 'zapped' every time he and Shorter sync up. While you'll hear less of Shorter on this album than on prior releases, he still gets time for a nice solo on the title track, whereas elsewhere, on the more ambient pieces, he's much more supportive, as if considering the effect of every note.

'Jungle Book' is quite a gentle closer, but one less sombre than the surprising 'American Tango,' which is still one of my favourite Weather Report pieces. Vitous' only credit on the album, this piece is something of a stumbling ballad, with what should be jarring keys from Zawinul ? but somehow their spacey immediacy gives the song something extra, even with what's almost an awkward, lumbering and brief detour in there just before the long fade, with Shorter's soprano tugging at the heart.

A Top Fifty Billboard release, this album would be something of a gateway between their more commercially successful period and the 'In a Silent Way/Bitches Brew' influenced output of their first three albums. Still one of my favourites of theirs, and probably not one that should be overlooked due to its transitional aspects.

— First review of this album —

You can not tell who is the greatest musician in history. Every era and every genre has its own master. Personally I do not know who is the greatest electric bassplayer in history. Jack Bruce for English Blues and Jaco Pastorius for Jazz, to quote the first two names that are buzzing in my head. Simly, no? Already, too simple and obvious. But everyone will respond well. Surprisingly and clear.

In case you were not aware, Jaco Pastorius was one of the musicians that everyone of us should idolize, even though he hates Jazz. Personally I listen to a recording of Jaco and I feel his fretless electric bass talk. In the Electronic fusion of Weather Report, then, Jaco reached unprecedented heights, transforming the Weather Report in pure magic. Since the pure joy of making magic was simple compositions for Jaco natural thing, the music played by Jaco impious age. Adding that this also applies to the music of Weather Report, here is perfection.

This compilation is great for entering the world of Jaco Pastorius (there would be "Introducing Jaco", solo recordings) and Weather Report. Clearly we just give a short idea of ​​what they were Jaco and Weather Report. However, very comprehensive.

Re-visiting my old Weather Report LP's in recent weeks has been a refreshing experience. Things I thought were great aren't that spectacular anymore, and things I thought weren't that great turned out to be impressive. Yeah, it has been a few years since I've spun them. 'Tale Spinnin' will always get the highest recommendation from me though. 'Domino Theory' from 1984 is an album I thought was mediocre at best, but I've come to really appreciate it, now even more than the previous 'Procession'. Wayne Shorter's saxes haven't sounded so full and robust previously as they do here. Zawinul's keyboard sounds are unique and he really lets loose more often here, actually, this is quite a synth dominated WR album. Victor Bailey is the bassist at this stage, and I definately prefer his style and sound to Jaco Pastorius' - thick, rolling and heavy. Omar Hakim is on drums, and he too has a great, tight sound which just adds enjoyment to this release. Jose Rossy is the ever-important percussionist, adding the colourful, exotic textures this music so deserves. Opening the album with Willy Tee's 'Can It Be Done', a short vocal track (sung by Carl Anderson in jazz-crooner fashion) jolted me years ago, but the lyrics are meaningful, and Zawinul plays some deliberately obscure synth lines, again, something different from the guys. At 11+ minutes, 'Db Waltz' is a complex arrangement which cooks, every member of the band giving a top performance, Zawinul adding some vocalising and virtuosic synth solos, ever so brief, yet outstanding. This is practically a swingin', 'big- band' sounding piece with excellent dynamics and surely a highlight in their vast discography. 'The Peasant' is an 8min slow burner, heavy with percussion and a steady beat, sparse bass lines and lots of synths. Trance-jazz anyone ?? Flipside we get Shorter's 'Predator', a funky tune featuring some bass slapping from Bailey. 'Blue Sound - Note 3' is more experimental, builds into a full-sounding jazzy part, and tapers off. Another Shorter tune, 'Swamp Cabbage' (cool title) has a very interesting drum pattern from Hakim and Eastern styled synth motifs from Zawinul, another great track. 'Domino Theory' features busy percussive work and some truly insane bass-licks (very difficult to tell, it could be synth from Zawinul - Jaco's solo on 'Punk Jazz' (off their 1978 album Mr Gone) doesn't even come close... This one gets 4 stars from me.

Maybe more than any other album I've ever heard, Weather Report's debut has to be one of the hardest to write a review for. Listening to it is the easy part, liking it took a bit more effort, but making commentary about is such a struggle with this particular album because WEATHER REPORT is the type of album that shatters the fine line between melodic jazz and abstract/avant-garde jazz. Almost in the same way that Davis's BITCHES BREW did a similar thing earlier, only we get bite-sized pieces instead of sprawling 20-minute jams (no track goes beyond nine minutes here).

Unless you have a natural dislike towards jazz, give the album several listens; something might break through eventually. That happened with me on ''Milky Way''. Don't give into the idea that the track is just an intro because it is an experience. The piano chords on how they're broken up, yet so floating and airy is just masterful; better yet, the music matches the title as it does feel that I'm in outer space looking at our galaxy from a distance. That same feeling hit me much later in the album on ''Waterfalls''; the piece really does sound like its title.

The overarching sound achieved here is a synthesis of classic jazz, the jazz-fusion style that was starting to blossom and avant-garde sensibilities, yet this is no inharmonious album. The best tone achieved here is through bassist Miroslav Vitous; at times it could be warm, yet it could have a fuzzy attack (hear ''Umbrellas''). The albums' halves seem to contrast each other with Side A having a darker ''melancholy'' and Side B being more upbeat despite a track named ''Tears'' (which is both solemn and upbeat).

Maybe one of the most innovative albums of all time, but lacks the melody or danciness of later releases, but that shouldn't hold anything against WEATHER REPORT. If anything, the too-long ''Orange Lady'' is the only giant blemish in an otherwise stellar art-jazz album. And it's probably the closest Weather Report has gotten towards progressive music.