Weather Report (1971) - Weather Report

May

31

Weather Report (1971) - Weather Report

≡ Category: 1970s, Essential, Free Jazz, Fusion, Music Reviews, Post Bop |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

Even by the standards of early 70s fusion, Weather Reports eponymously named debut is quite daring. The music ranges from the ethereal opener, Milky Way, to the contemplative Morning Lake, to the driving post bop of Seventh Arrow.

But what really distinguishes this early version of Weather Report and it’s music is it’s open-endedness, it’s refusal to place limits on it’s possibilities or talk down to it’s potential audience.

In what must have surely been a put on, Zawinul said in his original liner notes that Milky Way was played by an acoustic piano, using the sustain pedals, and a soprano saxophone. Yeah, right. It sounds like he’s using a ring modulator with an ancient electric keyboard, but the sound is magical, however he achieved it. Milky Way is a lovely piece of music that seemingly has little relationship to traditional song forms.

Umbrellas, a composition by bassist Miroslav Vitous, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, is also unconventional. The piece begins with a short thematic statement, followed by a groove with intermittent solos by any and everyone. In the middle of this groove, a short through composed fragment is inserted. Then the groove changes completely, followed by more thematic material, which ends the piece. It all serves to completely undermine your expectations of the traditional song forms, specifically a head followed by solos.

Miroslav Vitous’ Seventh Arrow doesn’t play around with the rhythm as much, but it follows the same pattern of deliberately clouding the distinction between free playing evolving out of motifs and through composed material. Seventh Arrow never feels aimless. In fact, the title is appropriate, as the piece has a forward drive that would be the envy of most conventionally written tunes.

Joe Zawinul’s Orange Lady is the tune everyone and his mother likes to cite as being the standout composition from this album. Probably that’s because it seems more conventional and easy to follow, it’s pretty and it’s a ballad. After a long rubato prologue, the piece settles into an amble with a lot of free playing from all the members of the band. The melodic and harmonic material from the rubato resurfaces to end the tune.

The songs on Weather Report have been characterized as sketches, as somehow not being full-fledged compositions. I couldn’t disagree more. The band’s intent is clearly to try to make a new kind of music, with compositional guideposts informing improvisation, but making the music as free as it could possibly be while still being coherent. To my ears, all of the compositions sound fully formed, but instead of being rigid and artificial, the structures are organic, almost as if the songs somehow grew out of the ground or materialized out of the air, like cloud formations.

The superb musicianship of the band members is critical to bring this off successfully and oh my goodness, what a band this is. Joe Zawinul has the pianistic skills of a Bud Powell and an incredible imagination in terms of conjuring up sounds and textures from primitive keyboard instruments. Wayne Shorter has monster saxophone technique but subordinates it to the needs of the music, soothing, shouting, insinuating, goosing the music along, all as needed. Airto Moreira makes the recording even more magical with his intensely musical percussion and vocal contributions. Miroslav Vitous brings an unusual sensibility to his bass playing. He can play a conventional role on the bass as well as anyone alive, but it’s the moments when he displaces the rhythm or plays non-functional notes and makes them work that consistently provide the most intellectual stimulation. Alphonse Mouzon is fantastic in his role. He’s known for being a funk drummer, but to tell you the truth, I like him better in a free jazz/post bop role. He has incredible taste and can drive a band more ruthlessly than anyone I can think of outside of Eric Gravatt, another drummer who briefly played with Weather Report.

Weather Report has made other great albums, but their debut, along with I Sing The Body Electric, will continue to reveal mysteries as long as you continue to play it.