Heavy Weather

by Weather Report

Overview

Weather Report's biggest-selling album is that ideal thing, a popular and artistic success -- and for the same reasons. For one thing, Joe Zawinul revealed an unexpectedly potent commercial streak for the first time since his Cannonball Adderley days, contributing what has become a perennial hit, "Birdland." Indeed, "Birdland" is a remarkable bit of record-making, a unified, ever-developing piece of music that evokes, without in any way imitating, a joyous evening on 52nd St. with a big band. The other factor is the full emergence of Jaco Pastorius as a co-leader; his dancing, staccato bass lifting itself out of the bass range as a third melodic voice, completely dominating his own ingenious "Teen Town" (where he also plays drums!). By now, Zawinul has become WR's de facto commander in the studio; his colorful synthesizers dictate the textures, his conceptions are carefully planned, with little of the freewheeling improvisation of only five years before. Wayne Shorter's saxophones are now reticent, if always eloquent, beams of light in Zawinul's general scheme while Alex Acuna shifts ably over to the drums and Manolo Badrena handles the percussion. Released just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam, this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom. ~ Richard S. Ginell

Product Details

Release Date:	10/13/2023
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8719262030923
Rank:	31056

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Weather Report   Primary Artist
Steven Berkowitz   Director
Jaco Pastorius   Bass,Drums,Vocals,Mandolin,Mandocello,Drums (Steel)
Joe Zawinul   Bass,Drums,Piano,Tabla,Guitar,Vocals,Arp 2600,Melodica,Keyboards,Orchestra,Synthesizer,Mellophonium,Fender Rhodes,Piano (Electric),Oberheim Synthesizer
Wayne Shorter   Soprano,Saxophone,Sax (Tenor),Sax (Soprano),Soprano (Vocal)
Manolo Badrena   Congas,Vocals,Timbales,Percussion,Tambourine
Alex Acuna   Drums,Congas,Tom-Tom,Percussion,Handclapping
Seth Rothstein   Director
Kevin Gore   Director
Tom Oberheim   Synthesizer

Technical Credits

Steven Berkowitz   Reissue,Reissue Series
Bob Belden   Producer,Reissue Producer
Jaco Pastorius   Composer,Producer
Joe Zawinul   Composer,Producer,Orchestration
Ron Malo   Engineer
Wayne Shorter   Composer,Assistant Producer,Associate Producer
Mark Wilder   Digital Mastering
Alejandro Neciosup Acuna   Composer
Manolo Badrena   Composer
Alex Acuna   Composer
Seth Rothstein   Project Director
Patti Matheny   A&R,Artist Coordination
Rene Arsenault   Associate Producer,Production Assistant
Keith Williams   Photography,Photography
Kevin Gore   Reissue,Reissue Series
Howard Fritzson   Art Direction,Reissue Art Director
Keith Williamson   Photography
Brian Risner   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Jerry Hudgins   Engineer,Assistant Engineer
Lou Beach   Illustrations
Nancy Donald   Design
Nicholas Bennett   Packaging Manager
Randall Martin   Design,Reissue Design
Don Hunstein   Photography
John Ephland   Liner Notes