BLACK MARKET

This is 1970s jazz at its best: the music is so bright, poetic and varied it just cannot fail to uplift the listener. Back in 1976, Weather Report boasted a superb rhythm section which propelled their music naturally and with the greatest ease. The band's main composer (Joe Zawinul) had achieved a mastery over Fender Rhodes piano and synths which allowed him to play the airiest solos. On ballad-like pieces such as "Cannon Ball" Wayne Shorter would play supremely tender sax as well. BLACK MARKET's title tune, available on MP3 streaming above, will give you an excellent idea of what the album is like - as long as you bear in mind that some of the other pieces (most notably "Gibraltar" and "Herandnu") sound even more joyful and ecstatic.

To my feeling, BLACK MARKET is Weather Report's most remarkable studio album; it's far better than the over-praised HEAVY WEATHER, which is notable only for spawning the hit single "Birdland". Until recently, I would have hesitated to call this "a masterpiece of progressive music", but I now realise it is even better qualified for such a title than LED ZEPPELIN IV or THE WHO LIVE AT LEEDS, which have reaped a lot of praise on Prog Archives. So, five stars it shall be!