Set List

1. BLACK MARKET (ZAWINUL)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Johnson, Thompson, Acuña, Walden, Alias

In his liner notes for Live & Unreleased, Alan Leeds wrote: "Asked what single song best represented all that Weather Report meant to him, Zawinul quickly answered 'Black Market.'" [LAU02]

Zawinul has spoken often of the inverted keyboard that he played on "Black Market." It was made possible by a feature on the ARP 2600 that allowed inverting the keyboard voltage so that the upper portion of the keyboard played the lower sounds and vice versa. Len Lyons, in a 1977 Keyboard magazine interview, asked Zawinul why he experimented with it:

Because it was a challenge for me to play in a mirrored system. It's good for the mind. If you improvise on chords, for example, you've got to transpose, and your mind has to be very, very fast. I was recording one day at home on the inverted setup, and that's when the song "Black Market" was put together. After listening to it, I played the melodies on the straight keyboard, and it didn't sound as good as it did the mirrored way. Then I had to write the melody down and relearn it on the inverted keyboard, because at first it was improvised. On-stage, I play the first melody of the song with the right hand on the inverted keyboard, and the left hand accompanies on the Rhodes until after the first six notes into the bridge. Then the right hand plays the contrapuntal chord voicings on the polyphonic [Oberheim] synthesizer. The left hand continues the melody where the right hand stopped, putting a chord or two on the Rhodes into the spaces. It takes a little while to get used to thinking in the mirrored system. Only C and F# are the same as on the straight keyboard. B becomes C#, Bb becomes D, A becomes Eb, and so on. I also play chords on the bridge of "Black Market" on the Oberheim. The chord is going upwards and the melody is going downwards--in contrary motion. It's beautiful to challenge yourself visually. It makes you play new things. [KB77b]

Zawinul explained to Conrad Silvert that "when you change keys and play it with the left hand, it's very difficult. But it changes the rhythmic and melodic feeling of the music, like a mirror image. it's almost like going into the fourth dimension, like being on both sides of that wall simultaneously." [DB78b]

In terms of the character of the sound Zawinul achieved on "Black Market," Lyons asked him if there were sounds he could only get with a particular instrument. "Yes," Zawinul replied. "The sound on 'Black Market' is one I can only get on the ARP, not because of the reversed voltages, but because of a certain twang that only the ARP has. If you check out the melody of 'Black Market,' you'll hear something unique, something you can't really recognize." Zawinul went on to say, "I try to stay away from electronic sounds and go for natural sounds instead. They don't have to be known natural sounds. On 'Black Market,' for example, the sound isn't one that's known--you wouldn't recognize it as anything else--but it is acoustic. It sounds like some kind of native instrument." [KB77b] In 1984 he explained, "On 'Black Market' the melody I played was totally different, and it was hip. The filter moves through it another way and you get those different shadows and shades. It takes a lot of thinking." [DB84]

In other interviews Zawinul has said the sound of "Black Market" goes back to his accordion-playing childhood. "When I came up [as a child] and played the accordion, I immediately started playing with the instrument. I took the soundboard off and glued felt into it. I got the sound of 'Black Market.' I did the same thing on the bass side, where the buttons are and then I reversed the whole thing, to get the melodies with the bass notes. Imagination had limits in the older days. Now it doesn't." [DB88] And, "With the accordion you have these different registers that change the sound continuously. I took pieces of felt and covered the sound holes and glued it in different ways to give it a nasal sound. It's like filtering, and it's the same as the first ARP sounds I had, you know, these little woodwind sounds." [DB84]

Regarding the voices heard at the beginning of "Black Market," Alex Acuña explained their origin to Zawinul biographer Brian Glasser. "The song 'Black Market,' at the start there's the sound of many people talking, like a market. Joe copied that from a tape of mine. I had that tape playing in my room when we were in adjoining rooms on tour, and he came in and said, 'Hey, Alex, let me hear that!' Then he borrowed the tape, and it's now 'Black Market.' That's a tape that I made in my house with my family, live. I was listening to music and I was recording music, and my family and children were in the background--that's there voices. He never told me that, but I knew it because I can recognize it." [IASW, p. 179]

Both Chester Thompson and Narada Michael Walden performed on "Black Market." "On the first song on the album there are two drummers from two different days," Thompson told Glasser. "If you listen carefully, the sound completely changes in the middle, where the music changes. The feel goes from straight-eight to a sort of swing feel. Most people don't catch it at first, though once you hear it it's so obvious it's quite funny." Walden told Glasser: "It starts out with Chester, then there's a hard edit onto me when the song changes and switches gears all of a sudden. I play on from there through the whole jam, just smokin'. Wayne's solo was cut live. I played on the whole song, but I think he wanted to keep the opening with Chester because it was so relaxed. Then he wanted a big shot of fire when he cut me in. We maybe played it two or three times. It wasn't too many times, because the fire was so hot. It was hot, man! I was surprised when it came out they didn't use the whole version I cut, but I think it's brilliant the way he did it. I think it's right." [IASW, p. 180]

Years later Shorter described Walden this way: "Narada's groove was very natural. He had a sunny presence. Sun emanated from his rhythmic self. His rhythmic accompaniment was uplifting, never going down into the floor. It just flowed out of him, and he would take the heavy edge off anything that had a low sound. Low sounds can slow things down. Michael's drum beat would add transparency." [MD03]

2. CANNON BALL (ZAWINUL)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, Thompson, Acuña, Walden

A tribute to Zawinul's former boss, Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, who died on August 8, 1975. Zawinul and Shorter arranged for Jaco to come to Los Angeles specifically for this recording. It was a kind of audition. In Bill Milkowski's Jaco biography, Zawinul explained, "Cannonball was from Florida too, and I wanted that Florida sound on this particular track. Plus, I remembered how much Jaco loved Cannonball's music, so I figured he might be the right guy to use. We brought him in, and that was more or less his audition. Wayne and I talked it over, and we both agreed that this kid could play." [Jaco]

Narada Michael Walden recalled the recording of "Cannon Ball" to Brian Glasser: "Jaco was trying to impress Joe in the rehearsal of the song. He learned the song so quickly, and he was adding all these things, and then Joe stopped right in the middle and said, 'Don't play all that shit on my song.' And I saw the look on Jaco's face--like, whoah, man!--because nobody ever talks to Jaco like that. But Joe was fearless. Jaco had no more than plugged in, learned the song, and half an hour later Joe was in his ass! And I don't mean easy. I mean, 'Don't you play that fuckin' shit on my song!' Jaco was auditioning for the guy; it really shocked him. It just changed the whole mood of the song. It just made Jaco... whatever he did play, he really meant it, as opposed to playing because he could. That's why the song is so tender, because Joe said, 'You gotta understand, this song is for Cannonball. I'm either going to call it "Cannon Ball" or "Empty Chair"...'" [IASW, p. 187-188]

Of course, Jaco's bass sound is one of the signature characteristics of "Cannon Ball." Clive Williamson asked Jaco whether he got that "incredible singing bass sound" on an ordinary guitar, or through the use of special effects. "I don't use anything special," Jaco replied. "I've actually got less on it! I have a fretless bass, so it's virtually like I'm playing a wood bass. In other words, the strings go into the wood on the neck and then--being that it's a bass guitar--it gets that bright, direct sound. So I'm the first guy to be using a fretless, is actually what it boils down to, and then more, because I'm the first to really get down and play it, because other guys cannot play it in tune, y'know? I've been playing the bass guitar for almost 12 years, and I've been playing fretless for about nine, so I've got quite a bit of mileage in my hands already. I play in tune like a cello player, and use legitimate vibrato. There are no tricks... it's just all in the hands! I just have a standard 1962--I think it is--Fender Jazz bass, that I took the frets out of." [BBC78]

Williamson asked Jaco what amplifier he used. "In the studio I don't use an amp, I just go direct, right into the desk. It's virtually acoustic is what I'm doing, you see? And then on stage I use an old Acoustic 360--two of those amps, actually--and you get into all sorts of fun! It's a whole different thing on stage... (laughs) Are you comin' to the show tonight? (smiles) You should really come along, because it's some other stuff completely (laughs). This is some real fun!" [BBC78]

Neil Tesser's 1977 Down Beat article described Jaco's technique on fretless this way:

"It sings," says Jaco in explaining the preference for the fretless instrument. "I've been playing it for about six years. It's all in the hands; in order to get that sound, you have to know exactly where to touch the strings, exactly how much pressure to apply. You have to learn to feel it. And then it just sings." Jaco's sound has come to embody a sometimes bewildering array of chord clusters, nearly tangible overtone qualities, swift improvisatory lines that retain a surprising tonal depth and a penchant for using the instrument's harmonics in both melodic and percussive senses. Quite simply, never has so catholic an imagination been applied to the bass guitar. Still, there is one added dimension to Jaco's musical persona, as it is conveyed through the bass guitar: Its uncanny ability to sound, in its sonorous tonality and innovative phrasing, as much like an acoustic bass fiddle as it does a guitar. The nature of the instrument is not always clear to even the most experienced listeners. When Weather Report's Joe Zawinul first heard a tape of "Continuum", which appears on Jaco's [first] album, he drank in the velvety richness of Jaco's bass lead, then turned to the young musician and asked him if he also played the bass guitar. Which, of course, was what Joe had been listening to. Jaco himself can present the clearest analysis of his technique: "I felt that I had never heard anyone clearly outline a tune on the bass. Maybe someone has done it before, I don't know because I don't listen to that many records, but I had never heard it before. I had never heard someone take a tune like 'Donna Lee,' and play it on the bass without a piano player so that you always could hear the changes as well as the melody. It's a question of learning to reflect the original chord in just the line. Players like Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Ira Sullivan can do that. I wanted to be able to do it, too." [DB77a]

3. GIBRALTER (ZAWINUL)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Johnson, Thompson, Acuña

"This is my improvisation from beginning to end," Zawinul told Milkowski in 2002. "It was one of those things I put together and then I wrote it out for the band and we played it—as simple as that." [JTW02]

In In A Silent Way, Thompson recalls being "thrown" by the "detail of the charts." "Everything was charted for stuff like 'Gibralter,' which made it quite difficult to read, because it wasn't the typical kind of thing." On the other hand, the drum parts weren't notated, but were communicated verbally. [IASW, p. 180]

According to Stuart Nicholson's book Jazz-Rock: A History, "Gibralter" was originally slated to open the album. [JR]

SIDE TWO

4. ELEGANT PEOPLE (SHORTER)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Johnson, Thompson, Acuña

In the liner notes for Live & Unreleased, Shorter explained the meaning of "Elegant People": "That state of living where one can say, with no regrets, 'I reached the point of pride and elegance of being a human being.' It's so elegant to be a human being--elegant meaning good fortune. We are very fortunate to be born as human beings. So if we realize that fortune, why not strive to be the most elegant in everything we do?" [LAU02]

Alex Acuña told Glasser, "You recall the song 'Elegant People?' [Wayne] wrote that because of the way I play. He didn't tell me that, but I knew it, because he is like a tailor--he makes the suit to fit the person. So it was because I was in the band. Then, okay, now we can really feel this groove! You can see in that tune the way the percussion is applied." [IASW, p. 177-178]

Chester Thompson told Glasser, "'Elegant People' was absolutely written out, but once you learned it, that was it--you'd never see a chart again. You basically learned the songs and then did them. They were very well aware of not over-rehearsing. I don't think anything more than a couple of takes--maybe three or four on something. Spontaneity was crucial. Afterwards, Joe would certainly get in there and do all sorts of things, putting in extra synths or editing or whatever." [IASW, p. 180]

5. THREE CLOWNS (SHORTER)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Johnson, Thompson, Acuña

So far as I know, "Three Clowns" is the only Weather Report tune on which Wayne Shorter played the Lyricon, and it may well be the only time he ever recorded with the instrument. The Lyricon was developed in the early 1970s by Roger Noble and Bill Bernardi of Computone Inc., and was in essence a synthesizer for wind players. It consisted of a saxophone-like controller with an analog synthesizer module. The controller resembled a soprano saxophone, with a bass clarinet mouthpiece, a sensor on the reed to detect pressure, and a saxophone-style fingering system. The synthesizer had two oscillators with a choice of square and sawtooth waves, a voltage-controlled filter and low frequency oscillator, but no envelope generator, since this was controlled by wind pressure and embrouchure. The Lyricon was capable of very expressive sounds, but like other synthesizers of the time, there was no way to save the settings for a particular sound.

"Three Clowns" and the subsequent track "Barbary Coast" were the subject of a Down Beat blindfold test in which bassist Steve Swallow was asked to comment about the tunes without being told what was being played. Of "Three Clowns" he said:

Five stars! We've begun well. Wayne Shorter with Weather Report. He's my favorite jazz composer (whatever that is), and this is one of his strongest pieces, a beautiful haunting melody. Wayne not only composes before the fact, he composes as he plays, so the writing and playing are inseparable. Joe Zawinul is cunning as usual with synthesizer; I don't know anyone who can make those instruments sound as warm, or get greater range and flexibility. I always take this tune on tape with me on the road. In Wayne's hands, I don't mind the sound of the Lyricon. [DB81a]

6. BARBARY COAST (PASTORIUS)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, Thompson, Acuña, Alias

Jaco's first composition recorded by Weather Report. "At first, I didn't like that tune so much," Zawinul told Pastorius biographer Milkowski. "It sounded too much like a Horace Silver line to me. But then we worked a little bit with it and got a nice groove happening. And, of course, that became a kind of signature piece for Jaco." Milkowski explained the significance of the opening sound of a train roaring along the tracks: "This sound is much more than atmospheric filler; it resonates with deep meaning for anyone who grew up in Fort Lauderdale near the tracks that run alongside Dixie Highway. As a kid, Jaco would often wander along those tracks for miles, dreaming of places he might visit one day. Ironically, those same tracks run past the Kalis Funeral Home in Fort Lauderdale, the site of Jaco's wake on September 24, 1987." [Jaco]

Steve Swallow's blindfold test comments about "Barbary Coast:"

This was Jaco's premiere with the band; Alphonso is on some tracks. He makes a dramatic entrance with one of his stock-in-trade grooves, one he'd perhaps been comfortable playing in Miami. He's made a great difference in the band, and I like him on the new one [Night Passage] best of all. [DB81a]

7. HERNANDU (JOHNSON)

Personnel: Zawinul, Shorter, Johnson, Thompson, Acuña

Zawinul described "Hernandu" to Milkowski of JazzTimes as, "A great fucking tune by Alphonso Johnson in 11/4 time that I did some further orchestrating on. This tune I really like." [JTW02]

Johnson told Glasser, "I brought that song in. It's an odd meter--it's in eleven--and again, with that one they only kept two parts of the song. They kept it in an odd meter, and the intro line was a melody I'd brought in, but Joe expanded it using synth voicings in his Zawinul kind of way, which made it really unique. Again, I'm totally happy with the way it turned out." [IASW, p. 181]

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