Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Sleeper Masterpiece, March 1, 2006
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.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Weather Report at their peak, shortly before disbanding., November 18, 1999
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.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of their best, February 26, 2005
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.
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