HEAVY WEATHER

Jaco Pastorius asserts more creative control here, becoming an equal partner with Zawinul and Shorter. To some listeners, this is bound to be an exciting development - after all, Pastorius is a premier innovator on electric bass - but it doesn't revive the glory of the band's best records. The stunning high point is "Birdland," a Zawinul composition that translates Weather Report's considerable strengths into something like a big-band format. Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't meet the same standard. At best, the other compositions rely on a fairly predictable sax/keys/bass/drums format that lacks the daring of the group at its best and seems stale next to earlier efforts, in which style, arrangment, composition, improvisation, and instrumental roles were so arrestingly fluid. Alas, Weather Report has become a fusion band.