Customer Reviews

Live & Unreleased

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Weather Report was the Jazz Fusion group of the 70's & 80's. During the period inwhich Ken Burns declared "Jazz died", Joe Zawinul & Wayne Shorter created some of the most intelligent and creative music period. Blending worldly rhythms around well thought out compositions and throwing in some improvisational fire to boot, Weather Report grew to become one of the most recognized music groups in the Columbia stable. During their 15 year recording duration, Weather Report went through four very distinct periods, each of which evolved around the bass player and a revolving group of percussionist. These periods are defined by Miroslav Vitous (71-74), Alphonso Johnson(74-76), Jaco Pastorious (77-82)and finally, Victor Bailey (83-86). This CD captures pieces of six various concerts from three of those four periods. It would have been nice to throw in a live version of "Boogie Woogie Waltz" or "125th Street Congress" from the Miroslav Vitous period. It could have painted a very colorful picture of how the music evolved over the 15 year time-span that Weather Report recorded.

The music is hot and furious in places and flat out cool and uneven in others. I wish the producers would have sequenced the songs in the order they were recorded instead of trying to make this sound like one long concert. The hottest tracks seem to come from the 1975 concert. "Freezing Fire", "Cucumber Slumber" and "Man In The Green Shirt" just flat out smoke. On these tracks the chemistry is magical - Zawinul and Shorter are locked in while the rhythm section cooks. Shorter blows his best when the bassist pushes him, and nobody did it quite like Alphonso Johnson. The Jaco Pastorious band excels on "Elegant People", "Black Market" and "Port of Entry". Here again, Shorter smokes while Jaco flirts and dances around him on bass. The rhythm sections always provided plenty of energy for the band to build an effective launching pad. This is great stuff.

The tracks that don't work well include "Where The Moon Goes". It was easy to like the studio version of this song because Manhattan Transfer worked their magic on the vocals, but the vocorder synthesizer version here does not work at all. It sounds out of place - yet, points to where the group was headed at the time - downhill. If you can program your CD player to play the tracks in the order they were recorded, it becomes very obvious that the magic had left by the time the 1983 concert was recorded.

Overall, this double-disc is a good representation of Weather Report in various live settings. I can only hope that somewhere in the Columbia vaults is the rest of that November 27, 1975 London Concert awaiting release, along with a couple of live tracks from the 71-74 Miroslav Vitous band. Until then, this will have to do.

"Live and Unreleased" is a good summation recording of Weather Report captured live. This double disc was compiled from six different concerts from 1975 to 1983. The 18 tracks are performed by every variation of the Shorter/Zawinul band, with exception to the Miroslav Vitous/Dom Romao group from the early 70's. I wonder why that group was omitted.

The music is presented in true Weather Report fashion - hot and furious. Present are the complex rhythms and superb solo's. Bass and percussion grooves run deeper than the Nile while Zawinul and Shorter build one impressive solo after another. Classics like "Birdland", "Black Market", and "Port of Entry" are well represented here, but the standout tracks include "Freezing Fire", "Cucumber Slumber", and "Man In The Green Shirt" from the 1975 concert. Here, you will find Shorter and Zawinul at their best with Alphonso Johnson laying down the grooves while Chester Thompson and Alex Acuna drive the rhythms. I wish I could hear that complete concert. For me, that band was the best combination that Zawinul & Shorter put together. The chemistry of the group with Jaco Pastorious on Bass also provides great musical moments, but sometimes his pyrotechnics got in the way of the music - like on "Portrait of Tracy", but he makes up for it on "Port of Entry" and "Night Passage". The last iteration (1983) of the group was the weakest and it shows on "Where The Moon Goes." This is the weakest track on the CD and seems out of place on this recording. The group was fading by the time this track was recorded.

Today, Weather Report is still considered the best Jazz Fusion band period. "Live and Unreleased" validates that statement. Through all the various iterations of the group - Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul never forgot that their job was to create exceptional music. This CD captures the magical spirit of the fusion era, and is a welcomed addition to the Weather Report collection.

This is superb - a must own for any W.R. fan.
For people not familiar with the music of Weather Report this is as good a place as any to start - perhaps even better than certain other places, as the recording dates and personnel vary throughout the two discs (which together make 130+ minutes of Weather Report's music - written at different time periods by different composers.)
What you'd expect from a CD released by a band that hasn't played together in almost 20 years is most likely nothing exceptional.
The majority of such attempts result in distorted productions which often disappoint fans...well, THIS is an exception!
I saw this product and thought "Oh, what the hell...I own all the others; why not give this one a chance," knowing that it would probably wind up on the shelf to collect dust after one or two listens...But I was wrong!
The sound quality is outstanding - you can hear every note...I don't understand why they waited this long to produce it, as there's musicianship is outstanding as well.
Some of the takes are performed here with better energy than on the original studio takes (or on earlier live albums.) For instance, the song "Black market" has a better vibe and clearer sound here than on the 8:30 album.
"In A Silent Way" is brief but very beautiful. Great work by one of our all time best and most personal soprano-sax players.
"Night Passage" is an outstanding performance. If you know the original, you'll get a kick from hearing a band play this well LIVE!
These are recordings from 5 different concerts from 1975-1983.
3 tracks feature Victor Bailey on bass; 5 tracks feature Alphonso Johnson; and 10 tracks feature Jaco Pastorius (this set will give as big a kick to Pastorius influenced bass-players as any other WR album.)
Drummers are Acuña (10 tracks), Erskine (5 tracks) and Hakim (3 tracks.)
ENJOY, which you are likely to.

This is a great selection of live Weather Report cuts. It ranks with their best albums, which is saying a lot. There is no electric jazz as exciting as this now being performed or recorded. A revelation! The cuts from 1975 with Alphonso Johnson and Chester Thompson are especially great--an entire live CD by that band would be very welcome.

I've owned and enjoyed "8:30", Weather Report's live offering from 1979-80 for many years. It is a great testament to the Zawinul/Shorter/Pastorius/Erskine version of WR. This new set of previously unreleased live cuts, recorded between 1975 and 1983 gives a much broader outline of what this band is: the most musical, captivating and amazing group to ever grace the jazz bins. From early versions of 'Black Market' and 'Elegant People' with Alphonso Johnson and Chester Thompson, to a live rendition of 'Teen Town' played shortly after it was recorded on Heavy Weather, to the "best" version of WR (the 8:30 band), to the Bailey/Hakim version with wonderful cuts from Procession, this CD never bogs down or disappoints. It is chock full of beautiful melodies, jaw-dropping solos, and clairvoyant ensemble playing that will be inspiring and thoroughly enjoyable to any WR fan. If you are a musician, you will drink in this offering, and then you'll go practice. An absolute must-have for all fans, and an excellent starting point to the new listener who isn't sure where to start in the WR catalog.

His solo albums say he was not but this collection shows just how great his predecessor Alphonso Johnson and his replacement Victor Baileywere nearly as good too. True they were probably admittedly only sidemen behind the adventurous music Zawinul and Shorter were creating(this set is also produced by the two creators with alot of work done by Zawinul himself.
jaco fans will love this album too for it contains a 6 minute version of his bass ballad to his then wife "A Portrait of Tracy".

Listening to this I have discovered just how important all the bass players are in the music that was created. The music is terrific and demands attention for some of the amazing solos often played in it which I think sets them (the band) far above the legion of smooth jazz that has followed after them which some feel the band actually helped create.
I personally feel Jaco was a tremendious fretless bass player with a terrific knack for song writing as well which you will barely find on this set. I do love this album but long still to hear a live rendition of "Three Views of a Secret" from "Night Passage" and Jacos masterpiece "Word OF Mouth". Three Jaco penned tunes are in this collection and he plays on nine of the cuts and still sounds different from the rest. But the others alothough the music is different to an extent were terrific in their own right, and I think that was the reason they chose not to release only "Heavy Weather" era band material and and a good mix of bands instead.
My small dislike of this album is the inclusion of "River People" which sounds very much like the original. I think it was included because the leaders were so happy with the song and their ability to record a song that sounds almost mechanic live on stage.
Do enjoy this album and investigate some others like "Live in Tokyo" and of course "8:30". I personally like this one above the two I mention.

As previous reviewers have noted, the 1975 unit provides the standout selections; "Freezing Fire" alone is worth the cost of the set. None of the other bands herein are as steady, powerful, or grooving. However, all the lineups were capable of generating great music, and I'd love to see a live CD dedicated to each. (Considering how long it took for Columbia to release this music, I won't hold my breath.)

Ten stars for the 1975 band, four-and-a-half stars for everything else. Check it out!

Yeah, great performances by great band(s)!
There's something I'd like to say about Jaco:
It's not that the other bass players on WR are not good or anything of the kind (on the contrary, they`re excellent, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to play with this band).
It's just that Jaco was an outliner, not just a gifted bass player, but a true musical genious.
I know this word has been misused many times, but, IMHO, his choice of notes, his sense of rithm, his notion of chords and creativity are (were) beyond the range of the wide majority of the best instrumentists.
If you think that what he was all about was "beeing all over" the songs, I think you're just missing his deep and surprising musicianship.

This is a highly recommended CD from a great band that once had an extraordinary musician on it.
enjoy

Toss away any prejudice you may have about what a live album should or should not be. JZ's hand-picked ultimate WR concert performance is an amazing journey traversing all that was great about this genre bending ensemble: taught solos, tremendous grooves, and mind-blowing soundscapes. Stellar performances by bassists Jaco, Victor Bailey, and Alphonso, and the percussion percolates throughout. For those who bemoan JZ's omission of the first WR incarnation, there's ample documentation via LIVE IN TOKYO which I'm sure the founding WR father took into consideration. A must for modern jazz fans. Tom Semioli

Brian Glasser's book on Joe Zawinul (excellent, buy it), is the perfect reading companion for this amazing but wrongly named CD (it's no longer "Unreleased"). Three incarnations of the group exist here in seven concerts, featuring for the first time live recordings with Alphonso Johnson and Victor Bailey. The recordings with Jaco also set straight some of the major shortcomings of 8:30, namely, "Teentown." We can hear Jaco blazing through the melody without Zawinul's intrusive doubling of the bassline -- far superior to the heavily edited piece on 8:30. It's also great to hear a live version of "River People," from the vastly underrated Mister Gone CD, and Jaco's brilliant explorations during his solo "Portrait of Tracy." There's more fun on "Elegant People" and "Black Market," featuring the bubbling humor and competitive interplay between Alex Acuna and Manolo Badrena (a short-lived but brilliant percussion section). It's also great to hear Jaco play on "Waterfalls" and "Directions." While Victor Bailey was at least one size too small to fill Jaco's enormous boots, it is nice to hear him represented on the four tunes from his period in the group. The earlier material with Alphonso Johnson shows the group with a more funk-based rhythm section, and with Zawinul relying more heavily on that funky wah-pedal electric piano. These songs also provided Wayne Shorter with far more room to stretch. For die-hards, this could have been a several-CD set, organized chronologically. Instead, the chronology is inexplicably mixed up, which is a little jarring to the ear. The bootlegs currently in circulation not only reveal the editing (particularly on 8:30), but the occasional minor mistakes in live performance that have kept songs like "Mister Gone," "Young and Fine," and "Pursuit of the Woman" off this release. The songs on this collection are flawlessly performed, excellently recorded and go at least some distance toward filling in the major gaps in chronicling Weather Report. Hey Joe, you're sitting on 255 reels. I'm still waiting for the box-set.