Customer Reviews

Weather Report

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the beginning, Weather Report was a cooperative. Composition duties were split between the three leaders (Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Miroslav Vitous) and in performance, each of the 5 musicians was an equal participant. This album, from 1971, is exemplary of this approach. Though informed by Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis, the rhythms are much looser and the music is more playful. (There's also quite a bit of 60s post-bop in "Eurydice" and a few of the other tunes.) Most of the compositions are simple, relying on the sophisticated interplay of the group to generate excitement. There's also one genuine classic, Zawinul's gorgeous "Orange Lady" (another less successful version is available on Miles Davis's album Big Fun). Zawinul's keyboard set-up is limited to just electric and acoustic piano, but he produces an incredible range of sounds -- just listen to the spaced out "Milky Way", which could have been an outtake from the first two or three Tangerine Dream albums. Unlike later efforts, Wayne Shorter plays a lot of (soprano) saxophone here. Fans of Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way should definitely pick up this classic fusion recording.

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.

This is a great album, beautiful and thoughtful. It does not have the rocking or funky elements of later Weather Report. It is a brilliant achievement and rewards intense and repeated listening.

One of the best fruits of the post electric Miles band. The level of group interaction and improvisation combined with unique electric/acoustic textures makes this a must-have for any serious jazz collection. This album opened areas of exploration that have remained practically unexploited to this day. Standout among the entire brilliant collection of compositions is Joe Zawinul's "Orange Lady" a soulful journey through sounds and emotions that are deeply familiar and strange at the same time. Music at its highest level!

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers in stating that the best Weather Report recordings were during the Miroslav Vitous years. The debut album along with 'I Sing The Body Electric' are, for me, the best of the Weather Report recording efforts. After the passage of all these years (better than 30) I still find its sound to be bold and original. This is fusion where the emphasis leans towards the jazz side of the marriage. Perhaps because the fusion genre was so new and its core memebrs were fresh out of the master's (Miles Davis) house. What ever the reason its a great album and a 'must have'.

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

This album is like weather, mostly reminds me of a rainy day with a lot of static in the air and some solar wind blowing off somewhere into space. The music is full of sound like in the bass-laden Umberllas or the sax-sqealing on Seventh Arrow. Then it can quiet down into a soft comtemperary Orange Lady or the or easy going Moring Lake. What ever mood you feeling this album will have it. This album is also like a stripped down version of Weather Report there isn't any texture or synth sound coming from Zawinul, but they sound better with out it think.

With as much anticipation as rock fans had several years before for Blind Faith, the jazz scene was highly anticipating the debut of the supergroup Weather Report.

Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter and Miroslav Vitous formed the nucleus - with Alphonse Mouzon (d), Airto Moirera (per), Barbara Burton (per) and Don Alias (per) - for the May 1971 release. The eight selections were recorded over three days in March 1971.

The trio created numerous soundscapes with nature/the outdoors as the theme - Morning Lake, Waterfall, Milky Way, Umbrellas - but the real gem is the Vitous penned Seventh Arrow; the 5:23 running length could have easily been doubled and the composition would not have come close to losing its textured brilliance.

There is a hint at things to come (the band had not even performed live before entering the studio) and the accolades came rolling in later in the year; there were a trio of awards from Swing Journal and the Down Beat readers selected the release as Jazz Album of the Year.

This truly was the beginning of a superb supergroup that was poised to define the fusion sound throughout this intriguing decade for jazz.

This work was one of the first jazz albums I ever purchased, when it came out on vinyl. I knew I had a gem because it had a testimony from the president of Columbia Records, praising it as "a classic." I've only grown to appreciate the genius behind 2 cuts especially over the years, Orange Lady and Eurydice. I'm not really one to use superlatives or go heavy on adjectives to describe music but this music always moves me, heart, mind and soul; I love it. Seperately, Mr.s Zawinul, who passed away last year, and Shorter, never achieved the heights they achieved on this album. It really contains a staggering beauty. You must love, and I mean LOVE, jazz, to appreciate this music, especially, to try and understand the freedom effected in Eurydice by the bassist, Miroslav Vitous. If jazz is new to you, consider that it'll take you a few years before you begin to like some cuts. But there's something here for everyone. In time, you'll be glad you made buy. A true work of art.

This album does not fit into the 1970's fusion bin. You must listen to it on it's own terms. Great music by brilliant musicians and I do find this music far more interesting than some of thier later work. 5 stars