Jazz Archives

It's impossible to hear Jaco Pastorious' debut album today as it sounded when it was first released in 1976. The opening track -- his transcription for fretless electric bass of the bebop standard "Donna Lee" -- was a manifesto of virtuosity; the next track, the funk-soul celebration "Come On, Come Over" was a poke in the eye to jazz snobs and a love letter to the R&B greats of the previous decade (two of whom, Sam & Dave, sing on that track); "Continuum" was a spacey, chorus-drenched look forward to the years he was about to spend playing with Weather Report. The program continues like that for three-quarters of an hour, each track heading off in a different direction -- each one a masterpiece that would have been a proud achievement for any musician. What made Jaco so exceptional was that he was responsible for all of them, and this was his debut album. Beyond his phenomenal bass technique and his surprisingly mature compositional chops (he was 24 when this album was released), there was the breathtaking audacity of his arrangements: "Okonkole Y Trompa" is scored for electric bass, French horn, and percussion, and "Speak Like a Child," which Pastorious composed in collaboration with pianist Herbie Hancock, features a string arrangement by Pastorious that merits serious attention in its own right. For a man with this sort of kaleidoscopic creativity to remain sane was perhaps too much to ask; his gradual descent into madness and eventual tragic death are now a familiar story, one which makes the bright promise of this glorious debut album all the more bittersweet. (This remastered reissue adds two tracks to the original program: alternate takes of "(Used to Be a) Cha Cha" and "6/4 Jam").

:::Review by Rick Anderson:::

Jaco Pastorius - s/t (1976)
1. Donna Lee 2:28
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Congas – Don Alias
Written-By – C. Parker

2. Come On, Come Over 3:52
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Trombone [Bass] – Peter Graves
Saxophone [Baritone] – Howard Johnson
Clavinet, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock
Saxophone [Tenor] – Michael Brecker
Written-By – B. Herzog, J. Pastorius
Vocals – Dave Pratter, Sam Moore
Drums – Narada Michael Walden
Featuring – Sam & Dave
Trumpet – Randy Brecker, Ron Tooley
Congas – Don Alias
Saxophone [Alto] – David Sanborn

3. Continuum 4:33
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Alex Darqui, Herbie Hancock
Drums – Lenny White
Bells – Don Alias

4. Kuru/Speak Like A Child 7:42
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Cello – Beverly Lauridsen, Charles McCracken, Kermit Moore
Viola – Manny Vardi, Julian Barber, Stewart Clarke
Arranged By [String Arrangement] – Jaco Pastorius
Violin – David Nadien, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, Paul Gershman
Drums – Bobby Economou
Bongos, Congas – Don Alias
Concertmaster – David Nadien
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Written-By – H. Hancock, J. Pastorius
Conductor [Strings] – Michael Gibbs

5. Portrait Of Tracy 2:22
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius

6. Opus Pocus 5:29
Saxophone [Soprano] – Wayne Shorter
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock
Steel Drums – Leroy Williams, Othello Molineaux
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Percussion – Don Alias
Drums – Lenny White

7. Okonkole Y Trompa 4:25
French Horn – Peter Gordon
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Bata [Okonkolo Iya], Congas, Cabasa [Afuche] – Don Alias
Written-By – D. Alias, J. Pastorius

8. (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha 8:57
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Flute [Piccolo] – Hubert Laws
Drums – Lenny White
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Congas – Don Alias

9. Forgotten Love 2:14
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Viola – Al Brown, Manny Vardi, Julian Barber, Stewart Clarke
Arranged By [String Arrangement] – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Double Bass – Homer Mensch, Richard Davis
Cello – Alan Shulman, Beverly Lauridsen, Charles McCracken, Kermit Moore
Violin – Arnold Black, David Nadien, Harold Kohon, Harry Cykman, Harry Lookofsky, Joe Malin, Matthew Raimondi, Max Pollikoff, Paul Gershman
Concertmaster – David Nadien
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Conductor [Strings] – Michael Gibbs

Bonus Tracks (Previously Unreleased)

10. (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha 8:49
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Flute [Piccolo] – Hubert Laws
Drums – Lenny White
Piano – Herbie Hancock
Congas – Don Alias

11. 6/4 Jam 7:45
Written-By – J. Pastorius
Electric Bass – Jaco Pastorius
Congas – Don Alias
Drums – Lenny White
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] – Herbie Hancock

With two WR members emanating from Miles' Bitches Brew line-up (Zawinul and Shorter), it was obvious that their first album would be heavily influenced by it. But to everyone's surprise, WR's debut only took BB as a starting point and expanded on it, pushing the musical adventure a notch further and improvising so well and inspired, that you'd swear the whole thing is written. The duo enrolled the Czech-born Miroslav Vitous, (which will become an indispensable early WR's pillar) than secured Brazilian-born percussionist Airto Moreira and drummer Alphonse Mouzon, thus creating a real supergroup or an all-star line-up as the jazz circles prefer it. Released in 71 on the Columbia banner with a strange abstract artwork, WR's debut would take the JR scene by storm.
Right from the first twitches of Milky Way, we just know we're in for a long strange trip, as the music flirts with atonalities, then reaching a strange metamorphosed Miles jazz-funk (Umbrellas) that takes away the pleasantness and replacing it with cold hard improvising. On Seventh Arrow (a Vitous track), Zawinul's Fender Rhodes takes us sky-bound with Shorter's sax hovering like a mosquito around our ears until Zawinul derails the train into cosmic heights with his weird synths layers. The album's highlight is the Zawinul-penned Orange Lady, starting out lazily under the noontime sun, and then simply roasting under the scorching sun.
The flipside opens on the magical Morning Lake, with zawinul's Rhodes layering the track as to allow vitous to soar with his bass, while Shorter's sax is the cool breeze setting the mist apart to let the sunrays grace our ears. Waterfall, as you'd guess, is definitely more rapid than the Morning Lake, but obviously the cool Shorter breeze is not yet shaking the night's torpor. Shorter was being short-changed in terms of songwriting credits up to now, but he gets to close the album with two tracks, first the again-slow (but brooding and menacing) Tears (astounding track with celestial voices) and the funkier Eurydice, which is much closer to conventional jazz than the Z-S duo had done in quite a while.
An impeccable album, but not likely suited for everyone as it is much slower than you'd expect a WR album, especially for those more familiar with the Pastorius days. Personally, I always preferred the Vitous-era as they were truly groundbreaking and along with its successor, this album is clearly teir most progressive.

:::Review by Sean Trane:::

Weather Report - Weather Report (1971)

1. Milky Way (2:33)
2. Umbrellas (3:27)
3. Seventh Arrow (5:22)
4. Orange Lady (8:43)
5. Morning Lake (4:25)
6. Waterfall (6:20)
7. Tears (3:25)
8. Eurydice (5:45)

Credits
- Airto Moreira / percussion.
- Alphonze Mouzon / drums, voice
- Wayne Shorter / soprano & tenor saxophones
- Miroslav Vitous / acoustic & electric basses
- Joe Zawinul / acoustic & electric pianos

Additional musicians
- Don Alias / percussion
- Barbara Burton / percussion

This album remains my absolute favorite of all. It is finally, after many years of searching, exactly my kind of music. There is the purity of ambient synthesizers, there is the sophistication of polyrhthmic beats. There is big boom of bass, the improvisation of bebop, the integration of Eastern themes. All that and Arabic lyricism as well. I have been following two threads of this kind of music since the 80s. One of them culminated in the music around Adrian Sherwood and OnU and the other around Bill Laswell and Axiom. In the end, Laswell was the champion and his music explores all the dimensions of sound I find fascinating, compelling and majestic. His collaborations with everyone from Sly and Robbie and Peter Namlook to his recreations of Bob Marley and Miles Davis are stunning. But in my opinion, his greatest work to date can be found on this album. It is track number seven, entitled The Hidden Garden / Naima. Yes, that Naima. It is, in my opinion, better than Coltrane's original. This is the music I have played in rented cars through the streets of Brooklyn and Tampa and Houston with the windows rolled down, just trying to show how that big boom can carry so much sophistication and flavor. This is the music that carries the literal wit of William S. Burroughs about deals with the devil.
The odd thing is with this album is like so many others, I don't associate a name with the songs. I just know them. They occupy a nameless place in memory because there is no communicating them. It's like a secret knowledge, a fountain of inspiration that you try to share but the water slips through your hands as you attempt to remove it from the source. I can say 'Laswell' to a few that know him and then what? There's this, of course, but there is also the perfect Dub Chamber 3. There's also the extraordinary Panthalassa. I know a man named Benzon who once looked after my son. If there's a man who knows my mind perhaps he is the one. In music he understands the power it transduces through the brain. I look at him with library envy and wish I could explain. I'll tell him Laswell and he'll nod, then pick up his horn and play a stretch and hang on to a note mystical and forlorn. And I'll say yes after a moment and say how did you know. He'll shrug and ask me don't we all who listen for the flow? And I forget this epic trance was dreamed in God's own mind, as I just wrangle syllables interpolated for the purposes of explicating that which transpired without any sense of time as if binded to the blind.

:::Review by cobb:::

Material - Hallucination Engine (1993)

1. Black Light 7:33
Written-By – B. Laswell, W. Shorter

2. Mantra 8:44
Written-By – B. Laswell, Caroline, Shankar
3. Ruins (Submutation Dub) 8:54
Written-By – B. Laswell
4. Eternal Drift 7:35
Written-By – B. Laswell, N. Skopelitis
5. Words Of Advice 3:58
Written-By – B. Laswell, W. Burroughs
6. Cucumber Slumber (Fluxus Mix) 7:30
Written-By – A. Johnson, J. Zawinul
7. The Hidden Garden / Naima 13:00
Written-By – B. Laswell, N. Skopelitis, S. Shaheen
8. Shadow Of Paradise 9:45
Written-By – B. Laswell, N. Skopelitis, Shankar

Credits
Arranged By – Bill Laswell
Bass – Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Jonas Hellborg
Drums [Kit] – Sly Dunbar
Electric Piano, Organ [Hammond B-3] – Bernie Worrell
Ghatam – Vikku Vinayakram
Ghatam [Chatan], Congas, Percussion – Aiyb Dieng
Guitar, Sitar, Baglama – Nicky Skopelitis
Kanjira [Daff], Tambourine – Michael Baklouk
Ney – Jihad Racy
Oud – Simon Shaheen
Producer – Bill Laswell
Sampler, Programmed By [Beats, Loops] – Bill Laswell
Saxophone [Tenor, Soprano] – Wayne Shorter
Synthesizer – Jeff Bova, Nicky Skopelitis
Tabla – Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain
Violin – Shankar, Simon Shaheen
Voice – Fahiem Dandan, Liu Sola, William S. Burroughs
Zither [Qanoum] – George Basil

Trumpeter Dave Douglas, continuing the innovative approach to tribute records he began in 1994 with the Booker Little homage In Our Lifetime, dedicates Stargazer to the great Wayne Shorter. Only three tracks, however, are Shorter compositions: "Pug Nose," "On the Milky Way Express," and "Diana." The rest are Douglas originals that are inspired by Shorter, although Douglas is far too clever to make the inspiration obvious.
Listeners will have to rely on their imaginations to make the Shorter/Douglas connection, which is as it should be with creativity on so high a level. "Goldfish," with its awe-inspiring, chant-like main riff, is the album's highlight. The fast, complex unison lines and free jazz episodes of "Stargazer," with solo spots by drummer Joey Baron and pianist Uri Caine, are also wonderful. Hard-swinging numbers like "Spring Ahead" and "Intuitive Science" contrast strikingly with the tension-filled dissonance of "Four Sleepers" and "Dark Sky." Douglas's writing and playing are highly unpredictable and emotionally rich. His remarkable sextet delivers every note with conviction and finesse. Along with Baron and Caine, bassist James Genus, tenor sax/clarinetist Chris Speed, and trombonist Josh Roseman join forces with Douglas to create music full of character and beauty.

:::Review by David R. Adler:::

Dave Douglas - Stargazer (1996)

1. Spring Ahead 4:25
2. Goldfish 10:33
3. Stargazer 6:42
4. Four Sleepers 10:26
5. On The Milky Way Express 4:14
6. Pug Nose 4:46
7. Dark Sky 5:55
8. Intuitive Science 8:55
9. Diana 4:33

Credits
Bass – James Genus
Drums – Joey Baron
Piano – Uri Caine
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet – Chris Speed
Trombone – Joshua Roseman
Trumpet, Producer, Arranged By – Dave Douglas
Written-By – Dave Douglas (tracks: 1 to 4, 7, 8), Wayne Shorter (tracks: 5, 6, 9)

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.

:::Review by Richard S. Ginell:::

Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric (1972)

1. Unknown Soldier 7:57
2. The Moors 4:40
3. Crystal 7:16
4. Second Day In August 4:09
5. Medley: Vertical Invader, T.H., Dr. Honoris Causa 10:10
6. Surucucú 7:42
7. Directions 4:37

Credits
Bass - Miroslav Vitous
Drums - Eric Gravátt
Flute - Hubert Laws  Jr.
Guitar [12-string] - Ralph Towner (tracks: 2)
Keyboards [Electric & Acoustic] - Josef Zawinul
Percussion - Dom Um Romao (tracks: 2)
Reeds - Wayne Shorter
Trumpet [D And Piccolo] - Wilmer Wise
Vocals - Chapman Roberts , Joshie Armstrong , Yolande Bavan

Of pianist McCoy Tyner's seven Blue Note albums of the 1967-1970 period, Expansions is the most definitive. Tyner's group (comprised of trumpeter Woody Shaw, altoist Gary Bartz, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter on cello, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Freddie Waits) is particularly strong, the compositions (four Tyner originals plus Calvin Massey's "I Thought I'd Let You Know") are challenging, and the musicians seem quite inspired by each other's presence. The stimulating music falls between advanced hard bop and the avant-garde, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of modern mainstream jazz.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

McCoy Tyner – Expansions (1968)

1. Vision 12:15
2. Song of Happiness 11:55
3. Smitty's Place 5:20
4. Peresina 10:20
5. I Thought I'd Let You Know 6:25

Credits
Bass - Herbie Lewis
Cello - Ron Carter
Drums - Freddie Waits
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Producer - Duke Pearson
Recorded By - Rudy Van Gelder
Saxophone [Alto], Flute [Wooden] - Gary Bartz
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet - Wayne Shorter
Trumpet - Woody Shaw

Though some will argue about whether Wayne Shorter's primary impact on jazz has been as a composer or as a saxophonist, hardly anyone will dispute his overall importance as one of jazz's leading figures over a long span of time. Though indebted to a great extent to John Coltrane, with whom he practiced in the mid-'50s while still an undergraduate, Shorter eventually developed his own more succinct manner on tenor sax, retaining the tough tone quality and intensity and, in later years, adding an element of funk. On soprano, Shorter is almost another player entirely, his lovely tone shining like a light beam, his sensibilities attuned more to lyrical thoughts, his choice of notes becoming more spare as his career unfolded. Shorter's influence as a player, stemming mainly from his achievements in the 1960s and '70s, has been tremendous upon the neo-bop brigade who emerged in the early '80s, most notably Branford Marsalis. As a composer, he is best known for carefully conceived, complex, long-limbed, endlessly winding tunes, many of which have become jazz standards yet have spawned few imitators.

:::www.allmusic.com:::

:::Review Scott Yanow@allmusic.com:::

Wayne Shorter - The All Seeing Eye (1965)

1.The All Seeing Eye (10:30)

2. Genesis (11:42)

3. Chaos (6:54)

4. Face Of The Deep (5:27)

5. Mephistopheles (9:39)

Credits

Bass - Ron Carter

Drums - Joe Chambers

Flugelhorn - Freddie Hubbard

Piano - Herbie Hancock

Producer - Rudy Van Gelder

Saxophone [Alto] - James Spaulding

Saxophone [Tenor] - Wayne Shorter

Trombone - Grachan Moncur III

Trumpet - Freddie Hubbard

Grachan Moncur III was one of the top trombonists of the jazz avant-garde in the 1960s although he had only a few chances to lead his own record sessions. This 1964 set (which has been reissued on CD) was one of his finest, a quintet outing with bassist Cecil McBee, two of the members of the Miles Davis Quintet (pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams), and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter just a brief time before he joined Miles. The group performs four of Moncur's challenging originals, including "Nomadic" (which is largely a drum solo) and "The Twins," which is built off of one chord. None of the compositions caught on but the strong and very individual improvising of the young musicians is enough of a reason to acquire the advanced music.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

Grachan Moncur III - Some Other Stuff (1964)

1.Gnostic (11:42)
2. Thandiwa (8:17)
3. The Twins (12:53)
4. Nomadic (7:41)

Credits
Bass - Cecil McBee
Drums - Anthony Williams
Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder
Piano - Herbie Hancock
Producer - Alfred Lion
Saxophone [Tenor] - Wayne Shorter
Trombone - Grachan Moncur III

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard really came into his own during this Blue Note session. He is matched with quite an all-star group (tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Art Davis, and drummer Elvin Jones in addition to Bernard McKinney on euphonium), introduces two of his finest compositions ("Birdlike" and "Crisis"), and is quite lyrical on his ballad feature, "Weaver of Dreams." Hubbard's sidemen all play up to par and this memorable session is highly recommended; it's one of the trumpeter's most rewarding Blue Note albums.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

Freddie Hubbard - Ready For Freddie (1961)

1. Arietis 6:39
2. Weaver of Dreams 6:34
3. Marie Antoinette 6:37
4. Birdlike 10:34
5. Crisis 11:42
6. Arietis [alternate take] 5:50
7. Marie Antoinette [alternate take] 6:14

Credits
Bass - Art Davis
Drums - Elvin Jones
Euphonium - Bernard McKinney
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Tenor Sax - Wayne Shorter
Trumpet - Freddie Hubbard

Bitches Brew is a studio double album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in June of 1970 on Columbia Records. Recording sessions took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio over the course of three days in August of 1969. The album continued Davis' experimentation of electric instruments previously featured on his critically acclaimed In a Silent Way album. With the use of these instruments, such as the electric piano and guitar, Davis rejected traditional jazz rhythms in favor of a looser, rock-influenced improvisational style.

Often cited as one of Davis' best-selling albums and masterpieces, Bitches Brew marked a turning point in modern jazz. Upon release, it received mixed criticism from fans and critics, alike, due to the album's unconventional style and revolutionary sound. Later on, Bitches Brew gained recognition as one of jazz's greatest albums and a progenitor of the jazz rock genre, as well as a major influence on rock and funk musicians.

In February 1969, Davis recorded In a Silent Way, a bold step into ambient funk and electric futurism that inspired the trumpeter to go further out at the sessions for Bitches Brew that August. Davis wanted, he said, "the best damn rock & roll band in the world," to connect jazz with the forward motion of Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. Davis' band was superbad (Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, etc.). But the word fusion was never big enough to describe the visceral thrill of these explosive studio explorations and the pioneering tape-edit wizardry of producer Teo Macero, arguably the original Chemical Brother.

No artist has ever reinvented themselves quite so much as Miles Davis. By 1969 he had already upended jazz by championing modal jazz (and in the process recording Kind of Blue which is almost universally acknowledged as the greatest jazz album of all time). By 1969 he was ready to upend it again, and his previous album In A Silent Way had already given hints of what was to come with its increasing shift from an acoustic to an electric sound.

Recording sessions:

As was Davis's practice, he called musicians to the recording studio on very short notice. A few pieces on Bitches Brew were rehearsed before the recording sessions, but other times the musicians had little or no idea what they were to record. Once in the recording studio, the players were typically given only a few instructions: a tempo count, a few chords or a hint of melody, and suggestions as to mood or tone. Davis liked to work this way; he thought it forced musicians to pay close attention to one another, to their own performances, or to Davis's cues, which could change at any moment. On the quieter moments of "Bitches Brew", for example, Davis's voice is audible, giving instructions to the musicians: snapping his fingers to indicate tempo, or, in his distinctive whisper, saying, "Keep it tight" or telling individuals when to solo.

Davis composed most of the music on the album. The two important exceptions were the complex "Pharaoh's Dance" (composed by Joe Zawinul) and the ballad "Sanctuary" (composed by Wayne Shorter). The latter had been recorded as a fairly straightforward ballad early in 1968, but was given a radically different interpretation on Bitches Brew. It begins with Davis and Chick Corea improvising on the standard "I Fall in Love too Easily" before Davis plays the "Sanctuary" theme. Then, not unlike Davis's recording of Shorter's "Nefertiti" two years earlier, the horns repeat the melody over and over while the rhythm section builds up the intensity. The issued "Sanctuary" is actually two consecutive takes of the piece.

Despite his reputation as a "cool", melodic improviser, much of Davis's playing on this album is aggressive and explosive, often playing fast runs and venturing into the upper register of the trumpet. His closing solo on "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" is particularly noteworthy in this regard. Davis did not perform on the short piece "John McLaughlin".

I can't really explain what Bitches Brew is all about without a bit of historical context. This was 1969 when experimentation in music was at its height. In Britain Pink Floyd were popularising psychedelia and King Crimson were about to release In The Court of the Crimson King and invent progressive rock. In America Davis, ever the restless genius and unable to stand still musically was looking for something more radical and dramatic still. Supplementing his band up to no less than 3 keyboard players and a bass clarinet, and surrounding himself as ever with musicians of the highest caliber he went into the studio for 3 days to record a double album of 6 densely layered tracks.

So what came out? Well, easy listening this ain't and I certainly wouldn't recommend this as an introduction to Jazz or to Miles Davis (Kind of Blue does very nicely for both of those - you might as well start with the best!). The first disc consists of 2 side length tracks, "Pharoah's Dance" and "Bitches Brew", both over 20 minutes. They're both wild cocktails of smoky improvisational jazz. Pharoah's Dance is famous for having no less than 19 edits within it, some as short as 1 second long, and really marks the start of using the studio and the editing booth as an instrument in its own right. I actually can't describe either of these tracks well as each time you listen to them they sound different: there's little structure to hang on to and a mellow groove can quickly dissolve into shards of dissonance with Davis's distinctive trumpet shrieking over the top.

The second disc of the album is somewhat more relaxed. "Spanish Key" actually stays on the same groove for nearly 17 minutes (but certainly isn't boring for it). This is followed by "John McLaughlin" (yep, the track is named after the famous jazz guitarist) and "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down", a menacing track that can almost sound like Led Zeppelin in parts. Finally comes "Sanctuary", a soft sad and superb close with Davis's trumpet at its most plaintive.

The effects of Bitches Brew were revolutionary. Davis had merged rock and jazz, inventing what we now call fusion (perhaps I should say remerged - after all Rock is a 50's ofshoot of Jazz). Extraordinarily for such an experimental album it was one of Davis's biggest sellers and also won him a Grammy. It's influence still permeates todays music. Thom Yorke from Radiohead admits that previous to recording their masterwork OK Computer, Bitches Brew had been lodged almost permanently in his CD player. After its release in 1970, jazz, rock, and the whole of music would never be the same.

1 - Pharaoh's Dance (19:57)

2 - Bitches Brew (26:59)

1 - Spanish Key (17:26)

2 - John Mclaughlin (4:43)

3 - Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (14:02)

4 - Sanctuary (10:53)

5 - Feio (11:49)

* Miles Davis - trumpet

* Wayne Shorter - soprano saxophone

* Bennie Maupin - bass clarinet

* Chick Corea - electric piano (solo on "Miles Runs The Voodoo Down")

* John McLaughlin - guitar

* Dave Holland - bass

* Harvey Brooks - electric bass

* Lenny White - drum set

* Jack DeJohnette - drum set

* Billy Cobham - drum set

* Don Alias - congas, drum set

* Airto Moreira - percussion

* Juma Santos (credited as "Jim Riley") - shaker, congas

* Larry Young - electric piano on "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" "John McLaughlin" "Spanish Key" and "Pharaoh's Dance"

* Joe Zawinul - electric piano on "Bitches Brew" "Sanctuary" "Spanish Key" and "Pharaoh's Dance"

"Dedicated To The Living" Weather Report's ever-changing lineup shifts again, with the somewhat heavier funk-oriented Leon "Ndugu" Chancler dropping into the drummer's chair and Alyrio Lima taking over the percussion table. As a result, Tale Spinnin' has a weightier feel than Mysterious Traveller, while continuing the latter's explorations in Latin-spiced electric jazz/funk. Zawinul's pioneering interest in what we now call world music is more in evidence with the African percussion, wordless vocals, and sandy sound effects of "Badia," and his synthesizer sophistication is growing along with the available technology. Wayne Shorter's work on soprano sax is more animated than on the previous two albums and Alphonso Johnson puts his melodic bass more to the fore. While not quite as inventive as its two predecessors, this remains an absorbing extension of WR's mid-'70s direction.

 

1. Man in the Green Shirt (6:28)

2. Lusitanos (7:24)

3. Between the Thighs (9:33)

4. Badia (5:20)

5. Freezing Fire (7:29)

6. Five Short Stories (6:56)

Bass - Alphonso Johnson

Drums - Leon Ndugu Chancler

Keyboards - Joe Zawinul

Percussion - Alyrio Lima

Saxophone - Wayne Shorter

P 1975 Sony Music Entertainement Inc.

No Jewel Box - This CD-Package looks like a miniature version of a Vinyl album.

JOE ZAWINUL : (Melodica, Rhodes Piano, TONTO, ARP 2600 Synthesizer, Organ, Oud, Mzuthra, Vocal, West African Xylophone &Acoustic Piano / Composer of Tracks 1, 3, 4 & 6) and WAYNE SHORTER (Tenor & Sopran Saxophones / Composer of Tracks 2 and 5) = WEATHER REPORT

with the Rhythm Section from SANTANA (Borboletta 1974) : 

'Ndugu' Leon Chancler (Drums, Tympani &Marching Cymbals) 

Alphonso Johnson (Electric Bass).

plus :

Alyrio Lima (Percussions)

Recorded January & February 1975 in L.A. at Wally Heider

Orchestration : Joe Zawinul

Recording Engineer : Bruno Botnick

Fulfilling the potential promised on his Blue Note debut, Night Dreamer, Wayne Shorter's Ju Ju was the first really great showcase for both his performance and compositional gifts. Early in his career as a leader Shorter was criticized as a mere acolyte of John Coltrane, and his use of Coltrane's rhythm section on his first two Blue Note albums only bolstered that criticism. The truth is, though, that Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman, and McCoy Tyner were the perfect musicians to back Shorter. Jones' playing at the time was almost otherworldly. He seemed
to channel the music through him when improvising and emit the perfect structure to hold it together. Workman too seemed to almost instinctively understand how to embellish Shorter's compositions. McCoy Tyner's role as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time was played here as well, and his light touch and beautiful, joyful improvisations would make him a much better match for Shorter than Herbie Hancock would later prove to be.
JuJu rests in the uphill portion of Shorter's creative peak. While the sidemen may have been an even better match for him than the ensembles he would put together for later albums, he was just beginning to find his footing as a leader. His performances were already showing evidence of great originality -- yes, they were influenced by Coltrane, but only in the way that they broke apart the structures of the bop sound to create a sound that had all of the variety and flexibility of the human voice. On later albums like Speak No Evil and The Soothsayer, however, Shorter would rise to an even higher level as a performer with more powerful, confident playing that reached farther afield in its exploration of melodic textures.

What really shines on JuJu is the songwriting. From the African-influenced title track (with its short, hypnotic, repetitive phrases) to the mesmerizing interplay between Tyner and Shorter on "Mahjong," the album (which is all originals) blooms with ideas, pulling in a world of influences and releasing them again as a series of stunning, complete visions.

1. Juju Shorter 8:35

2. Deluge Shorter 6:53

3. House of Jade Shorter 6:53

4. Mahjong Shorter 7:44

5. Yes or No Shorter 6:39

6. Twelve More Bars to Go Shorter 5:31

7. Juju [alternate take/] Shorter 7:50

8. House of Jade [alternate take/] Shorter 6:39

Bass - Reginald Workman

Drums - Elvin Jones

Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder

Piano - McCoy Tyner

Producer - Alfred Lion

Tenor Saxophone - Wayne Shorter

With the cheers and huzzahs from their 1976 one-off reunion still resounding, the reconstituted Miles Davis Quintet minus Miles went on the road in 1977, spreading their 1965-vintage gospel according to the Prince of Darkness to audiences in Berkeley and San Diego, CA. In doing so, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, plus interloper Freddie Hubbard seem to pick up where they left off, with a repertoire mostly new to the five collectively and developed from there. It isn't exactly the same -- you miss Miles' brooding presence and sense of space in Hubbard's busy, fiery playing, and Hancock is a more harmonically daring, assertive player than he was with Miles -- but the interlocking telepathy and individual virtuosity of the musicians is pretty amazing. This also isn't the best tape from the tour; they were even tighter and more volatile in Japan five days later on Sony's Tempest in the Colosseum. The V.S.O.P. tours amount to a pit stop in the general shape of Hancock's evolution, but their influence upon the direction of jazz as a whole in the '80s and '90s would be staggering.

 

1. One Of A Kind

2. Third Plane

3, Jessica

4, Lawra

5. Introduction Of Players, Darts

6. Dolores

7. Little Waltz

8. Byrdlike

Ron Carter (Bass), Herbie Hancock (Synthesizer), Herbie Hancock (Piano), Herbie Hancock (Keyboards), Herbie Hancock (Vocals), Herbie Hancock (Main Performer), Bennie Maupin (Percussion), Bennie Maupin (Wind), Julian Priester (Trombone), Wayne Shorter (Saxophone), Wayne Shorter (Sax (Soprano)), Wayne Shorter (Sax (Tenor)), Tony Williams (Drums), Eddie Henderson (Percussion), Eddie Henderson (Trumpet), V.S.O.P. (Performer), Conrad Silvert (Liner Notes), Bryan Bell (Engineer), Bryan Bell (Audio Engineer), Fred Catero (Engineer), Jeffrey Cohen (Associate Producer), Freddie Hubbard (Trumpet), Freddie Hubbard (Flugelhorn), Paul Jackson (Bass), James Levi, Chris Minto (Assistant Engineer), Shawn Murphy (Remote Recording Crew), David Rubinson (Producer), Ray Thompson (Remote Recording Crew), Wah Wah Watson (Guitar), Buster Williams (Bass), Buster Williams (Percussion), Herbie Green (Design), Paul Sandweiss (Remote Recording Crew), Bruce Talamon (Photography), Dennis Mays (Remote Recording Crew), Russ Anderson (Design), Les D. Cooper (Remote Recording Crew)

Recorded live at: The Greek Theatre University of California, Berkeley, July 16, 1977 and The San Diego Civic Theatre, July 18, 1977.

Listening to Miles Davis' originally released version of In a Silent Way in light of the complete sessions released by Sony in 2001 (Columbia Legacy 65362) reveals just how strategic and dramatic a studio construction it was. If one listens to Joe Zawinul's original version of "In a Silent Way," it comes across as almost a folk song with a very pronounced melody. The version Miles Davis and Teo Macero assembled from the recording session in July of 1968 is anything but. There is no melody, not even a melodic frame. There are only vamps and solos, grooves layered on top of other grooves spiraling toward space but ending in silence. But even these don't begin until almost ten minutes into the piece. It's Miles and McLaughlin, sparely breathing and wending their way through a series of seemingly disconnected phrases until the groove monster kicks in. The solos are extended, digging deep into the heart of the ethereal groove, which was dark, smoky, and ashen. McLaughlin and Hancock are particularly brilliant, but Corea's solo on the Fender Rhodes is one of his most articulate and spiraling on the instrument ever. The A-side of the album, "Shhh/Peaceful," is even more so. With Tony Williams shimmering away on the cymbals in double time, Miles comes out slippery and slowly, playing over the top of the vamp, playing ostinato and moving off into more mysterious territory a moment at a time. With Zawinul's organ in the background offering the occasional swell of darkness and dimension, Miles could continue indefinitely. But McLaughlin is hovering, easing in, moving up against the organ and the trills by Hancock and Corea; Wayne Shorter hesitantly winds in and out of the mix on his soprano, filling space until it's his turn to solo. But John McLaughlin, playing solos and fills throughout (the piece is like one long dreamy solo for the guitarist), is what gives it its open quality, like a piece of music with no borders as he turns in and through the commingling keyboards as Holland paces everything along. When the first round of solos ends, Zawinul and McLaughlin and Williams usher it back in with painterly decoration and illumination from Corea and Hancock. Miles picks up on another riff created by Corea and slips in to bring back the ostinato "theme" of the work. He plays glissando right near the very end, which is the only place where the band swells and the tune moves above a whisper before Zawinul's organ fades it into silence. This disc holds up, and perhaps is even stronger because of the issue of the complete sessions. It is, along with Jack Johnson and Bitches Brew, a signature Miles Davis session from the electric era.

1. Shhh / Peaceful (18:30)

Written-By - Miles Davis

2. In A Silent Way / It's About That Time (20:00)

Written-By - Joe Zawinul , Miles Davis

Shhh / Peaceful', & 'It's About That Time' by Miles Davis.
'In A Silent Way' by Joe Zawinul.

Perhaps the funkiest album of Herbie Hancock's early- to mid-'70s jazz/funk/fusion era, Man-Child starts off with the unforgettable "Hang Up Your Hang Ups," and the beat just keeps coming until the album's end. "Sun Touch" and "Bubbles" are slower, but funky nonetheless. Hancock is the star on his arsenal of keyboards, but guitarist Wah Wah Watson's presence is what puts a new sheen on this recording, distinguishing it from its predecessors, Head Hunters and Thrust. Others among the all-star cast of soloists and accompanists include Wayne Shorter on soprano sax, Stevie Wonder on chromatic harmonica, and longtime Hancock cohort Bennie Maupin on an arsenal of woodwinds.

Bass - Henry Davis , Louis Johnson , Paul Jackson (2)
Drums - Harvey Mason , James Gadson , Mike Clark (2)
Engineer - David Rubinson , Fred Catero , Jack Leahy
Guitar - David T. Walker , Dewayne McKnight
Guitar, Guitar [Voice Bag] - Wah Wah Watson*
Harmonica - Stevie Wonder
Mastered By - George Horn , Phil Brown
Percussion - Bill Summers
Piano, Electric Piano [Rhodes], Clavinet [Hohner D6], Synthesizer [Arp Odyssey], Synthesizer [Pro Soloist], Synthesizer [2600], Synthesizer [String Ensemble], Synthesizer [Oberheim Polyphonic] - Herbie Hancock
Producer - David Rubinson , David Rubinson , Herbie Hancock
Saxophone [Soprano] - Wayne Shorter
Saxophone [Soprano], Saxophone [Tenor], Saxophone [Saxello], Clarinet [Bass], Flute [Bass], Flute [Alto] - Bennie Maupin
Saxophone, Flute - Ernie Watts , Jim Horn
Trombone - Garnett Brown
Trumpet - Bud Brisbois , Jay DaVersa
Tuba, Trombone [Bass] - Dick Hyde