Weather Report

Weather Report was one of the most important and artistically and commercially successful jazz and fusion bands in the 1970s and 1980s, in which many musicians of different styles geared to today.

History

Early phase: 1970-1975

Founder and core of Weather Report in December 1970 were Joe Zawinul (keyboards) and Wayne Shorter (saxophone), who knew each other since 1959, and during the recording of Miles Davis ' In a Silent Way talked about it to establish a common bond. Partner and co-owner of the band was until 1973 Miroslav Vitouš on bass, who was involved in Zawinul's solo album in 1970. Alphonse Mouzon addition were engaged on drums and Airto Moreira. These musicians had previously all worked with Davis and performed - along with percussionist Don Alias ​​and Barbara Burton - the concept of In a Silent Way on the first, eponymous album of the group further than they " in a musically free, improvisational river rock, Jazz and Latin grooves interwoven. "

In the first studio recordings the band was still very experimental; a model for the interaction was Attila Zoller The Horizon Beyond.

In place of Vitouš joined bassist Alphonso Johnson 1973, Vitouš was paid as a former partner. With the album Sweetnighter the band oriented on clearer compositional structures, played melodic and made ​​the breakthrough to the mass market. For Mouzon came in the next few years almost every year a new drummer until 1978 with Peter Erskine and Omar Hakim a skeleton crew was found. The percussionist alternated with almost each new recording ( and Others Alex Acuña Manolo Badrena, Dom Um Romão ).

High phase: 1976-1986

With the entry of Jaco Pastorius in 1976, who remained until 1982 in the band, and his contributions as a composer and bass virtuoso of the worldwide success of the band began. " The Jaco Years" ( under the title The Jaco Years was published in 1998, a Weather Report compilation ) are considered the peak period of the group. On the albums Black Market (1976) and Heavy Weather (1977 ) "was an artistic unity found, as it was to listen to later albums any more. " By 1986, the band released their biggest commercial successes, including 1977 celebrated with the Zawinul- composed worldwide hit Birdland. The well- known songs from the middle era of the band are just Birdland and Black Market.

The use of a drummer in conjunction with a percussionist promoted the dynamics and playing complex polyrhythms. Zawinul dissolved the old 32 clocks System, broke with the theme - solo-theme - scheme and introduced new forms. Today's world music was played in its infancy at that time of Weather Report, Weather Report, and vice versa influenced African music. For example, the intro of the song Black Market had been more than 20 years, the signature tune of Radio Dakar in Senegal. In particular, the album Black Market was a very popular among Africans.

In 1986, the band broke up. Josef Woodard called Weather Report in an article about the group in the U.S. jazz trade magazine Down Beat in January 2001 as the "best jazz band in the past 30 years of the 20th century".

Discography

Quotes

"The music of Weather Report evolved from relatively free experimentation with electronic effects to fairly solid structures, melodic riffs and tricky rhythms from Slavic folklore and other borrowed and were adjusted supple. Were strikingly beautiful chord progressions reflected the global scattered sound sources such as a focus - is to say: in the keyboard of Joe Zawinul, where he saved several clips and fashioned to Kaleidoscope songs. His exceptional talent to shape from exotic grooves, singing appropriate melodies and typical jazz phrasing stylistically harmonious syntheses, looked like a catapult for the success of Weather Report. "

"We have long herumgetechtelt in my apartment in New York, as we may call it. Our names can not be. We do something that people know, and what is each day somehow in the ear. 'News' or ' Daily News ' - that does not sound good. And Wayne says: "Weather Report - That's it. " "

"Why did your group then " Weather Report baptized "? We wanted to play music that we hear every day - like the weather - and constantly changing -. Like the weather "