Sweetnighter

Weather Report

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 27, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1973
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AEL
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #134,226 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are two reasons to get this disk, November 12, 2001

By	m_noland "m_noland" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

The first reason to get this disk is aesthetic. "Sweetnighter" is a unique recording: it includes the least structured, open-ended music that Weather Report recorded, and it was the last one they made before technological progress armed Joe Zawinul with more synthesizers than was perhaps healthy.

Some jazz fan acquaintances used to point to this recording and complain that Zawinul had kidnapped Wayne Shorter and was holding incommunicado in some safe house in Newark. To them there were no solos. They missed the point. Rather than soloing over an accompanying rhythm section, Shorter plays a kind of running commentary, coming in an out of a mix in which the bass(es) and percussion are given equal billing to Shorter's sax and Zawinul's keyboards. Sometimes everyone solos at once and it takes very, very accomplished musicians to pull this off without it degenerating into cacophony.

Yet it would be misleading to pigeonhole this record as Weather Report surrenders to the groove. Perhaps the most remarkable composition on the disk is Miroslav Vitous' ethereal "Will" which is percussion-less. Indeed, one of the remarkable things about this record are how varied the six pieces are: two open-ended jams - "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and "125th Street Congress;" a fairly conventional Shorter composition "Manolette;" two Zawinul tone poems a la "In A Silent Way" or "His Last Journey," "Adios" and "Non-Stop Home;" and Vitous' transcendent "Will."

The other reason to get this disk is the way it sounds. The mass conversion of analogue tapes to digital formats has yielded some real disasters - e.g. Shorter's "Native Dancer" where entire instruments disappeared from the mix. This recording, in contrast, is a case in which the move to CD is a clear improvement over the original vinyl. Now the two basses on "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and "125th Street Congress" are clearly distinguishable, and similarly the multitudinous percussion instruments are more clearly defined. As another reviewer noted, never have Moroccan clay drums sounded so good. Roller toys and Israeli jar drums, either.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Weather Report establishes its voice, August 26, 2004

By	Ian K. Hughes (San Mateo, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Prior to founding Weather Report in 1971, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter were already well-known jazz musicians (players & composers) with impeccable credentials; and, as most fans are aware, both men were major contributors to Miles Davis' "IN A SILENT WAY"(1969) and "BITCHES BREW"(1970). It was therefore quite natural that Weather Report's first couple of efforts would be closely related: while containing some brilliant flashes, these early recordings were less successful (if interesting) continuations of the musical aesthetic set forth in the aforementioned landmarks. The group's third recording ("SWEETNIGHTER": 1973) was the breakthrough that established what most fans think of as the "Weather Report sound". The album inaugurated an approach that satisfied diehard fans while opening doors to "casual" listeners who were not kindly disposed to more esoteric and self-consciously "serious" forms of jazz. The adoption and elaboration of funky rhythm & blues "grooves" (a la Curtis Mayfield, et al ) was a vitally important ingredient that lent the music a propulsion and flow analogous to the bop swing feel that had for decades characterized jazz rhythm. To be sure, Weather Report was not the first band to do this; what set them apart was the absolutely seamless manner in which they integrated R&B grooves, achieving an authentic fluency that allowed them to break free from the reigning "rhythmic paradigm" while simultaneously retaining a connection to the older swing feel by virtue of shared (African) roots.

"Boogie Woogie Waltz" and "125th Street Congress" are lengthy (12 min + ) tunes that exemplify the aforementioned dynamic: bluesy melodic fragments played over hypnotically repetitive grooves, the interjections of oddly placed modulations balancing the rhythmic regularity and surprising the listener as the tunes shift gears toward conclusion. This new rhythmic feel was also the ideal foundation on which to build more elaborate "orchestral" textures. Zawinul's sophisticated application of electronics was, in terms of timbre and concept, a marked improvement over previous efforts; in his hands, synthesizers were more than the self-indulgent and often hideous sounding toys that have given "fusion" music a bad name. An aura of the mysterious and ethereal was yet another prominent Weather Report characteristic, especially exemplified by Shorter, who contributes two tunes: "Manolete" is a texturally complex wash of Spanish-tinged soprano sax and keyboards while the delicate "Adios" is a tune of elegiac tenderness.

The paths started with "SWEETNIGHTER" illustrated that Weather Report had found its true voice and would over the years record an extremely influential body of work that constitutes the pinnacle of "fusion" music. Highly recommended.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE definitive fusion album by THE definitive fusion group!, March 30, 1999

By	[e-mail] (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

Sweetnighter is hands-down the best fusion album ever pressed. Even after 26 years from it's release, the Report rocks, sways and moves one like no other fusion group. I will never forget walking into a record store in Washington, DC one sunny spring afternoon in 1973 and being captivated by a powerful, exotic, hypnotic cut playing through the store speakers: Boogie Woogie Waltz. I bought the album instantly and have remained a lifelong fan of the group.

The music can be described as rich, atmospheric, funky, mystical, third world, tropical and cool all at the same time. Try closing your eyes and flowing with the images evoked. Side One alone could weave a tapestry of the flow of one's life from childhood (Waltz), through the driving intensity and accomplishments of middle age (Manolete) and the final exit of old age (Adios). Awesome! Better yet, grab ahold to and make love to your spouse to this music. :-)

Each musician adds the flavors of his ancestral homeland into a spicy stew of cosmopolitan musical delight: the cool Austrian funk of Zawinul's keyboards, the reedy American fire of Shorter's sax, the percussive Brazilian gumbo of Dom um Ramao, the intelligent eastern European bass of Miroslav Vituos. I've listened to this album hundreds of time and have never tired of it's virtuosity and the way it clearly defines the jazz fusion genre. Buy it and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.