Customer Reviews

Night Passage

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

A great all-around effort. I wasn't really turned on a whole lot by their previous release, "Mr. Gone", and this was a great comeback. Buy this album, if for no other reason, the stellar performance and writing of Jaco Pastorius. "Three Views of a Secret" is one of the most hauntingly beautiful compositions to ever appear on a W.R. album (or any other album, for that matter). "Fast City" absolutely amazes me and escalates my pulse rate out of control. "Madagascar" tends to drag on and on, but what a great ending, building to a tremendous level of intensity. A refreshing album, not to far from the end of a landmark group's career.

This 1980 release was WR's finest effort since their critically acclaimed 1977 album "Heavy Weather."
This is my favorite, and the most famous, WR line-up; Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, Erskine and Robert Thomas, Jr.
Jaco was at his peak in the late 70's, and this recording presents him at his best. Although he by this time had had some drug-related problems and had started to lead a hectic personal life, he managed to present fresh ideas and bring additional shades to his sound. There's a simply amazing bass solo on Shorter's "Port of Entry." Keeping in mind how tough it is to constantly play in pitch on a fretless bass, this (not only solo, but whole album) will blow your mind!
There's a somewhat humorous twist on Ellington's up-tempo "Rockin' in Rhythm," as Zawinul plays the melody in unison with Shorter, but with a great amount of voicings on an indescribably unusual "big band simulated" keyboard sound.
Zawinul's "Fast City" pretty much describes itself through its title. Something about the overall sound of the track indicates fast city traffic - a crazy swinging up-tempo tune. Great solos by both Shorter and Zawinul.
I believe the album also features the first recording of Pastorius' "Three Views of a Secret." He recorded it one year later for his solo album "Word of Mouth," also with Peter Erskine on drums, but with Toots Thielemans as the "front man" and a large amount of horn and string players (et al.) The version on "Night Passage" is not as restrained and arranged. Being performed by a smaller group it naturally sounds different, though it doesn't lack any element needed for the composition to come through.
"Madagascar" is a live recording from Japan. Otherwise the whole album is in fact recorded live, but in a studio; throughout the recording process of this album there was an audience of approximately 250 people to give the band a boost of adrenaline in their performance, and indeed - this way they seem to have gotten the power they were seeking for.

Weather Report was always the far most important band within the jazz-rock idiom, a fact that even becomes more clear in retrospect. In my opinion, all of the albums from 1974 through 1980 are all of them classics, each album paving the way for new types of musical expressions, influencing musicians worldwide. Out of this outstanding firmament, three of them shines even more: "Mysterious Traveller" (1974), "Heavy Weather" (1977) and "Night Passage" (1980). These are probably the faves among most hardcore Weather Report fans. On "Night Passage", the miraculous trio Zawinul, Shorter and Pastorius is followed by great drummer Peter Erskine, and the exciting percussionist Bobby Thomas Jr. This group was pure magic, I was lucky enough to see them in Oslo in oct 1980. The sound of the group is amazing, and hence the atmosphere of NP is something real special. In addition, the compositions are rea killers!
1) "Night Passage" (Zawinul) The title track may seem a little boring at first, but give it some time, and it grows and shines.
2) "Dream Clock" (Zawinul) Wonderful ballade, a bit like "A remark you made", i.e. Jaco playing a very lyrical theme on bass. Wonderful soloing by Shorter! A stark ballade!
3) "Port of Entry" (Shorter) A kind of heavy funk mood, with a touch of african jungle (?), including one of Jacos most legendary bass-solos, and with a all-stops-pulled-out ending. Great! I remember from the Oslo concert that during Jacos solo, all the others played percussions, and Zawinul walked over to Jaco, pushing Jaco to the max, and I thought to myself: "It doesn`t get any better than this, this is history!"
4) "Forlorn" (Zawinul) A rather unimportant but moody piece (used together with LASER-effects live).
5) "Rockin`in Rythm" (Ellington) A fun tribute (most probably from Zawinul) to this old jazz mentor. Great playing all over.
6) "Fast City" (Zawinul) A great up-tempo tune, the opener on the NP-tour. Stunning solos and great playing.
7) "Three Views of a Secret" (Pastorius) A beautiful composition by Jaco, and with fantastic solos from Zawinul and Shorter together with Jacos bass and the Erskine/Thomas fundament, pure magic!
8) "Madagaskar" (Zawinul) Another great Zawinul composition with that magic ethnic feel to it. The sound and feel of this piece is also pure magic!

Weather Report`s "Night Passage" is a timeless classic, and a must for WR-fans, Jaco-fans and jazz/rock-fans.

Lasse Postmyr, Norway

Weather Report - like the weather, it's dynamic and changing. Why try to pin them down? The Night Passage era is my co-favorite WR phase. My other favorite - I digress here - I saw the band in 1973 open for the Mahavishnu Orchestra at Cornell University. That was the Live in Tokyo/I Sing the Body Electric phase where they simply were on fire live with their group improvisation. Before Joe took over the band's direction with his synthesizer concepts he would fuzz up and ring modulate his Rhodes and just GO OFF; his piano sounds would morph into 'sheets of sound' reminding me of Trane - Shorter would mix it up and let the beast out and blow hard and long. Pieces like Vertical Invader and Directions were stripped down to essentials and that SH*T IS WAY OUT.

I saw the band again in Brussels in 1975 with Alphonso Johnson, Alex Acuna on percussion and Chester Thompson on drums - this was the Mysterious Traveller/Tale Spinnin tour. Unbelieveable, that live band was fantastic. There wasn't anyone sitting down (this was in a big Univ of Brussels lecture hall). A different phase, and as much as I loved the wild improv stuff, you gotta appreciate the fact that Zawinul and Shorter follow the muse where it takes them. People who complain that Mr. Gone does not sound like Heavy Weather - foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

I saw them in the Night Passage phase 1980 - Jaco, Erskine, Robert Thomas on percussion. This was the best I ever heard them live. They were beyond description. wayne and Joe would run off with each of Erskine and Thomas individually, switch out of nowhere, weave back and forth. Jaco would hold the bottom and go out front at the same time, and meet up with either pair. Any one of them would run with another one or two, and when it was time they would all meet like watching a chaotic flock of birds suddenly meet and fly in formation then break off.

I think they closed with a very modern hip version of Ellington's Rockin In Rhythm. Zawinul is cool! His voicings are outer space! This should have been what the little alien swingers played in Star Wars - hell, WR should represent Earth in the Intergalatic Music Festival.

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.

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!

With this album Peter Erskine was finally their drummer in the studio as well as live. His work here is outstanding, especially on the breezy Fast City, where the tempo is simply startlingly fast. Jaco is lyrical and tasteful but also full of the attitude he is known for. Three Views is his signature tune to many of his colleagues, and this version is prettier than Jaco's arrangement on Word of Mouth. I cannot help but tap my toe to Ellington's Rockin In Rhythm and the half-time shuffle of Night Passage. There is also Wayne Shorter sounding a little buried in the mix here and there, but he's always been a team player, not flashy. And Zawinul is at his usual astounding level. A couple of cuts are live, and very exciting. This album is eclectic, more so than Mr Gone, but is more consistent in terms of sound and arrangements, ie the production is more consistent. Mr Gone had guest drummers (like Tony Williams) and seemed to be a vehicle for Zawinul and Jaco tunes more than anything else. This is more a "band" album, like Heavy Weather. HW was of course their best-known and most popular album, however no other WR albums have the same programmatic structure, and kind of stands apart from the other WR albums.

Actually, in many ways this is their best Jaco-era record, but one cannot swim against the tide of Heavy Weather.

---Three Views Of A Secret shows Jaco's skill as a composer and his solo on the live cut is simply his most ferocious recording with both flash -and- substance.

---The post bop on Fast City is probably the deepest they ever got in the '60's Miles groove

---Rockin' In Rhythm, while perhaps a bit of an attempt to cash in on 'Birdland' is just a MONSTER crowd-pleaser.

--And forlorn is one of Zawinul's best slow pieces, both mournful and memorable.

Overall: This is simply their most POWERFUL record. IOW, if you don't -swear- you're listening to more than 5 guys playing at various points, you're just not listening. Don't call this 'fusion'. Call it GREAT MUSIC.

This record is a must for any TRUE jazz fan. It may take you a few listens to appreciate the brilliant compositions, but it will be worth the effort. This is not your typical jazz music here. It follows no formula and takes lots of chances. The playing is impeccable, and the ideas are refreshing. Hank Schwab's review is obviously the review of someone stuck in the world of 'traditional' (aka been there done that) jazz. Anyone who feels that Jaco or Zawinul have run out of ideas truly doesn't get it.