WEATHER REPORT

The international conglomeration that is to be known as "Weather Report" makes its debut. It's fun to see two Central European-born prodigies collaborate on a successful jazz-rock fusion band. (Joe Zawinul was born in Austria and Miroslav Vitous in what was then Czechoslovakia.) The band seems to have been very sure to evenly distribute the compositional duties (or credits) between its three principle songwriters as there are three attributed to Joe, three to Wayne, and three to Miroslav.

A1 "Milky Way" (2:30) an atmospheric mood-setter by Joe and Wayne. (4.375/5)

A2 "Umbrellas" (3:24) an almost-funky (Miroslav does not quite have the comprehension for that which makes funk bass play yet) composition from the three principle songwriters is saved by a sharp turn in the final 45-seconds. Drummer Alphonse Mouzon and percussionist Airto Moreira are, surprisingly, not much better at bringing the funk. (8.66667/10)

A3 "Seventh Arrow" (5:20) an interesting song that seems to succeed despite not really hitting the funk on all cylinders nor presenting any melodies worthy of "earworm" status. I like Joe's use of experimental sounds from his electronic keyboard (a proclivity that he will continue to feed for the rest of his life). (8.75/10) A4 "Orange Lady" (8:40) soft and spacious (and drumless) sax and Fender Rhodes interplay for the first 3:30. Then spacey electric bass and playful percussives are allowed to join in. Interesting. Alphonse's wordless vocalese can be heard far in the studio background starting at the end of the sixth minute. I don't know if this was composer Joe Zawinul's intention, but the song has a simple, naïve lullaby-like feel. (17.25/20)

B1 "Morning Lake" (4:23) another spacious impressionistic lullaby--this time coming from the mind of Miroslav Vitous. Joe's creatively playful electric piano play is especially noteworthy. (8.75/10)

B2 "Waterfall" (6:18) a composition credited to Joe Zawinul, this one presents a whole-band weave that is the most satisfying on the album for its solid form and generous melody-making. (8.875/10)

B3 "Tears" (3:22) A Wayne Shorter tune, this one actually kicks in and moves--for several teasingly brief passages, dropping back to complete stops every 30-seconds or so each time it does. Alphonse Mouzon's very pleasant voice (again wordless vocalese) works very well here. Nice tune! (9.125/10)

B4 "Eurydice" (5:43) the only things that set this Wayne Shorter composition apart from more conventional jazz songs is its prominent placement of both Airto Moreira's playful percussion work and Joe's equally-prominent placement of his electric piano track despite its mostly-support role. Miroslav's walking basslines are constant and perhaps more critical to driving the song forward than Mouzon's drum play. (8.75/10)

Total Time: 39:55

One of the things that really set Weather Report on its own is present here, from the very start: that is, the lack of guitars. Obviously, Joe and Wayne really wanted to be considered more jazz-oriented (which seems a bit ironic with so many atmospheric/impressionistic songs to their credit) than rock plus, I'm sure, they wanted the sound experimentations of their own instruments to garner all of the attention. Too bad that the electric piano Joe used predominantly at this time sounds so much like that of children's television host Fred Rogers. And too bad that both Kenny G and Najee chose to use Wayne's soprano sax as their main tools.

B/four stars; a nice exposition of fresh ideas from this group of idealistic breakaway artists--two of whom had found a partner for fruitful collaboration that would last for quite some time.