Weather Report

Track Listings

1. Ol-Olool-O

2. Lapaich

3. Vatnajökull

Weather Report,Chris Watson,Touch UK,Field Recordings,New Age / Meditation,Pop,Rock,Sound Art

Weather Report

Tracks:

Birdland
A Remark You Made
Teen Town
Harlequin
Rumba Mama
Palladium
The Juggler
Havona

Amazon.com

Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter didn't truly fulfill Weather Report's artistic and commercial potential until they brought on-board a bassist who could function as an equal partner in the musical equation, like co-founder Miroslav Vitous, whose main shortcoming was his inability to play funk. In renegade bassist Jaco Pastorius, the band found a formidable composer and improvisor, who possessed deep roots in funk and R&B, yet was equally at home in modern jazz and Afro-Cuban settings. Not coincidentally, the presence of this innovative fretless bassist on Heavy Weather gave Weather Report the rhythmic/melodic dimension it had been missing since Vitous's departure, as evidenced by his voice-like declamations on Zawinul's ballad "A Remark You Made." On Zawinul's chart-topping, big band-styled arrangement of "Birdland," Pastorius provided the kind of big, sweeping orchestral gestures the tune required, while on the shifting canvas of Wayne Shorter's "Harlequin," the bassist's ability to articulate complex chords allowed him to function as a string section unto himself. And on his own "Havona," Pastorius not only soloed with horn-like artistry, but combined with drummer Alex Acuna and percussionist Manolo Badrena to give Weather Report its funkiest rhythm section ever. --Chip Stern

Customer Reviews:

Testmant to great music.......2007-07-05

You buy it originally on vinyl, then get a tape to take in the car. When it comes out on CD, you buy the CD. Okay, then I found a copy in a used record store and grabbed it to keep in the car. That's what happened with me and "Heavy Weather."

"Birdland" drew me into the CD, but there's so much more than this one song to listen to. Weather Report's not just jazz, but a fusion of rock and African music.

"Heavy Weather" is the first jazz I ever bought and still some of the best.

Birdland alone is worth the price of this CD.......2007-07-01

And so is the incredible Jaco Pastorius on his fret-less electric base. Really, the only sub-par track on this CD is the very short Rumba Mama.

Are you kidding me?.......2007-04-28

This is arguably the single greatest fusion album of all time. (Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters" and Miles Davis's "Bitches Brew" might be its only competition) There are very few combinations of players who seem to form a bit of magic when they were together, but Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, and Jaco Pastorius were one of those combinations. There is a reason why the post-Jaco Weather Report albums were not nearly as good as the ones with him, and it's because that magic was lost.

As far as the album itself goes...I don't even know how to start reviewing this. It's like trying to do an art review on the Mona Lisa or something. I mean, who doesn't know the tune to "Birdland"? I suppose that the argument could be made that the synthesized sounds are outdated, but some of the tunes have become so iconic that you'll hardly notice. And the playing is phenomenal. Wayne Shorter gets a bit of a short shift on this album because it doesn't sound like he's playing anything particularly complex, but when you look at the music, you'll see why. In some sections, the chord changes are literally happening EVERY SINGLE BEAT. That's ridiculous.

And Jaco is just a madman (and considering his condition, I mean this in a good way). There has never been a fretless player like him since, and I doubt that there ever will be again.

If you are interested in fusion, buy this and Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters" immediately. You won't be disappointed.

They don't play'um like Paco anymore........2007-04-11

"Birdland" [first track] is an unbelievable masterpiece. Jaco Pastorius on the magnificent four string bass (before we knew what a 5 string bass would sound like he previewed the sound with a 4 string). And add Wayne Shorter on Sax and you have 4 or 5 really decent tracks for the 'jazz- heads' among you. I was lucky enough to have witnessed this magic live in Austin Texas about 1977 at the old Paramount Theater. It was the 'Heavy Weather Tour' and they opened with "Birdland". Other than a small tech. bug in the synth at the beginning of the show it was great.

"Super Audio" format will not play in your CD player.......2007-04-02

Amazon ships this CD in a proprietary Sony format. It will not play in your player or on your computer. Amazon does not list this in the description!

I found out the hard way why a really popular jazz album is selling for only $7!

Average customer rating:

I hope you read this, Richie!
A Worthy Anthology
el mejor grupo de jazz-fussion SIN DUDAS
Good cd selections - Great DVD!
For those who don't

Forecast: Tomorrow
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Brown Street
Live and Outrageous
Carlos Santana & Wayne Shorter - Live at Montreux (1988)
Saudades
Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1976

ASIN: B000HEWGPG
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Tracks:

In A Silent Way
Super Nova
Experience In E Major (Excerpt)
Milky Way
Tears
Eurydice (Full Version)
Orange Lady
Unknown Soldier
Directions
Surucucu
Second Sunday In August
125th Street Congress

Tracks:

Nubian Sundance (Live)
Blackthorn Rose
Badia
Cannon Ball
Black Market
Three Clowns
Havona
Birdland
Palladium
The Pursuit Of The Woman With The Feathered Hat
The Orphan
Sightseeing

Tracks:

Dream Clock
Three Views Of A Secret
Port Of Entry (Live)
Dara Factor Two
Procession
Plaza Real
The Well
D-Flat Waltz
Domino Theory
Predator
Face On The Barroom Floor
Indiscretions
125th Street Congress (DJ Logic Remix)

Amazon.com

From 1970 to 1985, the jazz-fusion ensemble known as Weather Report reigned supreme as one the most distinguished and indefinable ensembles of the 20th century, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Joe Zawinul were the cofounders of this ever-changing group. This superb, three-CD, 37-track collection features the band's incredible cast of musicians: drummers Peter Erksine and Alphonse Mouzon; percussionists Airto Moreira, Alex Acuna, and the late Don Alias; bassists Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, and the incredible Jaco Pastorius. The roots of their sound are heard in Zawinul's "In A Silent Way," and their greatest hits--from "A Remark You Made" and an unreleased version of "Nubian Sundance" to their 1976 mega-hit, "Birdland," are included here, along with the lesser known classic, "Indiscretions," a DJ Logic, hip-hop remix of "125th Street Congress," and a sizzling, two-hour DVD concert from Germany in filmed in 1978. This set is a powerful primer to their "folk music of the future." --Eugene Holley Jr.

Customer Reviews:

I hope you read this, Richie!.......2007-07-16

WAY back in 1974, my best-friend-in-the-army, Richie, and I were listening to each other's albums. Knowing that I was not-so-surreptitiously making more money at night as a musician than I was by "playing Army," Richie told me, "Nah - I don't think you'd like it" when I asked him to play Weather Report's first album for me. I DID badger him into playing the etherial track, "Milky Way" for me, and - even though I was - and am - a "rabid Stones' fan" (like Ian Hunter said about himself & Jaco) - I was captivated. Being a bassist, I had already heard of Miroslav Vitous, and I STILL remember Tony, the drummer of my band, yammering about Alphonse Mouzon and Eric Gravatt - SERIOUS MUSICANS, those three, and I haven't even mentioned Joe Zawinul (the ONLY person I will EVER trust with a freaking synthesizer), or Wayne Shorter, Saxophonist Extraordinaire. And though my interest kind of...well, "slipped" until the year 1978 - UGH!, all my hippie friends were then bleating about that pithy Chuck Mangione..."thing" that was so prevalent then ("Feels So Good" or something), and I kept screaming at them, "NO! That is bubblegum at its most hideous! Have you heard 'Heavy Weather' by Weather Report? You NEED TO!" Well, histrionics aside, all of Weather Report's music is very well represented here on "Forecast: Tomorrow," and I'm grateful, because that certainly fills a hole in my CD collection. But I am really - REALLY - most grateful for the inclusion of the DVD with a 1978 performance by the Jaco Pastorius/Peter Erskine incarnation! I (now blushing FURIOUSLY!) purchased that Joni Mitchell/"Shadows And Light" thing a couple of years ago, only - ONLY - because Jaco was featured so prominently thereon. And athough I'm too cheap to relinquish any of my DVDs or CDs, "Shadows" will now be relegated to that vague, indefinite place where I store, say, the Stones' "Bigger Bang," that John Phillips' "Pay Pack And Follow," or, for THAT matter, anything by the Eagles or such. THANK YOU, Richie!

A Worthy Anthology.......2007-07-12

What a wonderful collection to have; a worthy anthology of the most important jazz fusion band from the 1970s and 1980s.

I have heard some of the original albums and was intent on collecting them at some stage, but this anthology captures the band perfectly on this 3 cd set, covering many of the popular fan tunes as well as many points of interest along the way. Utterly intriging and fascinating to hear, you can completely lose yourself in this music at times.

The live dvd is a great addition to the 3 cd set, and I'm lucky to have it in my collection. It could have been remastered a little with today's technology (aka Cat Stevens' Cat Stevens: Majikat Special Edition) as the picture is a little grainy at times, but the sound quality is still good.

This anthology is a worthy addition to your music collection, and saves you trying to hunt down the Weather Report albums. Unless you have a particular album in mind then you will not find yourself lacking with this purchase, as this collection is quite extensive and stands as testimony to a great collaboration of musicians.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

el mejor grupo de jazz-fussion SIN DUDAS.......2007-05-13

POR FIN EN MIS MANOS LA MEJOR SELECCION MUSICAL DE WEATHER REPORT. HE ESPERADO POR MUCHO TIEMPO VISUALIZAR CON CALIDAD UN CONCIERTO DE ESTE GRAN GRUPO ,CON UNA CALIDAD DE IMAGEN Y SONIDO SIN PRECEDENTES (SALVANDO NATURALMENTE LA DISTANCIA DE TIEMPO Y TECNOLOGIA CON LA QUE SE GRABO EN SU DIA...), EL DVD QUE CONTIENE ESTE SET ES QUIZA EL UNICO DOCUMENTO VISUAL , SONORO E HISTORICO DE TODO UN CONCIERTAZO DE WEATHER REPORT, EN SUS MAS DE DOS HORAS DE DURACION REAFIRMAN LA GENIALIDAD DE CADA UNO DE SUS INTEGRANTES, ES UN PLACER VERLOS EN EL ZENIT DE SU VIRTUOSISMO COMO MUSICOS, LOS DEMAS CD'S(3)DE AUDIO CABE RESALTAR EL EXELENTE TRABAJO DE REMASTERIZACION EN CADA UNO DE SUS TEMAS,LA SELECCION (QUIZA EL TRABAJO MAS COMPLICADO)ES DONDE QUIZA SE DEBERIA HABER INCLUIDO ALGUN OTRO TEMA...EXTRAÑO: "BARBARY COAST", "PUNK JAZZ" ENTRE OTROS, PERO CREO QUE POR EL TRABAJO AQUI REALIZADO SE MERECE LAS CINCO ESTRELLAS DE RIGOR. UN BRINDIS POR : ZAWINUL. W. SHORTER, PETER ERSKINE,JACO PASTORIUS( ALLA DONDE ESTE) Y ESE LARGO NUMERODE MUSICOS QUE CONTRIBUYERON A FORMAR " REPITO " LA MEJOR BANDA DE JAZZ FUSSION O SIMPLEMENTE DE JAZZ CONTEMPORANEO DE LAS HISTORIA "SIN DUDAS" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good cd selections - Great DVD!.......2007-05-07

I don't understand complaints that the cd's here contain already released material. The product description clearly says so. I for one found this collection a very nice compliment to my only other Weather Report cd "Weather Report, the Jaco Years". "Forcast: Tomorrow" contains great stuff from the pre-Jaco and post-Jaco years. The photos and notes in the accompanying book are very good.

As for the DVD, it is also clearly described as a video from the Rockpalast concert of 1978, and if you already have it you are very fortunate. I had not seen it before, and I found it to be very good. The performance is excellent. The cameras switch to capture the ensemble well. The close ups are good enough to follow how each performer is executing their important solos. Jaco is at his best. This is the quartet with Peter Erskine, and the performance captured here is more complete and, to my ear, better than the "8:30" cd.

For those who don't .......2007-04-29

For those who don't have any CDs by Weather Report, this compilation gives you a wonderful overview of the history of the group, all the different personel, a wonderful booklet of photos and info, and a great DVD performance with Jaco. I hadn't heard lot of the early music and I really appreciate the chronology in this box set. The price I paid was a steal. The fact that all the tunes were picked by Joe Z and Wayne S was great!!!!!

Average customer rating:

Masterpiece
Extraordinarily Good!
The best band Weather Report had--with or without Jaco
Short but quite sweet
70s Jazz Fusion With Sporadic Funky Moments

Black Market
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Heavy Weather
Mysterious Traveller
Mr. Gone
Night Passage
8:30

ASIN: B000066T3M
Release Date: 2002-06-04

Tracks:

Black Market
Cannon Ball
Gibraltar
Elegant Pepole
Three Clowns
Barbary Coast
Herandnu

Customer Reviews:

Masterpiece.......2007-07-18

There are few albums that hold up to repeat listenings, year after year. The seventies were an amazing time for jazz/fusion: Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra. I thought I'd heard it all until this album came out. The musical invention soars on this record combining funk, world, jazz, fusion. Jaco, Zawinul, Alphonso and Shorter are amazing, but give credit to Chester Thompson, Michael Walden and Acuna. They help take this musical excursion to another rhythmic level. As an aside, I remember the prof of my college classical music appreciation class inviting his students to bring in a representative sample of what we were listening to at the time. He played Black Market for the class and thought so highly of it that he recommended it! Great music is great music!

Extraordinarily Good!.......2006-04-01

Explorers Shorter and Zawinul, like explorers Lewis and Clark, finally reach "the coast" with this release. Black Market is the culmination of the Weather Report mission part II. Mission Part I was the band's inception through Sweetnighter. Mission Part II started with Mysterious Traveler and finished here with Black Market. Every one of the first six releases was breath-takingly different yet one could still tell it was Weather Report.

In my opinion, this is the last truly great Weather Report release that explores sound, rhythm and musical settings. The air of mystery is in-tact and the music is both wonderful and remarkably accessible to just about anyone with ears and a sense of rhythm.

This is also Weather Report's strongest lineup in my opinion, with Acuna and Thompson taking care of the percussion section and Alphonso Johnson, who may just be the funkiest bass player alive, continuing to add to the mix on bass.

I love the early Weather Report, I've owned every release. I'm not a real fan of the subsequent releases starting with Heavy Weather. They are ok, but everything that came after this release was akin to simply running in place it would seem.

Black Market is masterpiece #4 in a string of releases that were all fantastic - Sweetnighter, Mysterious Traveler, Tale Spinnin', and Black Market. The first two release are also very good but the band hit full-stride with Sweetnighter.

If you love Heavy Weather, you will love Black Market and should also consider Tale Spinnin' which is close in sound and concept. Work backward from there (Mysterious Traveler, Sweetnighter, I Sing the Body Electric and self titled Weather Report) and discover what the original Weather Report was really all about.

The best band Weather Report had--with or without Jaco.......2006-03-05

Much has been made of Jaco Pastorius's impact when he joined Weather Report in 1976, in time for two tunes on this album. Some cite his inclusion into the band as the addition of a third creative voice that had been missing since Miroslav Vitous was a member. Some say that when Pastorius joined, Weather Report took a wrong turn in its musical direction, and that it's his fault. I really don't think either is the case; Jaco was indeed a third voice, at times redefining the bass's role to be a melodic instrument rather than accompaniment, but Alphonso Johnson, the bassist present for most of this album, is by no means a weak link or a missing voice that should have spoken. As for Jaco steering Weather Report down the wrong road, this is simply not true. For those who find later Weather Report ("Heavy Weather" and especially the albums after it) to be inferior, this is more aptly attributed to the fact that co-leaders Wayne Shorter and especially Joe Zawinul were having an increasingly difficult time coming up with creative new material. Jaco did not kill Weather Report; he merely joined at its peak and was with the band as it began to taper off in creativity. He did have the good fortune (or maybe it's our fortune) to be present on "Heavy Weather" and "Night Passage," two fantastic albums.

But for my money, the best unit Weather Report ever had was the one present on most of this album: Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Joe Zawinul on keyboards and synthesizers (and synthesizers, and synthesizers, and more synthesizers), Alphonso Johnson on bass, Chester Thompson on drums, and Alejandro Neciosup Acuna on percussion. Of all the drummers to play with Weather Report, Chester Thompson was the only one to really light a fire under the rest of the band and push it forward. This is his only studio album with the band and I believe the musicianship is at its highest due to his presence. He and bassist Johnson were apparently good friends and their rapport really propels the band to new rhythmic heights. Then Acuna is great here on auxiliary percussion (Shorter in particular seemed to like him a lot, based on what I've read) though he was never able to push and energize the band in the drum chair that he would occupy for the next album, at least not to the level Thompson does on tracks like "Elegant People." Incidentally, there is some phenomenal live material by this edition of the band on "Live and Unreleased" which begs the question why it wasn't released before, a la "8:30" by a later unit.

To complement the fantastic band assembled here, this album features some of the catchiest and memorable material, if not always the most creative, that the band ever recorded. As mentioned, "Elegant People" cooks and yet is beautiful and funky all wrapped into one package, and it gives Shorter some good solo space. The title track is funky (listen to how well Johnson grooves and even if you've heard Jaco, you won't miss him) and worldly. "Three Clowns" is one of the only ballads the band did that manages to not remind the listener of Kenny G (though it was never Weather Report's fault that some of the ballads did...it's Kenny G's fault for taking this beautiful music and watering it down to fit his utter lack of creativity). Then "Barbary Coast," one of two tracks on which Pastorius plays, features the funkiest bass playing on the planet, while breaking free of any kind of repetition or stagnancy associated with funk bass playing. Taken as a whole, the material on this album tells a story through its world themes and styles, and sound effect transitions. In a musical climate 30 years later which values one-hit wonders surrounded by 19 other fluff songs, this consistent quality and unity of material is extremely refreshing.

I've read that this album isn't considered as accessible as "Heavy Weather" but I wholeheartedly disagree. This music can be appreciated on many levels: it's danceable and funky, non-intrusive, and yet deep enough and done in enough colors to maintain interest. Plus the musicianship is phenomenal. Start here for a good introduction to Weather Report, especially if you are coming from a rock or pop music background.

Short but quite sweet.......2005-09-29

Another jewel of the jazz world, the Latino group Weather Report was of course the first to master fusion jazz. This particular album, typically considered the best, probably lives up to its hype. Worth your money, 'specially track three, Gibraltar. Recommended to most.

4 stars for great beats but only seven tracks.

70s Jazz Fusion With Sporadic Funky Moments.......2005-06-09

I favor the upbeat tracks on this album as the two ballads aren't particularly good, pouring water on the fire, and should have been placed at the end. The title track, "Black Market", provides 6 minutes of great 70s funk with sound effects at the end, then "Cannonball" sinks the funk before surprising with a somewhat funky middle section before sinking again. "Gibraltar" begins like a Steve Miller harbor song and some quiet woodwind before launching into some more 70s funk. "Elegant People" introduces some "cocktail piano" for the martini crowd with some burnin' sax lines by Shorter. "Three Clowns" is an atmospheric ballad. "Barbary Coast" begins with more sound effects, this time a choochoo train bringing the arrival of Jaco Pastorius(YAAYYY!), then goes into a funky slow rhythm featuring Pastorius on bass. "Herandnu" has a repetitive keyboard pattern before a rhythmic keyboard/bass section saves the day.

Average customer rating:

A few good songs
Clear Skies Tonight
Something bothers me about this album
Truly, WR at it's best.
Weather Report at Its Peak

8:30
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Mr. Gone
Black Market
Night Passage
Heavy Weather
Weather Report

ASIN: B0000029FR
Release Date: 1994-06-28

Tracks:

Black Market
Teen Town
A Remark You Made
Slang
In A Silent Way
Birdland
Thanks For The Memory
Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz Medley
8:30
Brown Street
The Orphan
Sightseeing

Amazon.com

These live recordings offer an honest, well-rounded perspective of the Weather Report experience, and Joe Zawinul's relative prominence as their coleader and composer, circa 1979. On an arrangement such as "Brown Street," it's clear that Zawinul's vision of electronics was based in great part on his Austrian folk roots and in the varied native musics of South America, Africa, and the greater global village. This edition of Weather Report, featuring former big band drummer Peter Erskine and fretless bass innovator Jaco Pastorius, offered Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter a stable environment in which to fashion a group sound, although by this time, as witnessed by his solo turn on "Slang" and his prominence on every chart, Pastorius had attained cult status based in equal parts on his impeccable musicianship and his sometimes over-the-top flamboyance. Yet for all their forays into funk and the Third World, Weather Report remained at its core the most jazz oriented of all fusion bands. 8:30 is notable for the dancing, syncopated lines of Shorter's composition "Sightseeing," in which the composer lets it all hang out in a virtuoso turn on tenor saxophone that proves that the rumors of his creative demise were grossly exaggerated. --Chip Stern

Customer Reviews:

A few good songs.......2007-05-11

2 or 3 really good songs, including the definitive live version of Jaco's Teen Town. The rest is boring.

I bought it for Teen Town alone, and I wasn't disappointed. Jaco was INSANELY good, IMPOSSIBLY good. After about 25 playings I'm still shaking my head in disbelieve by the end! You will not BELIEVE what this guy could do on bass!

Clear Skies Tonight.......2006-09-26

I saw Weather Report in two concerts to promote the album that featured three sides recorded live and one side of studio work. It was at a point where the band was at its commercial height, but not letting the burden of popularity weigh the group down (that was to come later when Joe Zawinful sacked Jaco Pastorius, as the great bassist began to succumb to his personal demons).

The live cuts highlight the music that many "new" fans expected; Black Market, Teen Town and Birdland. The band delivered their most famous songs, along with other selections and ample solo space, in concerts lasting more than two hours & typically starting at.....you guessed it, 8:30 pm.

The album cover aptly depicted the variety of fans Weather Report was drawing. It was one of the last jazz groups to truly break through the labels that plagued the music industry then and are still around today.

The live lineup of Zawinful, Wayne Shorter, Pastorius and Peter Erskine is perhaps the best known among casual and hardcore fans alike. The studio side features Zawinful's son, Erich, on percussion.

The album is a good sample of what made Weather Report great and I highly recommend it to those who want the "big picture" before delving into the outstanding studio-only releases.

Something bothers me about this album.......2006-03-11

Released in 1979, this album documents live performances of some of the greatest hits that Weather Report had made to this point, most notably "Birdland," "Black Market," and the like. These are great tunes, but there is something very self-conscious about the performances on this album, like they have to be recognizable and go in similar directions as the originals. As a result, the band seldom takes any kind of chances, preferring to rest on their laurels and deliver more of the same. True, they try some twists, like a swing groove to "Birdland" (the original was straight, although this song was born as swing) but the structure of the tune remains primarily the same, so no new direction is achieved. "Badia" and "Boogie Woogie Waltz" are replayed faster as a medley and in less depth, as if to make reference to what the crowd wanted but no more. One gets the feeling the band was sick of a lot of these tunes.

More disturbing are the solo performances. Jaco Pastorius gets his bass solo and cuts loose, playing and quoting anything and everything in a fairly obvious appeal to the crowd, which is more like a rock crowd than a jazz audience. Wayne Shorter gives an uncharacteristic somewhat cliche reading of "Thanks For The Memory" which recalls Sonny Rollins more than it does the adventurous tenor player who is really giving the performance. This would be fine if the performance came off as sincere (Sonny Rollins usually does) but it again seems like a crowd-pleasing effort. For a saxophonist who was really the last original-sounding tenor player EVER (since anyone who has come up in the last thirty years sounds like a mix of Coltrane and other mainstream influences--not that there's anything wrong with that) this is a very disappointing reading that is very predictable and thus meaningless.

What bothers me most is the sense that the band is making fun of traditional jazz and offering it as baby food to a hits-starved crowd. This is evident in the aforementioned solo performances and in the swing-styled "Birdland" and it's disappointing from such astute leaders as Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, who shaped the jazz tradition as much as almost anyone.

Still, this album has some very strong redeeming moments. The first is the most jaw-droppingly AMAZING reading of "Teen Town." This tune made its debut on "Heavy Weather" as a three minute Jaco Pastorius feature and one got the feeling that it never quite fully developed or went in a direction. Well, here it does, turning into a really funky jam that features some brilliant soloing as well as accompaniment from the composer Pastorius. It is stretched to six minutes and is one of the few tunes on here that is redone with anything new added. Another highlight is Zawinul and Shorter playing a reharmonized rendition of the former's "In A Silent Way." Zawinul takes a roundabout way harmonically in the intro that seems to grow until it ends up in an unexpected key, and Shorter's first notes of the melody are chilling in their beauty. The crowd catches on (remarkably hip of them to remember something from ten years ago) and applauds in awe. The only problem is that it's too short and after the brilliant direction of the intro into the melody, the rest is anticlimactic. The last highlight is "Sightseeing," the only worthwhile tune cut in the studio to complete the double album. It returns the band to free-bop roots first explored by Shorter in the Miles Davis Quintet some fifteen years before, but the new sonic textures and this zany space-funk section at the end give it a new twist. This would be the new direction of the next album, "Night Passage," an absolutely brilliant record that proved that Zawinul and Shorter still had something left to give, even if that isn't fully evident on this record.

Overall, this is a competent rehashing of Weather Report hits with some brilliant and some disturbing moments interspersed. Weather Report fans might like to hear this for contrast and for "Teen Town" but those new to the band would do well to start with the studio albums, especially "Black Market." One side note is that the recently released "Live And Unreleased" contains two CDs worth of live performances between 1975-1983, and these are by and large less self-conscious and thus more sincere and fresh takes on some of the same tunes and others that were neglected on this album. That collection is superior to "8:30" and definitely worth a look.

Truly, WR at it's best........2004-06-07

It truly is an awesome album. I have fell in love with it over and over again as I grow older.

Weather Report at Its Peak.......2004-02-16

One of the finest examples of the incredible results that can occur when a group of musicians filled to the brim with talent, get together and play. 8:30 provides the listener with a fantastic blend of some Weather Report's best material and lets the outrageous lineup of Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine show there stuff. In particular, Black Market, Teen Town, In a Silent Way and the Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz Medley plus the bass and sax solos, though every track is great.

Average customer rating:

Lives up to expectations on all fronts
2nd best
THE BEST WEATHER REPORT ALBUM
Mysterious Traveller
A Visual Journey

Mysterious Traveller
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Black Market
Heavy Weather
Sweetnighter
Weather Report
Mr. Gone

ASIN: B000066T3L
Release Date: 2002-06-04

Tracks:

Nubian Sundance
American Tango
Cucumber Slumber
Mysterious Traveller
Blackthorn Rose
Scarlet Woman
Jungle Book

Amazon.com

A quarter-century on, Weather Report's music has dated in a way that Miles Davis's best fusion efforts (including last year's newly unearthed Live at the Fillmore East) haven't. That's especially true of the albums the band made beginning with Mysterious Traveller (1974), at which point the group began looking more to technological advances to further their sound, rather drawing from than the creative brain trust of keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Shorter largely fades into the background here, as Zawinul tests out his battery of Arps and Moogs and Echoplex-equipped electric piano against a busy battery of percussionists. Still, there's a lot of good music on the album, which has been reissued as was--without any added material. "Blackthorn Rose" is a piano (and melodica) and soprano sax duet of lovesome beauty, while the phase-shifting "Nubian Sundance" generates excitement through its orchestrated effects, complex rhythmic scheme, and simulated crowd explosions. New to the ever-evolving Weather Report is bassist Alphonso Johnson, who lends a funkier and more musical touch than his sacked (and highly overrated) predecessor, Miroslav Vitous. --Lloyd Sachs

Customer Reviews:

Lives up to expectations on all fronts.......2006-03-11

When this album was released in 1974, Weather Report finally received critical acclaim for really nailing it. The first three albums were praised for their experimentation but never considered masterpieces; the unifying concept was never strong enough and thus the music was a little schizophrenic. But with this album, even Downbeat acknowledged that Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul had something and knew what to do with it. They had long been hailed as two of jazz's greatest geniuses, and finally they had found a mode of expression which allowed their genius to come out. Thus the critics' expectations were fulfilled.

I came to Weather Report through classic jazz via Wayne Shorter, but the first album I bought was "Heavy Weather," which came as quite a shock at first because it was so unlike traditional jazz, at least on the surface. I actually didn't like it, but then I picked it up again after a year and really listened. Thus I was able to appreciate its brilliant use of color and the integration of so many different styles of music into a whole. I decided then to start at the beginning of Weather Report's discography and work my way back up to "Heavy Weather," since it is quite far into the sequence. The first two albums, the self titled debut and "I Sing The Body Electric" were quite different than the classic Weather Report sound, but I found them to be extremely interesting experiments that my inner post-bop snob was able to appreciate. But I was disappointed in "Sweetnighter," the third album, which integrated more rock and funk elements and was supposed to be the album to define the Weather Report classic sound. "Sweetnighter" was a transitional album, due in large part to the old band not being able to cope with the new approach, especially acoustic bassist Miroslav Vitous. This led to his dismissal from the band in favor of electric bassist Alphonso Johnson, who really fit the new direction well. This album, the one to follow "Sweetnighter," is truly the first to define the Weather Report sound that would become famous. Thus, for me, this is the point in the lineage where the band stops being a "Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul" album and begins to be a "Weather Report" album. It was everything I expected in terms of the sound and yet still held surprises and it sounds fresh every time I listen to it. Thus my expectations were also met after worrying through the first three albums.

Many people come to earlier Weather Report in search of something that sounds like "Heavy Weather" or at least in that vein. They are often disappointed by the rough, experimental early albums, but this one is the first fully realized album. So for those who have come in through the most famous album in the discography, "Heavy Weather," this is the best place to go when looking at the earlier music, as the albums before this may be something of a turnoff (though I enjoy them).

As for the music, the aforementioned unifying concept or theme is probably stronger here than on any other Weather Report album. The album cover, a shooting star, is the first indicator of the cosmic sounds contained within. "Nubian Sundance" is an energetic yet enigmatic tune whose synthesizers make it sound like it's from another planet, yet it's grounded enough to be accessible. "Cucumber Slumber" and the title track are funky, though not as overtly as, say, Herbie Hancock. Instead, they achieve their funk through quirky rhythmic figures and sonic textures, and thus are very creative and interesting in addition to being funky. "Scarlet Woman" and "Jungle Book" are more atmospheric, with sound effects used in provocative ways supplementing simple but strong melodies. The highlight of this album for me, though, is "Blackthorn Rose," a duet between Shorter on soprano saxophone and Zawinul on synthesizers but mainly acoustic piano. In all ways, melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically, this piece is just so beautiful in unexpected and untried ways. The only detraction for me is the use of synthesizer colors interjected among the more sparse piano punctuations. They are interesting, but to hear them through the filter of today's "ambient" music makes the sounds a little dated, even if they weren't when this was recorded. Not Weather Report's fault. The only complaints I have about the program come from "American Tango," a quirky but fairly uninteresting sketch by Miroslav Vitous, who appears as a holdover on this one tune. Also, the drumming here is weaker than on other albums; the two drummers seem along for the ride instead of in the rhythmic driver's seat.

All in all, this album is fairly accessible and wouldn't be overtly offensive to any listener. Fans of classic Weather Report really come on board here and so if you liked "Black Market" and "Heavy Weather," this is the album that started that sound and is every bit as good as those two. This is not, however, a great bridge from rock to jazz, as it is more atmospheric and less funky.

2nd best.......2006-01-24

I liked this album back in the day, and I still like it now. Although it points the way toward the Zawinul-dominated band Weather Report would become, at least Zawinul still had interesting ideas at this point. Mysterious Traveler is their break away from their Miles Davis-influenced sound, and it would eventually yield mixed results. Here, though, it all sounds pretty fresh. Sure, there are lots of synthesizers and electronics, and if that bothers you, stay away. I tend to like it. Their previous album, Sweetnighter, was their best, but I like this one almost as much.

THE BEST WEATHER REPORT ALBUM.......2006-01-05

BACK IN THE 70'S I USED TO LISTEN TO WEATHER REPORT A LOT, THEY WERE ONE OF MY FAVORITE BANDS. I SAW THEM PERFORM QUITE A FEW TIMES IN CONCERT. THIS IS THE ALBUM THAT TURNED ME ON TO THEM. AND IT'S STILL MY FAVORITE ONE. EVERY SONG IS A MUSICAL MASTERPIECE. AND THE ADDITION OF ALPHONSO JOHNSON ON BASS MAKES THEM EVEN BETTER. THE FIRST TIME I SAW HIM PLAY THE "STICK BASS" I WAS BLOWN AWAY. AND AIRTO MOREIRA IS ALSO GREAT. I USED TO LISTEN TO A LOT OF HIS SOLO STUFF ALSO (WITH HIS WIFE FLORA PURIM). WAYNE SHORTER DOES SOME GREAT SOLO STUFF AND JOE ZAWINUL IS FANTASTIC AS USUAL (AT THIS POINT HE WAS REALLY EXPERIMENTING WITH A LOT OF DEFFERENT KEYBOARD SOUNDS). IF I COULD ONLY HAVE ONE WEATHER REPORT ALBUM THIS WOULD BE THE ONE. I'VE BEEN LISTENING TO THIS ALBUM FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS AND IT'S STILL ONE OF THE BEST.

Mysterious Traveller.......2005-08-16

I think it is weird how Weather Report dropped the unstructured all most free-jazz sound after I Sing the Body Electric to a cleaner world-funk jazz feel. Mysterious Traveller is a remarkable following the Sweetnighter. We open with the propelling rhythms of the two drummers and Alphonso Johnson on bass with a crowd cheering on Nubian Sundance. The song has some an African like feel with the back-up vocals and actually featuring some good scat vocals by Zawinul. I can't say much for American Tango it comforting but kind of annoying the synth really gets to my head. But Cucumber Slumber makes up for it, with a groovin bass line and mellow percussion and the usual sax solo from Shortner. Mysterious Traveller opens with a synth drone and some off piano by Shortner the sound is spookish but the song does pick up with crawlish keyboards and a little sax in it. Blackthorn Rose is a sax piano duet and a beautiful one at that but the piano comping by Zawinul can get difficult to follow. Scarlet Women has got a urgent rift with a lot of keyboard buildup in it but the song doesn't sound that full like the pervious ones. The soft Jungle Book features Zawinul playing almost every insterment like guitar,organ,vocals,percussion usual piano and he makes the song sound very professional. You might want to listen to that song again because it is different and good. A must have album for anyone.

A Visual Journey.......2005-06-30

Other reviewers have called this Weather Report's first (or second) effort to merge some fusion sensibilities into their music. I rather see it as their last, greatest effort before tipping too far into the pop/jazz/fusion idiom with the likes of Heavy Weather and Black Market. With Traveler, WR managed to add some funk/fusion sensibilities without losing their delightful quirkiness (especially when it comes to the great Wayne Shorter's unique improvised lines). With later tunes like the ubiquitous "Birdland," their jazz roots were almost (Mr.) gone, but Traveler is not only full of brilliant musical ideas (whether you call it jazz, funk, fusion or whatever), it plays as a cohesive burst of creativity even decades later, despite some dated-sounding synth sounds.

The most obvious characteristic of this recording however, and what most other reviewers fail to note, is how VISUAL this music is. Each track conjures up distinct visual images, attesting to the mystical and cerebral qualities of these seven compositions.

Nubian Sundance is a celebration. Visions of a well-populated, open-air, African plain, peppered with occasional dark visions and building to a triumphant climax.

American Tango is more of a mood than a specific vision. It begins with an air of uncertainty which is abruptly broken by a burst of joy. This is followed by, again, edges of darkness, and concludes with a hint of the happiness shouted earlier.

Cucumber Slumber - Despite brilliant bass work, this track would nowadays read as your basic bland funk groove were it not salvaged by Shorter's inimitable lines.

Mysterious Traveler is an eerie journey through darkened hallways with occasional forays past ominously-clouded skies and through anonymous crowds of hooded strangers.

Blackthorn Rose - There is a strange and unique beauty hiding in this terse musical dialog between Zawinul's piano and Shorter's sax. Unless you are already a fan of Zawinul, WR, and especially Wayne Shorter, you will find the sparseness of this track (okay, and this collection in general) to be an acquired taste. My advice? Acquire it. You won't be sorry.

Scarlet Woman - The most visual of this group of very graphic sound-images, and the eeriest of a collection tinged with strangeness, this track places you firmly into a dark alley with long shadows, a faint howling breeze, and a shadowy figure occasionally darting by menacingly.

Jungle Book takes you back to where your journey began, somewhere on the African continent, but this time, with only a few young boys leaping over bushes joyously, showing off for you on a bright Saharan afternoon. The dreamlike eeriness that pervades the entire album is still here, but the sense of joy that occasionally surfaces is also obvious through the end of the track.

No doubt other listeners see different images. The point is, the depth of this recording stimulates the intellect as well as the soul. If you are a fan of WR's later funk work, take note. As with any music that is deeper than your basic catchy melody, this music may take many listenings to appreciate. It's worth it.

Average customer rating:

Sophomore still lacks a pivotal glue, but certainly compelling enough for fans
I love this album...you might not
Brief Glimpses of Greatness
Weather Report Sings The Body Electric.
WR Album as Fusion-Jazz Futurism!

I Sing the Body Electric
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Weather Report
Sweetnighter
Mysterious Traveller
Mr. Gone
Night Passage

ASIN: B00000273B
Release Date: 1990-04-20

Tracks:

Unknown Soldier
The Moors
Crystal
Second Sunday in August
Medley: Vertical Invader/T.H./Dr. Honoris Causa
Surucucu
Directions

Customer Reviews:

Sophomore still lacks a pivotal glue, but certainly compelling enough for fans .......2007-02-13

Weather Report's second outing does not rise much above the futile talent and aimless compositions that plagued the first release of achieving anything more then microcosms of conceptual brilliance. Here, the emotional aspects are still seriously downplayed, rarely treating us to anything more then the splattering of many creative ideas irresponsibly thrown together in an unconvincing whole. There is a bit more hint of cohesion lurking around, but by and large the groups insistence on overdoing every tiny space with eclectic, self conscious instrumentation still far outweighs the songs they seem focused on developing, as witnessed, thankfully, listening to the solidly foreshadowing final track.

I love this album...you might not.......2006-03-05

Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul were arguably the two geniuses most responsible for Miles Davis's development from the mid-sixties into his electric period that revolutionized jazz in the seventies. Shorter constantly pushed the music forward with his adventurous compositions for Davis's "second great quintet" (some fantastic music there) and participated in "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" which launched fusion. Zawinul was the mastermind behind many compositions in the electric Miles period and helped define the different sounds that were to come from keyboardists in this style. Then the two left Miles to do things their own way, and thus they started Weather Report. Their first album, self-titled, was filled with fascinating quick sketches of new musical ideas capitalizing on the new palette of sounds that came from electronics. This album continued those experiments, but in a more developed and profound way. "Unknown Soldier" in particular is a masterpiece in angular, unconventional composition that manages to be beautiful and very challenging. "The Moors" features an appearance by guitarist Ralph Towner who plays an improvised introduction filled with ideas and lines nobody had ever thought of before, while managing to be extremely funky in some spots. I read that Towner was practicing some ideas for his intro, and Zawinul was concerned that he would be overly self-conscious when actually being recorded, so they recorded Towner practicing for the intro without his knowledge. It was good enough that they actually used his run-through, and when he finally said "okay, I'm ready," they told him he was already done.

The second half of the album is edited down from a performance in Tokyo, and the energy of the band in a live setting is astounding. They do an electrifying version of "Directions," the tune Zawinul wrote for Miles which became Miles's signature piece during his electric period. There's something angularly funky and otherworldly about this very simple melody and the way they play it.

The unfortunate thing about this album is expectations after the fact. Weather Report had only a cult following at this time, so the sound associated with this band from their later recordings is nowhere near what this album sounds like. This music is a lot closer to electric Miles, though it backs off a bit from the rock rhythms and focuses more on the headier aspects of the electronics. As a result, the music is very esoteric and difficult to approach even from familiarity with later Weather Report. If you find the description of this album interesting and want to appreciate it, explore Miles in the late sixties up through "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew," and then get the first Weather Report album, the self-titled one. This is very deep, exploratory music that is completely enthralling for those people who know how to listen to it. Become one of those people.

Brief Glimpses of Greatness.......2005-07-02

This album has its moments, but what moments they are! The original idea of Weather Report, in Joe Zawinul's words, was that "we're always soloing and never soloing"--meaning that the music was improvised, but the improvisations were geared toward the overall composition, not flashy displays of show-off technical virtuosity. Added to this was Zawinul's strong compositional bent; for him, a composition wasn't just head/solo/head, i.e. a vehicle for soloing, it was a setting, a story, a drama, albeit a very "atmospheric" tale, but that was part of the style of the era. Listen to Zawinul's "Pharoah's Dance" on "Bitches Brew" and you'll hear the same approach at work.

The tales on the studio side of this album are very often achingly beautiful, but those moments can be fleeting. "Unknown Soldier" is remarkably lyrical and moving, at least before and after the "bombs away" middle section which is kind of literal and corny. "The Moors" is great, as is "Second Sunday in August": they both create lush, mysterious worlds that pull you in but remain for me, even after 30+ years of listening to them, elusive. "Crystal" might be OK, but whenever I listen to it I get distracted and laugh because I recall Zawinul's comments about Miroslav's playing an upright bass with a wah-wah: he said it sounded like a sick cat, and it was one of the reasons Zawinul fired him from the band.

The live side contains none of the lyricism of the studio side. No doubt the band is playing in top form, though Zawinul's got his Rhodes up to full distort level throughout, and Eric Gravatt, while energetic, sounds sloppy. It's more like what a traditional jazz afficiando would like, a high-energy and virtuosic display, but it's a frustration for me: the studio side started to approach a level of compositional development approaching the cinematic/narrative ("movies in your head", which is what Hendrix said he was trying to get his music to be like), which was a major leap in jazz, but it was subsequently forsaken by the band for its "funk you up" approach.

Anyway, get the album, if you don't like the studio concepts you'll be impressed by the live performance, and if you like the studio concept, there are enough good moments to make it worthwhile. And maybe you'll like both approaches.

Two bits of trivia:

1. The album title was from Walt Whitman, not Ray Bradury.

2. The introduction to the live side, the chat by the Japanese master of ceremonies, was sampled and used by rap group A Tribe Called Quest on their song "Mr. Mohammed".

Weather Report Sings The Body Electric........2003-12-27

Weather Report's second album "I Sing The Body Electric" is quite different from anything else the band released in their entire career. Released in 1972, the album is probably the most experimental and varied of all the Weather Report releases. The style is not neccesarily Jazz nor is it Fusion. It would even be a stretch to categorize it as a Rock album. Above all, "I Sing The Body Electric" is can definitely be categorized as a Music album for the album indeed contains some great music.
The first half of the album contains four studio pieces. "Unknown Soldier" (composed by keyboardist Joe Zawinul) opens the album with a haunting choir of vocalists and an eerie sci-fi-like theme performed by sax player Wayne Shorter and guests Hubert Laws on flute, Andrew White on English horn and Wilmer Wise on trumpet. The overall arrangement is similar to that of Big Band music only the feeling is definitely close to psychedelic with the addition of alien-like sounds coming from Zawinul's newly acquired ARP synthesizer.
"The Moors" (composed by saxophonist Wayne Shorter) once again features the talents of guest musicians. This time, it's from guitarist Ralph Towner from the band Oregon. The sound of the guitar is rare in Weather Report's music since the band itself did not have a guitarist. After a slightly blues-based intro from Towner, the music shifts gears with a pounding tribal drumbeat with a sax melody that is definitely Middle Eastern-influenced. There is also some great drum and percussion work from band members Eric Gravatt and Dom Um Romao here.
"Crystal" (composed by bassist Miroslav Vitous) is an etherial piece of music with a wandering sax-line from Shorter along with Zawinul's spaced-out keyboards and a droning low-end/whining high-end bass part by Vitous. This is definitely a highly improvisational piece that shows of Weather Report's experimental side.
The studio material finishes off with another Joe Zawinul original "Second Sunday In August". This is a loosely-played tone poem which features Zawinul on Hammond organ as well as acoustic piano. The overall structure of the piece is based on simplicity and has patterns of long-held lead lines from Shorter's sax and Vitous's bass.
The second half of the album was recorded live in January 1972 in Tokyo. This is a heavily edited version of the first half of the band's Japanese-only release "Live In Tokyo". The music in its original context ran for 45-minutes and is edited down to 23 for this album. This Tokyo performance captured the band at their most fierce and at their rawest. Joe Zawinul's keyboard work was especially experimental as he used a distortion box, ring modulator and wah-wah pedal on his electric piano. Miroslav Vitous's bass work is also quite unique as he amplifies his acoustic bass using a wah-wah while playing with with a bow.
The second half of this album is just a brief sampling of what is on the Japanese "Tokyo" release and with its obvious and somewhat abrupt edits on the this album, this gives all the more reason to buy "Live In Tokyo" in addition to "I Sing The Body Electric".
This album has since gone on to become a well-appreciated work in Weather Report's large catalog. No other Weather Report sounds as spaced-out, experimental, raw or raucous as this one. From the varied stylings of its studio recordings to its free-form no-holds-barred live half, "I Sing The Body Electric" is an early definitive Weather Report masterwork. Fans who are familiar with the band's later work (ie: Heavy Weather, Night Passage etc.) may want to test this album before buying it. This music is definitely not for everyone. However, if you're one who can appreciate a pioneering band who recorded themselves while trying to find their musical niche, this is definitely an album of high interest.

WR Album as Fusion-Jazz Futurism!.......2003-06-14

Weather Reports' "I Sing the Body Electric" (whose title was borrowed from sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury) was a telling snapshot of the shape of what fusion-jazz was to beome in the very near future. Unlike the group's later successes -- "Black Market" and "Heavy Weather" -- ISBE lacks the compositional structure and instrumental stylings that would eventually define the group's signature sound. One cannot help but discern, from the album's very outset, that it is a ponderous effort, searching, trying to find something that the group had yet to nail down. But the basic elements are there, albeit unrealized: Zawinul's keyboarding, Shorter's sax riffs, etc. This album can be forgiven for its lack of direction because it is, after all, an improvizational effort which is the hallmark of jazz. It is the work of several talented alums from the "Miles Davis School of Jazz Experimentation" leaving the nest, trying their own wings. For this reason too the "live" tracks on the album make sense: the club-like setting that lends itself to instrumental risk-taking is, again, a cornerstone of the jazz genre. In later albums the group would begin to jell, both as composers and as band members. Eventually, WE would come to stand at the top of a rarified heap of other j-fusion artists, having finely honed its sound with each subsequent recording. In the world of pop, the "Beatles" cut their musical teeth in Hamburg before they finally defined what would become the "Mersey Sound." Weather Report's "proving ground" was the grooves of this originally vinyl effort. As another reviewer here said, do not expect this album to be an early version of "Birdland" or anything that would come later. But if you can appreciate it for what it then was -- the musical testament of a group of master craftsmen, mainly soloists, searching for their collective identity -- then this album is an important bit of j-fusion history that is worth its price if for no other reason than jazz preservation and posterity. Like Miles' "Kind of Blue" and "The Birth of the Cool," ISBE is the sort of album that Noah might have taken on the Ark with him so that the shape of things to come would not be lost, but rather survive so that it could bloom in some future time.

Average customer rating:

Legendary debut drowns in ideas
listen with an open mind
Extension of Miles Davis
A bit fail as a whole
Fascinating but not quite emotionally gripping

Weather Report
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

I Sing the Body Electric
Sweetnighter
Mr. Gone
Black Market
Heavy Weather

ASIN: B000002868
Release Date: 1992-10-27

Tracks:

Milky Way
Umbrellas
Seventh Arrow
Orange Lady
Morning Lake
Waterfall
Tears
Eruydice

Amazon.com

Weather Report's 1971 debut album defined the spirit of fusion--restlessly creative, eager to explore new sonic landscapes, and aware that there was a new audience out there eager to share in the discoveries. It's no accident that four of the five original band members--keyboardist Joe Zawinul, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Miroslav Vitous, and percussionist Airto Moriera--had played with the godfather of fusion, Miles Davis. Drummer Alphonse Mouzon brought a tireless propulsive force into the mix. The short, densely-written pieces on this record were like blueprints for a band that would expand on them in live performance. --John Swenson

Customer Reviews:

Legendary debut drowns in ideas.......2007-02-13

The heralding of a new genre to come was not articulated that well with the seminal bands debut, but this group of experienced and adventurous jazz vets certainly planted the seeds of what would be further excavations into the placement of jazzy music with this scattershot array of ideas. The band, just beginning to taste the artistic promise inherent in their musical questing, is obviously just starting to stretch their wings; regardless of the individual array of competence from the get go with Weather Report, it did take some time to gel as a whole. This seems most evident with the noticeably impressive, though deceptively shallow songwriting that makes up these eight tracks. Embellished by what seems to be a never-ending supply of bells and whistles, the vast majority of material here feels sketchy at best, often dragging listeners through the audio muck before quickly highlighting a few fast engaging musical ideas. Thankfully the band would continue to refine their pioneering sound on later releases, but here we just have the fiery, creative catalyst.

listen with an open mind.......2006-09-17

This album starts from where Miles left off. It's fusion before fusion wasn't cool.

Extension of Miles Davis.......2006-08-15

A great extension of the Miles free form with hints at the In A Silent Way sessions.

A bit fail as a whole.......2006-04-29

I'd like to start saying this is not a disc for beginners. If you don't have listen to what fusion was becoming in late 60's you won't be able to understand this record.

Personally, I'm not able to catch this as a whole. Someone have said "Milky Way" could have been composed by Tangerine Dream. I could even say this one is even closer to Karlheinz Stockhausen or Pierre Boulez in also in many other pieces.

Yes, I think this could be said alleatory jazz or serial jazz, not exactly fusion jazz (one may say fission jazz). I can see Miles Davis' heritage in "Eurydice" and "Umbrellas". I can see some groove and some relaxing landscapes in some other cuts.

But this album is really compromising and difficult. Besides, some of the things this group wanted to do were not available for early 70's. The sound is poor and it needs a huge remastering.

Definitivley, not for beginners (maybe I am one of those beginners), but it is a great effort in exploring new ideas, new sounds and new music concepts. Too revolutionary...

Fascinating but not quite emotionally gripping.......2006-03-10

Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul left the Miles Davis fold to start their own group, soon to be known as Weather Report. This is their debut album with bassist Miroslav Vitous, drummer Alphonse Mouzon, and percussionist Airto Moreira. With so many of the musicians coming out of Miles's early electric period, one would expect more of the same funk and fire coming out of the trumpeter's recordings and performances at the time, especially since Shorter and Zawinul were probably the two most prominent in terms of shaping Miles's music compositionally. But instead of the spontaneous energy and rawness of Davis's electric music (which is definitely an acquired taste), this album delivers more of a studio production, although not to the level that their subsequent recordings would. The different tunes are more like sketches than long funky jams, though they do continue the tradition of electronic sounds. They explore new sonic territories in a relatively laid-back fashion, and thus the result is like "In A Silent Way" or even more like "Filles de Kilimanjaro" than "Bitches Brew" or anything Miles was doing at this point. But this album takes it a step farther, like on "Milky Way," the product of recording echos from an acoustic piano that form a remarkably coherent yet far-out piece of music.

When this album was first released, it was critically acclaimed to be brilliant (Shorter and Zawinul are two of jazz's greatest geniuses) but somewhat cold in comparison to Miles's recordings on which the present leaders had played. That criticism stands up today; I listen to this album once in a while when I'm in a strange mood and find myself very interested in the experiments but not particularly emotionally affected. The exception I can think of is "Tears," with its beautiful melodic fragment and passionate development.

Weather Report would continue in this vein for one more album, "I Sing The Body Electric," with what I feel are more successful results (see my review for that album) before changing tracks and becoming one of the most commercially successful fusion bands of the 70s. That music is wonderful too but this is quite different than "Heavy Weather" or "Black Market." Still, there is nothing particularly overt or offensively dissonant to the casual listener, so it is a listenable introduction to the band, if not the best. This album will truly appeal only to adventurous jazz listeners or anyone who wants to hear some "tripped out stuff" and anyone else might feel disengaged from this music. But if you can pay attention to it long enough to appreciate its depth, you will hear how nobody else ever did anything like this, which in and of itself is exciting and worthwhile.

Average customer rating:

A nice mixture of moody and high energy tunes
One of their best
if you love weather report and jaco's playing...this is a MUST!!!an absolute 5 stars!
Overlooked Classic
A Sleeper Masterpiece

Night Passage
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Jazz | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

Mr. Gone
Black Market
Heavy Weather
8:30
Weather Report

ASIN: B0000025K7
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Night Passage
Dream Clock
Port Of Enttry
Forlorn
Rockin' In Rhythm
Fast City
Three Views Of A Secret
Madagascar

Customer Reviews:

A nice mixture of moody and high energy tunes.......2007-03-26

This 1980 album really surprised me with its vitality and freshness; an amazing feat given the year of release. Although I may be a bit too fond of the albums released during the "Jaco-years", I feel that Night Passage sits comfortably alongside the excellent jazz rock albums Black Market (1976) and Heavy Weather (1977). Come to think of it, Night Passage also forms a nice bookend to the definitive works released by the band during the 1970's.

The lineup on Night Passage is fantastic and includes Joe Zawinul (synthesizers, electric piano, and acoustic piano); Wayne Shorter (soprano and tenor saxophones); Peter Erskine (drums); Robert Thomas Jr. (hand drums); and finally, the great (late) Jaco Pastorius (fretless electric bass guitar). Although the performances by all members are fantastic (especially those by Wayne and Joe), I need to single Jaco out here: his playing is simply breathtaking on Night Passage, particularly on the "live in the studio" track Port of Entry. His gymnastics on the electric bass seem to temporarily suspend the laws of physics: he pulls off (I am guessing here) 128th note triplets with ease - let me put it to you this way, he can play really, really fast. More importantly however, his playing is also very sensitive and thoughtful on Night Passage, which is actually a very quiet album. He had an incredible ability to play the perfect (single) note; really listened to what the other musicians were playing; and his use of harmonics and false harmonics made everything richer and more...resonant.

The eight tunes on Night Passage range from 3'55" (Forlorn) to the lengthy 10'56" closing track Madagascar. In large part, the pieces alternate between those with a great deal of energy (Night Passage; Port of Entry; Rockin'in Rhythm; Fast City) and slow, moody, and synth heavy tracks (Dream Clock; Forlorn; Three Views of a Secret; Madagascar). There are also a few bouncy and catchy melodies on the album (e.g. Night Passage); bebop (Fast City); and even a big band sound here and there (Rockin' in Rhythm) - for the most part however, this album was written somewhat in the vein of Heavy Weather, albeit a bit quieter. I have to confess though, that as a huge prog fan, the dark and vaguely experimental track Madagascar is a personal favorite.

I really wish that this album was remastered. There are a few dodgy moments in the sound quality and the liner notes are pretty skimpy.

Well there you have it. Night Passage is a great album and is recommended along with Black Market and Heavy Weather.

One of their best.......2006-11-28

This album is one of their best, the selection "Forlorn" is one of Shorters best sax pieces ever. Walk, don't run to buy this one.

if you love weather report and jaco's playing...this is a MUST!!!an absolute 5 stars!.......2006-08-24

some consider this album as the best from weather report: i'm one of them.I love the other ones, don't get me wrong.......i love this group.but this album for me reatches the everest peak with the jacos'flag!! and his flag for me (but not just for me) is the best song he ever composed and (for me) one of the best songs ever composed by a jazz musician! "three views of a secret".it will make you feel angry at the person who killed him (luc havan) in 1987.and then the other songs! NIGHT PAAAASSSAAAGEEE!!! this is the perfect example of what weather report truly were:a team. and then rockin'in rhythm,fast city, port of entry.....every song here is a piece of art.trust me.if like me you are a musician,you love weather report,and you get excited,i mean REALLY excited, about superb chord changes,solos,great rhythm and melodies from the heart......THIS-IS-THE-ALBUM-YOU-MUST-GET! i think i made it clear,didn't I?
ciao,
alessandro from firenze,italy.

Overlooked Classic.......2006-04-13

The reason I have said overlooked is because it seems that when ever people mention Weather Report everybody thinks Birdland and its album Heavy Weather. I think that Heavy Weather is definitely a classic but I think that Night Passage holds much more for the listener. The tunes are a return to a more jazz rooted style. The title track is a cool laided back shuffle type groove with Jaco turning up the heat towards the end. I think this album will please the Jaco fans greatly. The second track is Dream Clock which is a ballad very similar to Heavy Weather's A Remark You Made with Jaco making the theme statment on his frettless. Supposedly Zawinul was trying to convie the passage of time through the night,slow at first and dream like and then fast after midnight. This album is just that. The tunes increase in speed and intensity as the album progresses. My personal favorite is Shorter's Port of Entry which contains one of Jaco's best bass solos.Shorter goes back to his days with the Miles Davis Quintet with his solo on Fast City a up tempo swinger by Zawinul. They cover Duke's Rockin in Rythmn and it smokes. Overall I would say you can't go wrong with this record especially if you already dig Weather Report. check this one out!

A Sleeper Masterpiece.......2006-03-02

I know. Someone shoot me for the pun. But about this time in Weather Report's career, 1980, co-leaders Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter were starting to exhaust their creativity within the colorful, funky, world-music styles that had characterized their previous album and the classic sound of the 70s. As a result, they had to search for inspiration outside of the style, and came back to their roots. Weather Report had always been jazz in its approach and the mentality of the musicians, but this album was the first since "I Sing the Body Electric" in 1972 in which they were predominantly jazz in the stylistic sense. Thus, "Night Passage" is the most conservative of all Weather Report releases in that it looks back to jazz of the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s as inspiration, which ironically gives it its freshness given the historical context; fusion was undergoing an identity and popularity crisis at the time, so a return to where it came from was a positive thing. At the same time, Zawinul in particular had the experience and the technology to approach older styles in new ways and color them differently. The result is a more jazz-oriented effort in which any of the quirky directions that characterize Weather Report can come out at any time to remind the listener of how current the music still was. The best example is the title track, a heavy shuffle that swings hard and takes interesting yet almost traditional harmonic turns until about four and a half minutes when a haunting climax builds a foreboding tension against the sunny groove. It's an absolutely brilliant twist.

But the best part of this album is the last 17 or so minutes. Jaco Pastorius' "Three Views of a Secret" is a beautiful tune in a more classic jazz style yet with all the contemporary harmonic knowledge included and completely done up Weather Report style. Then "Madagascar" is an 11 minute live performance which documents the most creative, enjoyable, subtly funky (music can in fact be funky without heavy rock rhythms) group improvisation in Weather Report history. Finally, Jaco decides to be a team player and really digs in.

A warning to Weather Report fans: those of you who love the "classic" sound of Black Market, Heavy Weather, and albums of that period will initially be bored with this album. Given its nature, it's much more subtle than those (still great) albums. It's still Weather Report, but they choose not to hit you over the head with it this time. It took me three or four listens to really dig this music, not something I'm used to with Weather Report. I didn't like it initially, but it has grown on me since I've opened my mind to it, and I would almost go so far as to call it my favorite. Buy it and let it grow on you too.

Average customer rating:

Love it!
Diversity of opinions here
Excellent album
One of Weather Report's Underrated Jewels (4.5 stars)
Frustrating, dated, but there it is...

Mr. Gone
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Jazz | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Pop | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Night Passage
Black Market
8:30
Heavy Weather
Weather Report

ASIN: B0000027EW
Release Date: 1990-12-29

Tracks:

Pursuit Of The Woman With The Feathered Hat
River People
Young and Fine
The Elders
Mr. Gone
Punk Jazz
Pinocchio
And Then

Customer Reviews:

Love it!.......2007-07-26

This is one of my favorite Weather Report albums. Probably because I'm a keyboard player and Joe Zawinul's playing is enjoyable. Also, I feel that Jaco really shines on this one especially with "River People" and "Punk Jazz". I saw this band (with Jaco and Peter Erskine) live and I felt that they gave a good performance of the songs from this album. When this album was first released I read a review that criticized Zawinul's production. I wondered if the critic and I had heard the same album. I think that this is a well-produced album and enjoyable to hear.
Weather Report never ceases to amaze me at how no two songs sound alike and that's definitely the case here. Enjoy!

Diversity of opinions here.......2007-06-18

is what we seem to have re: this album. However, I must say, unequivically, that I LOVE IT! People mention cheesy synths on this album, actually I see it as an exploration of what the synths can do, led by the brilliant Zawinul. The sounds and places this album goes are simply amazing. This is definitely a Zawinul dominated album, but it is just one of those journeys that WR had to make during their career. I won't point out one particular song or another, but I just like all of them. This would have made an awesome soundtrack to a mystery movie. All I can really tell you is that you need to listen to the samples and see if they turn you on. They did it for me, I liked the sonic adventure I heard, so I got the album, and it didn't disappoint in the slightest. A lot of reviewers on here aren't really true blue fusion fans - they actually prefer jazz. So then when a dyed-in-the-wool fusion group, which is definitely WR, gets away from the sacred almighty 12 bar boredom, those people can't handle it, and that's the REAL reason they panned this album - jazz fans judging a fusion album - kind of funny, like putting a square peg into a round hole. I also saw references to Jaco's big band - hey people, that stuff is NOT fusion, henceforth it is NOTHING like this album, get a clue. Fusion and jazz are two distinctly different styles, they are not nearly as close as people have thought. There are jazz bands that do fusion songs, and yes, some WR sounds jazzy, but for the most part, WR is NOT jazz, and if you go into it expecting jazz, you will be disappointed and you'll pan an album that REAL fusion fans would probably like. By the way, to the reviewer that said Jaco's problems were unworkable, you really don't know Jaco very well. Did you even listen to the whole album, including Punk Jazz? Doubt it. Jaco's problems did not emerge until near the end, circa 1985-6. Clearly there are moments on this album where Jaco does some amazing licks, licks that bassists STILL can't play. These days, there are so many lukewarm, pathetic-sounding rock wannabes out there, it's refreshing to hear something with some real vision and skill, which is this album.

Excellent album.......2007-05-24

This seems like a controvercial album among fusion fans, because of its "pop" leanings. Ok, that's fine, but at the same time, it is a fine record, and a fun one. The classic Weather report sound is there, and the breezy, sultry atmosphere is quite delightful. Wizard Zawinul uses a myriad of keyboard sounds and textures, one of them straight out of Tony Banks' song "Entangled", a curiosity for those who are familiar with the music of Genesis. I must have listened to it about 20 times, and like it more with each listen. So it's not hard fusion, but it's excellent music nonetheless, songs are finely crafted and arranged, and there are some pieces that push the envelope as well. Recommendation: listen while sitting out on the balcony or porch at night, if you want to understand this music.

One of Weather Report's Underrated Jewels (4.5 stars).......2006-09-16

Mr. Gone never enjoyed the deserved critical and commercial success of Heavy Weather, nor ever explored the depths of mood or groove that early albums as I Sing The Body Electric or Sweetnighter explored, yet it offered much great music that should have entitled it to more praise.

By then, 1978, the band had found their existence difficult to maintain. Zawinul and Shorter were clearly on to separate paths--along with Joe having a strong grip on the band's choice of material--and Jaco's mental illness and drug abuse was almost hitting unworkable levels.

Yet, they were still one of the most gifted groups of musicians that had ever joined forces--both as players and composers--and this album proves that the magic had not completely faded away.

The late Pastorious offers one of his classics, Punk Jazz, which along with his other composition, River People, continued to prove his immense melodic talent and unimaginable skill, alongside the amazing swing of guest--may he be blessed whatever part of heaven he's holding the beat at--Tony Williams.

For his part, Wayne Shorter, writes to great tunes, the legendary although brief Pinocchio and the dark The Elders--played exclusively by WR's nucleus of Zawinul, Pastorious and himself--while Zawinul delights with the gorgeous Young And Fine, and And Then, a proper farewell sung by the wonderful EWF's Maurice White.

All in all, not a classic--primarily due to the strength and beauty of prior albums--yet a trove of treasures worthy of these men. You do not have to be a completist to seek this album, although if Weather Report is not a band you know well it may not be the most representative nor stellar place to start.

Frustrating, dated, but there it is..........2006-05-09

This album contains a couple of classic tunes marred by rather painful and dated synth sounds. Punk Jazz heard elsewhere is great (ex. by Jaco Pastorius Big Band), but here I can barely tolerate it, simply because of the setting. It's pretty 70's sounding...cheesy in the extreme by today's standards. Somehow the other WReport in the Jaco years albums don't sound this bad. Save this one for last....

Average customer rating:

Sunny with a 100% chance of grooves . . .
Rock-jazz artifact
The results of Rent-A-Band
High point
classic

Sweetnighter
Weather Report
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Smooth Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Mysterious Traveller
Weather Report
I Sing the Body Electric
Black Market
Night Passage

ASIN: B000002AEL
Release Date: 1996-08-27

Tracks:

Boogie Woogie Waltz
Manolete
Adios
125th Street Congress
Will
Non-Stop Home

Customer Reviews:

Sunny with a 100% chance of grooves . . ........2007-03-19

One of my all time faves from WR. Great price, great delivery time.

Rock-jazz artifact.......2007-02-01

The third release by Weather Report featured the core of the group, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul at their peak. The textures of this disc are amazing as the various layers of sound overlap like a tight weave. Rather than extended solos, the solos dart and weave in and out. Joe Zawinul carries most of the leads with his synthesizer but uses his electric piano to create a consistency to the driving rhythms. The funkiness yet smothness of their fusion of jazz and rock is historic. There are two extended jams, the classic "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and the more free form jazz tune "125th Street Congress " which combined take up twenty- six minutes. "Boogie Woogie Waltz" is just an amazing piece of music that is like an unraveling Escher painting that constantly reveals itself to be more than originally catches the eye. If you missed this one in the nineties check it out now as it is still fresh. Recommended for your jazz-rock fusion collection.

The results of Rent-A-Band.......2006-03-05

After the brilliant, spacey almost avant-garde of Weather Report's first two albums, the self-titled album and "I Sing the Body Electric," co-leaders Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter chose to move the band into a more rock/funk influenced vein, with open one-chord vamps and driving rhythms. Unfortunately, they had the exact wrong band to do it. Drummer Eric Gravatt and bassist Miroslav Vitous, both perfect for the advanced jazz of the first two albums, were not nearly as adept at playing funk, and didn't really have their hearts in it. Thus, Zawinul and Shorter were forced to bring in Herschel Dwellingham and Andrew White (I hadn't heard of either) to play drums and electric bass respectively, and they do so on most tracks, most prominently on the meat of the album, two 12-plus minute jams entitled "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and "125th Street Congress." Though they are certainly able to play funk with stylistic accuracy (whatever that was in 1973), there is very little life to their grooves. Dwellingham's beats don't really change or breathe, and his funk groove (which sounds like what is a very generic hip-hop groove today) carries across most of the tunes, giving them all an indistinguishable sameness. Given that Weather Report was all about different sounds and textures, regardless of the style or current overall sound of the time, sameness is a very undesirable trait. Even the compositions aren't particularly memorable and most of them go back to that funk groove. This is Weather Report not playing to its strengths; Weather Report was at its most successful when the tunes were creative, influenced by world music, and avoided the generic. Though they could be funky in unconventional ways, straight up funk was not their strong suit. Thus, this effort does not stand up to Herbie Hancock's work of the period, which was straight up funk, but was interesting, well-executed, and made use of the right musicians.

This album is interesting as a transitional document and does contain some good playing, especially from Zawinul, but it finds Weather Report outside of its strengths and suffering from bland funk played by merely competent acquaintances in a temporary rhythm section. If anything, this album helps listeners to appreciate how much Alphonso Johnson, the bassist on the next three albums, revitalized the band, and how well he suited this new, funkier vision. I recommend it to those who are interested in tracing the development of Weather Report as a band, a truly fascinating thing to study.

High point.......2006-01-24

This is the best of Weather Report. It hits perfectly all the hallmarks of Miles Davis' early electric period (In a Silent Way to Bitches Brew) and adds some nice twists along the way. The group had found itself after two interesting but rough albums, and everything works here: a perfect groove where all solos contribute to the whole. After Sweetnighter, they would take a turn toward more composition and less improvisation, and Wayne Shorter evidently started mailing in his work, but this at least was one heck of a record.

classic.......2005-09-08

The opening track "Boogie Woogie Waltz" is a golden classic that could fill the entire cd if I could have it my way. The groove kicks in from the start and goes forever propelled by 2 basses and an array of percussion and drums. There's no really an opening theme. Rather, musical ideas coming from Zawinul and Shorter. The whole piece is played within narrowly defined chord. It is amazing to hear what can be done, what stories can be told with limited number of notes to choose from. This is ultimate modal playing (would make Miles smile). I love the interaction between Joe and Wayne; suggesting simple melodies to each other to expand upon. This piece is the best WR ever recorded

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