Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller (1974)

Weather Report's fourth recording finds Wayne Shorter (on soprano and tenor) taking a lesser role as Joe Zawinul begins to really dominate the group's sound. Most selections also include bassist Alphonso Johnson and drummer Ishmael Wilburn although the personnel shifts from track to track. "Nubian Sundance" adds several vocalists while "Blackthorn Rose" is a Shorter-Zawinul duet. Overall the music is pretty stimulating and sometimes adventurous; high-quality fusion from 1974.

by Scott Yanow at All Music Guide.

Styles:
Fusion

Tracks:
01 Nubian Sundance
02 American Tango
03 Cucumber Slumber
04 Mysterious Traveller
05 Blackthorn Rose
06 Scarlet Woman
07 Jungle Book

Line-up:
Joe Zawinul - acoustic and electric piano / synthesizer / guitar / kalimba / organ / tamboura / clay drum / tack piano / melodica
Wayne Shorter - soprano and tenor saxophone / tack piano
Alphonso Johnson - bass
Ishmael Wilburn - drums
Skip Hadden - drums (tracks 1 and 4 only)
Dom Um Romão - percussion / drums

Guests:
Miroslav Vitous - bass (track 2)
Ray Barretto - percussion (track 3)
Meruga - percussion (track 1)
Steve Little - timpani (track 6)
Don Ashworth - ocarinas and woodwinds (track 7)
Isacoff - tabla / finger cymbals (track 7)
Edna Wright - vocalists (track 1)
Marti McCall - vocalists (track 1)
Jessica Smith - vocalists (track 1)
James Gilstrad - vocalists (track 1)
Billie Barnum - vocalists (track 1)

Weather Report - Sweetnighter (1973)

Right from the start, a vastly different Weather Report emerges here, one that reflects co-leader Joe Zawinul's developing obsession with the groove. It is the groove that rules this mesmerizing album, leading off with the irresistible 3/4 marathon deceptively tagged as the "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and proceeding through a variety of Latin-grounded hip-shakers. It is a record of discovery for Zawinul, who augments his Rhodes electric piano with a funky wah-wah pedal, unveils the ARP synthesizer as a melodic instrument and sound-effects device, and often coasts along on one chord. The once fiery Wayne Shorter has been tamed, for he now contributes mostly sustained ethereal tunes on soprano sax, his tone sometimes doubled for a pleasing octave effect. The wane of freewheeling ensemble interplay is more than offset by the big increase in rhythmic push; bassist Miroslav Vitous, drummer Eric Gravatt, and percussionist Dom Um Romao are now cogs in one of jazz's great swinging machines.

by Richard S. Ginell at All Music Guide.

Styles:
Fusion

Tracks:
01 Boogie Woogie Waltz
02 Manolete
03 Adios
04 125th Street Congress
05 Will
06 Non-Stop Home

Line-up:
Joe Zawinul - acoustic and electric piano / synthesizer
Wayne Shorter - soprano and tenor saxophone
Miroslav Vitous - acoustic and electric bass
Eric Gravátt - drums (tracks 2, 4 and 6)
Dom Um Romão - percussion

With:
Muruga Booker - percussion
Andrew White - electric bass (tracks 1, 4 and 6), English horn (tracks 3 and 5)
Herschel Dwellingham - drums (tracks 1, 2, 3 and 6)

Weather Report - I Sing The Body Electric (1972)

Like the weather itself, this band would assume a new shape with virtually every release -- and this album, half recorded in the studio and half live in Tokyo, set the pattern of change. Exit Airto Moreira and Alphonse Mouzon; enter percussionist Dom Um Romao, drummer Eric Gravatt, and a slew of cameo guests like guitarist Ralph Towner, flutist Hubert Laws, and others. The studio tracks are more biting, more ethnically diverse in influence, and more laden with electronic effects and grandiose structural complexities than before. The live material (heard in full on the import Live in Tokyo) is even fiercer and showcases for the first time some of the tremendous drive WR was capable of, though it doesn't give you much of an idea of its stream of consciousness nature.

by Richard S. Ginell at All Music Guide.

Styles:
Fusion

Tracks:
01 Unknown Soldier
02 The Moors
03 Crystal
04 Second Sunday in August
05 Medley: T.H./Dr. Honoris Causa
06 Surucucú
07 Directions

Line-up:
Joe Zawinul - acoustic and electric keyboard
Wayne Shorter - reeds
Miroslav Vitous - bass
Eric Gravátt - drums
Dom Um Romão - percussion

Guests:
Andrew White - english horn
Hubert Laws, Jr. - flute
Wilmer Wise - d and piccolo trumpet
Yolanda Bavan - singer
Joshie Armstrong - singer
Chapman Roberts - singer
Ralph Towner - 12 strings guitar