TALE SPINNIN'

The previous album, Mysterious Traveler, is Weather Report's masterpiece, but Tale Spinnin' occupies more time on my turntable. The music is a virtuousic explosion of colors and emotions: Shorter is at a melodic and expressive peak, Zawinul serves up some of the most organic synthesizer playing on record, and Ndugu and Alphonso Johnson make one of the most limber, funky rhythm sections ever. From a distance of decades, it's possible to discern the formulaic sound into which the band would devolve - but it's a faint undercurrent. Overall, the impression is one of endless spontaneous invention; indeed, it can be hard to tell where the compositions end and the improvisations begin.