Heavy Weather

First of all, this album has been reviewed to death, so I won't go into why this is such an important album by one of the seminal jazz groups of the 70s and early 80s. That right: I won't diminish them by calling them a "jazz fusion group," because that label is far too constraining for this group of cutting edge players and composers. If you follow the individual careers of the two founding members, you already know that before Weather Report, Joe Zawinul had paid his dues with Dinah Washington, Cannonball, and Miles. Wayne Shorter got his start with Art Blakey and was in the quintessential quintet with Miles. Not to mention chalking up an impressive solo career. Weather report was a direct outgrowth of those formative experiences and as such, these musicians (and their illustrious band mates) had no choice but to constantly seek musical authenticity in both their playing and writing. There's a logical progression from one album to another. The band morphed from post-Bitches Brew freedom to a gradual development of increasingly complex compositional structures that gained in formal structure as the band grew. Some diehard fans felt (and I totally get it,) that the best Weather Report occurred on those early recordings, and that by Heavy Weather, the band had become too commercial. Yet listening to this album today I'm stating unequivocally, "This was simply not the case" This album is a deeply musical as anything in the band's output. Just listen to "Palladium," a Shorter tune with teeth. That the tune has a catchy rideout isn't a crime - at the time it was an innovation - and check out the writing, and Shorter's muscular solo on that outro...Or Zawinul's tune, "The Juggler": Deep, evocative, dynamic and utterly uncliched. No, this music shouldn't be denigrated with the derogatory term, Fuzak. This is way too nuanced and harmonically complex music for that facile term. Perhaps some people have simply listened to this album too many times to hear it with fresh ears. Imagine for a moment what this album must've sounded like when it first came out in 1976: Revolutionary. With regards to the SACD. I believe I am in a unique position to comment on it as I own not only the original vinyl, the 1997 Bob Belden remaster, but also the Japanese Mark Wilder remaster (from the box set, 2007) and the Sony Japanese SACD (SAME 1999.) In a nutshell, this is now the definitive remaster. I believe mastering engineer, Kevin Gray has wrung just about every detail one could hope for out of the master tape. That doesn't negate the fact that from a purely audiophile standpoint, this is a flawed recording: the album still sounds anemic in the bass, and the recording still has an overly bright sheen on the top end. Yet compared to the previous versions, it simply blows them all out of the water. Whereas the other versions either have a problem with a brittle, thin high end with not nearly enough bottom (Wilder,) or suffer from a lack of high end definition but have a little more punch in the low end (Belden), or suffer from lack of mid range warmth (basically, all of them) this puppy has achieved a nice compromise. Also, as noted by the first review, the sound stage is very wide here - and I mean huge. The end result is a stunning remaster that probably can't be improved upon unless one took on the arduous task of locating the original tracks, getting the rights and remixing the project. Knowing that will never occurr, this is probably the best sounding Heavy Weather we're ever likely to hear. And like Audiofideilty's remarkable remaster of Tale Spinnin', which I have grown to admire more and more since it's release, this one will probably grow on me as well, despite its obvious sonic shortcomings.

Excellent cd, great condition. One of my favorites by Weather Report

great players in this band, good jazz music!!

Great music cd

Este LP fue prensado hace años ya en versión de 180g, y remasterizado, no barato pero para fanáticos de Weather Report es indispensable tenerlo, suena muy bien, en mejor reproductor, mejor fonocaptor, recomendable.

While it's not my favorite Weather Report album, Heavy Weather is a true 'fuzak' classic (jazz just this side of muzak). I have the older CBS half-speed LP that was quite nice, and I have the 20-bit master on a gold CD that was superior to any other CD versions I've heard. I find Japanese CDs to be a little too trebly for my tastes, but this wonderful mastering by Audio Fidelity has a holographic soundstage I've only heard previously on vinyl. The tones and textures are layered in a convincing manner. Whether it's Jaco's fretless bass, Joe's keyboards or Wayne's soprano sax, the music resonates. I am only reviewing the SACD layer, but if you have a sweet Redbook player, such as anything made by Rega, you can probably enjoy a similar soundstage and sense of dynamic realism and space between the instruments. You can 'hear the room' with this one! Strongly recommended.

Thank you for sending this album. I used to listen to this album endless times, when I was in the US Navy.

My go-to jazz album when I joined the Navy. Still plays well after all these years.

Llego en perfecto estado

最高の名作アルバム。バードランドから最高でこの金額で聴けるのが最高です。2007DSDマスタリングです。

Succès à la fois commercial et artistique, album vulgarisateur par excellence aussi, Heavy Weather, le cru 1977 de Weather Report, leur 8ème album déjà, est de ces tours de magie qu'on n'attendait pas, et qui sont impossible à calculer accessoirement, un album qui sait ratisser large sans jamais se vendre, un classique. Il faut dire qu'on a ici une sacrée bande de virtuoases, de Zawinul à Shorter, de Pastorius à Acuña, sans oublier le percussionniste Manolo Badrena, bien entendu, certains ayant traîné du côté de chez Miles, c'est un signe qui ne trompe pas !, des gars qui savent à peu près tout faire et, surtout, comment ne pas trop en faire, la confiance des cadors, le bon goût d'authentiques artistes. En 1977, en plus de concocter un bel album de jazz moderne et varié, ils parviennent, très fort !, à le rendre abordable à un large public, du genre qui ne plonge que très rarement dans les périmètres du jazz. La formule, somme toute, n'est pas très compliquée : des compositions et des performances construites sur un noyau dur de mélodie qui fait toute la différence. Prenez Birdland, la piste qui ouvre Heavy Weather et le gros tube de Weather Report aussi, en plus d'être un bel hommage à Charlie Parker (Bird !), c'est une exemplaire démonstration qu'une mélodie forte bien traitée par de supérieurs talents se transforme bientôt en or. Et comme le reste, qu'on glisse avec une remarquable facilité vers l'Amérique du Sud (l'impromptu Rumba Mamá enregistré en live, le caliente latin funk Palladium ou le puissant, nuancé et prospectif Havona) ou reste fermement dans sa portion nord (les "smooth as silk" mais pas muzak pour deux sous A Remark You Made, Harlequin et The Juggler, le diablement funky Teen Town avec Jaco également batteur), le succès est toujours au rendez-vous. Il y a même la mise en son idoine pour que le bonheur soit complet, c'est dire ! C'est dire qu'il n'y a que de bonnes raisons que cet Heavy Weather soit, près de 40 ans après sa sortie, soit reconnu comme le vrai classique qu'il est, indéniablement, et l'obligatoire addition qu'il constitue dans la collection de tout amateur de jazz qui se respecte. 1. Birdland 5:57 2. A Remark You Made 6:51 3. Teen Town 2:51 4. Harlequin 3:59 5. Rumba Mamá 2:11 6. Palladíum 4:46 7. The Juggler 5:03 8. Havona 6:01 Joe Zawinul - 2 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", vocal on "Birdland", melodica on "Birdland" and "Teen Town", and guitar and tabla on "The Juggler". Wayne Shorter - Soprano saxophone on all tracks except "A Remark You Made" and "Rumba Mamá", and tenor saxophone on "Birdland"", "A Remark You Made" and "Palladíum" Jaco Pastorius - Electric 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 - Drum set on all tracks except "Teen Town" and "Rumba Mamá", congas and tom-toms on "Rumba Mamá", and handclaps on "The Juggler" Manolo Badrena - Tambourine on "Birdland", congas on "Teen Town", "Rumba Mamá" and "Palladíum", vocal on "Harlequin" and "Rumba Mamá", timbales on "Rumba Mamá", and percussion on "Palladíum" and "The Juggler"

Fusion Jazz history!

Eine der Schallplatten, die als Meilenstein der Musikgeschichte in kleiner Sammlung fehlen sollten.