Weather Report Forecast: Tomorrow

Weather Report was one of those rare emergent jazz supergroups that relied heavily on their various backgrounds as individually talented jazzmen to create what would become known as one of the great jazz/rock fusion bands in history.  Formed by Wayne Shorter of Miles Davis fame, and Joe Zawinul, formerly with Cannonball Adderley, both who stayed with the band from beginning to end in what would become a satisfyingly long Weather Report career, Weather Report itself would run through a revolving door of instrumentalists.  The results with the various formations, and there were many, would not only change history, but history would change them as well.

Begun in 1970, Weather Report recorded and performed their songs in an atmosphere of jazz jamming, creating an extended improvisational form that would propel them to chart-topping heights.  It would also elevate them to rock star like status as they captured the hearts and emotions of the listening public, many who listened to rock primarily.  In fact, Weather Report played a large role in my own discoveries of the jazz greats; until I Sing The Body Electric, I had enjoyed only Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin in an otherwise steady Rock diet.

Legacy’s release of this 3CD/1DVD Box set celebrating this innovative band is a great step in the right direction.  In the 3CDs that accompany this set, there are 37 tracks, two of which are previously unreleased, one of which is a live cut of “Mysterious Traveller.”  The CDs expand the stretch of their 15 studio releases that include the perfect Heavy Weather (1977), as well as a few non-Weather Report embryonic pieces that opens the set.  “In a Silent Way” from the Miles Davis album of the same name and which features McLaughlin on guitar, Zawinul on piano, Shorter on tenor sax (he eventually shifted to soprano sax for much of the rest of his Weather Report tenure, with occasional use of tenor sax otherwise,) plus Hancock and Corea on electric piano, as well as Miles Davis on trumpet, begins this chronologically sequenced set.  It is followed by “Super Nova” found on Super Nova, a Wayne Shorter album, and “Experience in E (excerpt) part 5,” a song found on Cannonball Adderley’s Domination.  The reason for the inclusion of these non- Weather Report pieces are because they are Shorter and Zawinul compositions, tunes that reveal the underlying basis of the beginning of Weather Report.

Every studio album of Weather Report is represented here, some with 4 songs.  The several live releases are ignored.  However, Legacy does include a live, previously unreleased bonus track, a 13-minute rendition of “Mysterious Traveller,” which helps to underscore the band’s expressive live element.  Even at the beginning of their career, you can hear the experimentation with various effects and instruments that helped to form them into one of the premier fusion bands by the time they reached their important Heavy Weather.  From that album, there are three songs including the memorable “Birdland.”

This 3CD collection of Weather Report songs from their many albums and their many years is a heartfelt compile of extraordinary songs form an extraordinary band. The best way to experience Weather Report is by listening to their albums chronologically and in depth. In that way, you begin to appreciate and absorb the depth of the band's talent and their progression. I recommend the SACD version of Heavy Weather as a plus to your listening experience. But the Box collection is a great way to get a logical overview as well.

This Box also adds a DVD that runs through 18 songs from an Offenbach, Germany concert on September 29, 1978. Weather Report was at their peak with the classic lineup of Shorter on Sax, Zawinul on Keys, the immensely talented and tragic Jaco Pastorius on Bass, and Peter Erskine on Drums. The DVD is over 2 hours in length and is presented in full-screen. There is a lot to enjoy while watching the DVD, itself a slice of history. Its inclusion into the Box underscores the importance of Weather Report as well as the period of time that it is taken from.

Jazz fusion was greatly advanced by the works of Weather Report. Forecast: Tomorrow highlights that admirably.