RELEASED 16.6.2011
Joe Zawinul (Keys); Wayne Shorter (Sax); Jaco Pastorius (Bass); Peter Erskine (Drums)
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Weather Report the Zawinul estate is proud to release this live document of the band‘s performance in Offenbach, Germany, on September 29th, 1978. Available in DVD, the recording features arguably the most individual group ever to mix elements of jazz, rock and electronics and they‘re captured here at their absolute best. Led by two musical visionaries, pianist and keyboard player Joe Zawinul and tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter, the group was also unique in that it eschewed the then fashionable guitar. Also on board were flamboyant electric bassist Jaco Pastorius, a genuine innovator, and newly arrived drummer Peter Erskine a master technician brought into the group to add more of a jazz feel. Prior to this line up an additional percussionist had always been present but this auxiliary role was dropped to allow greater space in the music. Until now documentation of this quartet has been via the live album „8.30“ released in 1979 and mostly recorded at Long Beach, California, in November of the previous year. The original plan was this would be a double LP of concert material but as certain tracks were accidentally erased in the final stages of production a decision was taken to include four new studio recorded compositions instead. With the release of this music Weather Report fans are now treated to an entire concert akin to that intended (restraints of vinyl permitting at that time, of course) and arguably get to hear (or view) a better performance in Offenbach, too.
Maybe it could be said then that this recording is actually the album that „8.30“ should have been? Peter Erskine, for one, is quoted as thinking very highly of the Offenbach concert. By September of 1978 Weather Report‘s headlining status afforded them the opportunity to play a very long set amounting to two hours in length. Given the previous year‘s success with the poll winning „Heavy Weather“ album one might have expected them to concentrate on this more or less exclusively, but instead, fans were treated to material from right across the bands career and solo spots by everybody. "Black Market“ opens this concert and straight away it‘s apparent that the energy level is high and the relaxed pace of the studio version has been superseded by a slightly faster tempo. An explosive tenor and drum duet by Shorter and Erskine also forms part of this and must have surely put an end to the feeling in some quarters at the time that the saxophonist was no longer at his best. The atmospheric „Scarlet Woman“, which follows, was co-penned by Zawinul, Shorter and previous bassist Alphonso Johnson and had been in the bands book since 1974. After the fireworks of the previous track the focus now shifts to Zawinul‘s lyrical synthesiser solo underpinned by Pastorius‘ rumbling bass. The dry ice and siren effects that conclude Zawinul‘s introduction to this piece parallel stadium rock of the time, and, whilst it may have impressed some in the now larger crowds that attended these concerts, this, like the solos for bass and drums, did not win over everybody. „Thanks for the Memory“, another solo outing but by Shorter this time, is part whimsy, part deconstruction and like Zawinul‘s interpretation of Ellington‘s „I Got It Bad (And That Ain‘t Good)“, is more successful. When this concert was recorded one of Weather Report‘s more controversial albums had not long been released, the production heavy „Mr. Gone“. Largely conceived as a solo outing by Zawinul, it famously received a one star rating from Downbeat. Concerts in the autumn of that year included four numbers on this contentious recording: „Young and Fine“, „The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat“, „River People“ and „Mr. Gone“. As seemingly unpopular as this material was - all of it was dropped from the band‘s set by the time of their summer tour of 1979 - it‘s interesting to note now how different these tracks are from each other in compositional style, and, with hindsight, perhaps reflect that they did add something distinctive to the 1978 shows. Certainly there‘s no lack of passion in their performances in Offenbach (witness this on the DVD) including Zawinul‘s somewhat unique „Young and Fine“ with its upbeat carnival feel and trademark Pastorius bass slurs.
Two other tracks from „Mr. Gone“, the title track and „The Pursuit of the Woman in the Feathered Hat“, were also from Zawinul‘s pen, and, with their multi-layered keyboard approach, they closely reflected the album‘s genesis as a solo album. In Offenbach, „Pursuit“ has saxophone and bass in rather under-utilised roles yet paradoxically „Mr. Gone“, which paved the way for future electric bop outings such as „Night Passage“, sees both Zawinul and Shorter leave the tightly knit confines of the original and stretch out to good effect. In addition Pastorius‘ presence added a valuable third composer to Weather Reports ranks, of which „River People“, with its bubbling unison bass and synthesizer lines, was a fine example of his writing style.