Heavy Weather (1977)

Heavy Weather is the seventh album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. By 1991, the release had sold 1,000,000 copies in the US alone; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album and one of the best sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. DownBeat magazine gave Heavy Weather a five-star review, and later its readers voted it jazz album of the year.

The lineup for the album consisted of Weather Report founders Joe Zawinul (keyboards, synthesizers) and Wayne Shorter (saxophone), alongside Jaco Pastorius (bass), Alex Acuña (drums), and Manolo Badrena (percussion). It was produced and orchestrated by Zawinul, with additional production by Shorter and Pastorius, and engineered by Ron Malo.

The album opens with "Birdland", which on its own became a significant commercial success, unusual for an instrumental composition, and would go on to become a jazz standard. The melody had been performed live by the band as part of "Dr Honoris Causa", which was from Joe Zawinul's eponymous solo album. "Teen Town", a Pastorius composition where his bass takes the lead instrument role, is often considered a highlight of the album and of Pastorius's career. "Rumba Mamá", a percussion and vocal feature for Manolo Badrena and Alex Acuña, was recorded live at a summer 1976 concert in Montreux, Switzerland, which was also the subject of a DVD released in 2007.

Critical reception

Dan Oppenheimer said in a June 1977 review for Rolling Stone that he felt the band had moved away from their earlier music, losing a lot of the space, melodies and airy feel that set them apart from other jazz-rock bands, but gaining a new bassist who "has been instrumental in developing their busier, talkative style", and that while their music previously "went up and up only, becoming more ethereal as it went, the new bottom makes all the difference in the world".

Legacy

Richard Ginell commented in a retrospective review for AllMusic that it was released "just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam"; however, he felt that "this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom."

In February 2011, Heavy Weather was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 2000, it was voted No. 822 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.

The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums, citing the interplay between Jaco Pastorius and Joe Zawinul.

Personnel

Weather Report

Joe Zawinul – ARP 2600 on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", Rhodes electric piano on all tracks except "Birdland", "Rumba Mamá", and "Havona", Yamaha grand piano on "Birdland", "Harlequin", "The Juggler", and "Havona", Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", "Palladíum", and "The Juggler", vocals on "Birdland", melodica on "Birdland" and "Teen Town", guitar and tabla on "The Juggler".

Wayne Shorter – Soprano saxophone on all tracks except "A Remark You Made" and "Rumba Mamá", tenor saxophone on "Birdland", "A Remark You Made", and "Palladíum"

Jaco Pastorius – Fretless bass on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", mandocello on "Birdland" and "The Juggler", vocals on "Birdland", drums on "Teen Town", steel drums on "Palladíum"

Alex Acuña – Drums on all tracks except "Teen Town" and "Rumba Mamá", congas and tom-toms on "Rumba Mamá", handclaps on "The Juggler"

Manolo Badrena – Tambourine on "Birdland", congas on "Teen Town", "Rumba Mamá", and "Palladíum", vocals on "Harlequin" and "Rumba Mamá", timbales on "Rumba Mamá", percussion on "Palladíum" and "The Juggler"

• Production
• Joe Zawinul – producer and orchestrator
• Jaco Pastorius – co-producer
• Wayne Shorter – assistant producer
• Ron Malo – engineer
• Jerry Hudgins – assistant engineer
• Brian Risner – assistant engineer and chief meteorologist
• Frank Tozour – Sony reissue remastering
• Nancy Donald – design
• Lou Beach – illustration
• Keith Williamson – photography