Heavy Weather (album)

Heavy Weather
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 1977
RecordedDecember 1976–January 1977
StudioDevonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California
GenreJazz fusion
Length37:50
LabelColumbia
ProducerJoe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter
Weather Report chronology
Black Market
(1976)
Heavy Weather
(1977)
Mr. Gone
(1978)

Heavy Weather is the seventh album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release sold about 500,000 copies; 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 5-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 vocals 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

Professional ratings
Contemporary
Review scores
SourceRating
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

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

Professional ratings
Legacy
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
ARTISTdirect
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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 #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.

Track listing

Side A
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Birdland"Zawinul5:57
2."A Remark You Made"Zawinul6:51
3."Teen Town"Pastorius2:51
4."Harlequin"Shorter3:59
Side B
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rumba Mamá"Badrena, Acuña2:11
2."Palladíum"Shorter4:46
3."The Juggler"Zawinul5:03
4."Havona"Pastorius6:01

Personnel

Weather Report

Production

Charts

Release history

The album was first released in LP format worldwide throughout Columbia Records, CBS Records, Sony Records, and other minor record labels. In 1984, it was first released in CD format in the U.S. on Columbia Records. In 1992, the album was remastered, and, in 2002, published in Super Audio CD format.

See the table below for a more comprehensive list of the album releases.
Year Format Label Country Note
1977 LP & Cassette Columbia (PC 34418) Canada, U.S.
CBS, Sony (25AP 357) Japan
CBS ([CBS ][S ]81775) Italy, Netherlands, UK, U.S.
Suzy (CBS 81775/P 1977) Yugoslavia Published as Heavy Rain
CBS (SBP 234974) Australia
1979 Supraphon, CBS (1115 2490) Czechoslovakia Published as Weather Report
1981 Columbia (HC 44418) U.S.
1983 CBS (CBS 32358) Europe
1984 CD Columbia (CK 34418) U.S.
1991 Columbia (468209 2)
1992 Columbia (CK 47481) Remastered
1994 CD, Gold CD Columbia, Legacy, Master Sound (CK 64427)
1997 CD, MD Columbia, Legacy (CK 65108) Europe, U.S.
2002 SACD Columbia, Legacy (CS 65108) U.S.

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