Heavy Weather (album)

Infobox Album |
Name = Heavy Weather
Type = Studio album
Artist = Weather Report


Released = 1977
Recorded = Late 1976 – Early 1977 at the Devonshire Sound Studios in North Hollywood, California
Genre = Jazz fusion
Length = 37:39
Label = Columbia Records
Producer = Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and Weather Report
Reviews =
*"Rolling Stone" (NR) [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/136065/review/6067591?utm_source=Rhapsody&utm_medium=CDreview link]
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jojuea114xu7 link]
Last album = "Black Market"
(1976)
This album = "Heavy Weather"
(1977)
Next album = "Mr. Gone"
(1978)

"Heavy Weather" is Weather Report's seventh album, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. It is the band's second album with bassist Jaco Pastorius. On "Black Market", Pastorius played on two of the seven tracks, but here he is a full member of the band.

Featuring the jazz standard "Birdland", the album is one of the best-sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. "Heavy Weather" is considered a landmark album in the jazz-rock or fusion movement of the 1970s. Its opening track, "Birdland", was a significant commercial success, something not typical of instrumental music. The Birdland melody had been performed live by the band as part of Dr Honoris Causa from Zawinual's eponymous solo album predating the formation of Weather Report which was often coupled with Directions which appeared on I Sing the Body Electric. A striking feature of Birdland is Pastorius picking harmonics on his fretless bass, although recordings exist of live performance of the theme prior to Pastorius joining the band when it was purely a keyboard section.

Track listing

#"Birdland" (Zawinul) — 5:57
#"A Remark You Made" (Zawinul) — 6:51
#"Teen Town" (Pastorius) — 2:51
#"Harlequin" (Shorter) — 3:59
#"Rumba Mamá" (Badrena) — 2:11
#"Palladíum" (Shorter) — 4:46
#"The Juggler" (Zawinul) — 5:03
#"Havona" (Pastorius) — 6:01

Personnel

* Joe Zawinul — 2 ARP 2600, Rhodes electric piano, Yamaha grand piano, Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer, vocal, melodica, guitar, tabla
* Wayne Shorter — Soprano and tenor saxophones
* Jaco Pastorius — Electric bass, mandocello, vocals, drums, steel drums
* Alex Acuña — Drum set, congas, tom-toms, handclaps
* Manolo Badrena — Tambourine, congas, vocal, timbales, percussion

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts
(North America) - album
1977 "Heavy Weather": Jazz Albums : No. 1
1977 "Heavy Weather": Pop Albums : No. 30
1977 "Heavy Weather": Black Albums : No. 33

External links

* [http://www.binkie.net/wrdisc/Heavy%20Weather.html Weather Report Annotated Discography: Heavy Weather]