Heavy Weather – Weather Report

You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - Peter Martin & Adam Maness

Peter Martin and Adam Maness dive into Weather Report's iconic 1977 album 'Heavy Weather,' exploring its fusion legacy, Jaco Pastorius’s pivotal role, and standout tracks like 'Birdland' and 'Teen Town.'

Key takeaways

• Jaco Pastorius defined the band's sound on 'Heavy Weather' with his fretless bass mastery.

Transcript preview

The I'm Adamannis and I'm Peter Martin and you're listening to the you'll hear at podcast music explored brought today by open studio go to open studio jazz dot com for aoo your jazz lesson needs Peter things are popping off over at open studio I don't know if you know this but we've got a bunch of new courses in the can we got a new course coming from legend Larry Goldings yes so anybody who's interested in those beautiful triad's things to play. We have a course coming on that. We've got a new course featuring you and I called Jazz Piano for the Bandstand where we teach you how to play with other people on the Bandstand from our two beautiful pianos over here. I prefer to use the alternate title for that course. Two bad MFs teach you how to live a musical life but we didn't go with that. Marketing can we change it please and then last but not least we introduce our pathways to Open Studio just a couple months ago so we have our Jazz Foundation's pathway where I teach you the very beginning Jazz Piano Expansion's Pathway where we talk to intermediate players about how to expand their skills and then of course you're the host of the Jazz Piano Method which is our ongoing Crown Jewel pathway for advanced players. That's a very nice way of just saying that I only know how to do the advanced stuff because I somehow forgot everything on the way there so I brought in smart cats like you but yeah it's great and you're bearing the lead as we say. We have a brand new platform. We do have a brand new platform. Which is like a platter. It's like a digital platter, it's like a digital platter, it's like a digital platter in which the I think it's so fast it actually loaded a page before I clicked on it. How did it know what I was about to click? It's intuitive, it's intuitive. Go to open studio jazz.com. That's open studio jazz.com for all your jazz lesson needs Peter. It's a big day today. It is a big day. This is one of our most requested albums on their pants. Does our audience skew fusion because if so they're gonna be happy. There's a pocket of our audience. There. They've got pockets on their pockets on their pants. want more fusion pocket and this is a classic jazz fusion album I think I know that the the guys in weather report don't like that term but I mean when you think a jazz fusion you think a weather report yeah and I am very excited because like I said we've had a lot of comments a lot of angry comments that why haven't done why haven't you guys done heavy weather and so today we're doing a 1977 heavy weather heavy weather but before we get into heavy weather people yeah yes start at the beginning just to it so this band So it's New Orleans, 1916. No. A young Joe Zavinal gets off the boat. So the beginning is a weather report start with a very familiar name around here through you'll hear a podcast, Miles Davis. Right. So just before this was happening, Joe Zavinal and Wayne Shorter, who had known each other for years, but they had just played on together in a silent way and Bitch's Brew to enormous albums in the grand scheme of the grand scheme of jazz history and I think you could say fusion history too, although they aren't exactly fusion albums for sure. Precise. They get together with a few other musicians and they start this band, this project, called Weather Report, and they record a self-titled album in 1971. And it's not like the album we're about to listen to. It sounds more like this. That's Mira Slav on the bass. Yeah. Chuck Lzav on the bass. Yeah. Chuck Lzvakian at that time. Bass master. Yeah. So you could hear how this is straight out of Bitch's Brui. I mean it's not exactly. And in the silent way. And in the silent way. It has more of that tone to it than what weather report would eventually become. eventually lean in to the funk a little bit more and just a few years later in 1974 they released an album that you and I agree is one of our favorites yeah and we should redo this album we did it I don't know if you remember we did mysterious traveler from 1974 from weather report we did it during the pandemic do you remember the COVID-20 I don't know if you remember it because COVID-20 I think it was COVID-19 didn't hit us till 20 until 2021 But we did in that Tuesday night series we listened to Mysterious Traveler and you could tell that something is changing by this point. Right. Mm. It's not Maristlaw anymore. That's one thing. Yeah, it's a rotating cast of bass players, drummers, and percussion. Alphonse Johnson. This is cucumber, slumber from a serious traveler. Damn. not that's not just what are you doing this is a great stolen the way they come out of it oh you know what that'll be good we'll come back yeah we should do mysterious traveler at some point I think that might be artistically weather reports peak but it was not their commercial peak right so like I said up until this point you know it's mostly been Joe and Wayne yeah and this rotating cast of drummers bass players and percussionists and it happens again they find a kid Pastorias. Shout off Florida. I'm a kid from Florida. This is keyboardist and founder Joe Zovinal talking about when Jocko joined the band. It was July 1975, exactly. We just came back from Boston and Cannibal Adderly had died. It was a very hard thing for me and I wrote a song was called Cannibal. I had this little melody in the beginning. We just thought this guy's tone would be perfect for this kind of thing, you know. So we started right with this particular tune, and He was busy, you know. So it just stopped the pen for a minute and they said, you know what? We already know you can play. Forget about that. You are here with us now, you know, with the veterans and you have a beautiful tone, use that tone. And what happened at that point is on the record. Yeah. So he's talking about Jacob Astoria's the bassist who would make his debut with the band on a couple of tracks of their 1976 album, Black Market. When he was just 24 years old. else is in their 40s or 30s. Yeah. And Joe Zavano and Wayne were like they were the same generation. They were almost exactly the same age. But here's a generation before jocco. Here's that track, that track cannonball with black market with jocco taking the lead. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Perfect percussion. fretless bass? Yeah. Freightless electric. That he fretted I believe. Is that true? Yeah I think it's a I believe it's a we're not journalist fender jazz bass. Oh yeah he took the different frets off. Shout Scott's bass lessons. That's deal. I think I watched the video on that. This is so this is the first jocco recording right? Yeah. I mean the first time he was recording. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Oh man whether or not I forget so like from the first album cucumber slumber black market what we're about to get into today heavy weather and then I'm going forward like I'm skipping over some stuff but I got to see them live at 85 we'll talk about that a little bit later but I'm remembering now and that was the final band actually yeah But they really were a band, I mean the thing that held, not held the band together, the only constant was Joe and Wayne, right? Through that whole period. I mean we associate, especially what we're about to listen to with Heavy Weather as, am I allowed to say it, almost a Jocko record, right? Jocko kind of takes over the band for a couple years here. Right, but it's just a huge personality. I mean, listen, Joe and Wayne are giants. There's no doubt about it. I mean, I mean they let him. He wasn't he wasn't he wasn't he wasn't he wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't. Yeah, you know, he's bringing some energy that I think is, you know how it is when you get to be your 40s like whoa this kid is like on fire like a bolt of bolts of light and energy let him cook right? Weather report had never had a hit though Peter we've skipped over some albums right that the after six hour albums they've never had a hit and then when jocco when came fully on board with heavy weather the band recorded this album in a matter of weeks and the result was one of all time it went on to become a crossover hit reaching reaching get this number That's not the Billboard Jazz 200. That is the Hot 100. The, well I don't know. It's the albums. Hot 200. No, cold, is it the mild 200? It's the little more 200. The Teppid 200. The Charts people are really pissed off now. But it reached number 30, which is insane. Specifically, this first track. And like number 35 or something on R&B, I don't know why it was lower. The fact that it made both those charts. Is insane. But the, yeah, the Billboard 200 is. legend has it according to and everybody with Jaco and according to a few other sources that there was recorded a single take one take yeah and it's birdland and apparently that wasn't true but it was close to one I don't know I've heard both ways but I set it up all nice and you knocked it was a minimum of one take we know that no less than it's bird land I was like, man, how was he doing that and then the next one? Let me shut up. Yeah, on a fretless. Which is crazy. Yeah. I mean he was the Stanley Jordan of the band. Man, I messed up that bass line and stage band. Every high school jazz band in the 80s and 90s played this song. Alex Acunya. Joe Dominal, the master of the suspended fourth, resolving, boom, boom, and then back. So good at it. And Zobello with the sound. 4. Is it a little bit of vocoder or something I always thought a little bit of bejies or something I always thought a little bit of beigees or something I don't know there comes a little later I don't know The Board. Okay, whenever you read, I have a hot take on this. Go for it. Are we ready for this? We're ready. I think this is one of the weakest songs on the album. Hot take indeed. Scorching hot. And I mean I really love the playing on this. Go for it. Are we ready for this? We're ready. I think this is one of the weakest songs on the album. you know and then when Manhattan Transfer came back with the you know in 1980 or 70 the late 70s that was huge that was I mean because of my age I didn't remember this record but by that time I was starting to hear it and stuff Quincy at the you know the night or late 80s I feel like this song is just a bunch of amps played so well and grooving but like what's the melody to Birdland This is the melody. There's like four different melodies each section. This is the weakest of all the melodies. Do you think this is the weakest of all the melodies. I mean it's fine. Do beep. It's not mercy mercy mercy mercy me. That's all I'm saying Which was a bigger hit? mercy mercy mercy mercy me or mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy mercy? Mercy mercy Me. heart hot take because I want to make sure that I get all of this point and I think this is the weakest a composition on this album I understand why you so you're saying chocco's no jocco is incredible Wayne