Wayne Shorter - 1974 [2023] "Moto Grosso Feio"

Moto Grosso Feio is the thirteenth album by Wayne Shorter, recorded in 1970 but not released on the Blue Note label until 1974. The album features four originals by Shorter and an arrangement of "Vera Cruz" by Milton Nascimento. Some of the musicians include guitarist John McLaughlin, bassist/cellist Ron Carter, bassist Dave Holland, and drummers Jack DeJohnette and Micheline Pelzer.

When delving into the expansive and storied discography of Wayne Shorter, “Moto Grosso Feio,” released in 1974, stands out as one of the most enigmatic entries. Here is an album that, while remaining true to Shorter’s reputation for innovation and exploration, veers off into terrain less traveled, even by his adventurous standards.

From the onset, “Moto Grosso Feio” invites the listener into a universe distinctly different from Shorter’s earlier works. If one were expecting a linear continuation from his previous efforts with Weather Report or even his solo albums of the ’60s, they’d quickly realize this was a departure. This isn’t to suggest a disconnection from his past but rather a bold foray into new realms.

The album’s title track, “Moto Grosso Feio,” which translates from Portuguese as “big ugly motor,” serves as an appropriate metaphor for the music’s engine: gritty, relentless, and evoking imagery of industrial landscapes and mechanized processes. It’s a sprawling epic of a track that unfolds over 12 minutes, where Shorter’s saxophone interplays beautifully with John McLaughlin’s guitar, offering an engaging dialogue between the two. Their instruments, at times, seem to be conversing, arguing, and harmonizing in the same breath.

“Iska” provides a different flavor. It’s a contemplative piece, where the complexity of the arrangements is evident. Shorter’s soprano saxophone soars, delves, and dances, guiding the listener through a labyrinth of sound. There’s a certain spaciousness to this track, a quality that allows for introspection amidst the intricate instrumentation.

“Manhattan Lorelei” is perhaps the most accessible track on the album. Its nod to more traditional jazz structures provides a sense of familiarity, but this isn’t a regression. The song serves as a reminder of Shorter’s roots, his foundational love for jazz, and his ability to interweave conventional and avant-garde elements seamlessly.

The inclusion of Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira on “Vera Cruz” infuses the track with a rhythmic vivacity that feels both earthy and ethereal. There’s an organic nature to this piece, a raw heartbeat that pulses beneath the surface of Shorter’s melodic explorations. It’s a journey to a different place, perhaps a rainforest or a bustling Brazilian cityscape, showcasing Shorter’s fascination with world music.

Yet, while the album is undeniably innovative, its experimental nature might be a double-edged sword for some. “Moto Grosso Feio” demands attentive listening. It’s not an album of instant gratification but requires patience and immersion. For the uninitiated or those expecting a more conventional jazz experience, it might feel overwhelming or esoteric.

Recorded on the same day as the superior Odyssey of Iska, this loose session (Wayne Shorter's final one for the Blue Note label) is quite unusual. Although Shorter sticks to his customary tenor and soprano, pianist Chick Corea plays marimba, drums, and percussion; bassist Ron Carter mostly performs on cello; electric guitarist John McLaughlin sticks to the 12-string guitar, and bassist Dave Holland also plays acoustic guitar, with drummer Michelin Prell rounding out the group. Not released until 1974, the music is influenced by early fusion and has its interesting moments although it often wanders. The group performs Milton Nascimento's "Vera Cruz" and four of Shorter's originals, of which "Montezuma" is the best-known.

“Moto Grosso Feio” can be seen as a pivotal moment in Wayne Shorter’s illustrious career. It’s a testament to his restless spirit and desire to constantly evolve, to seek out new horizons and challenge both himself and his listeners. While it may not be for everyone, its place in the annals of jazz history is indisputable. For those attuned to its frequency, it’s a profound experience that resonates deeply, long after the final note has been played.

Track listing:

All compositions by Wayne Shorter except where noted.

"Moto Grosso Feio" – 12:30

"Montezuma" – 7:53

"Antigua" – 5:25

"Vera Cruz" (Milton Nascimento) – 5:12

"Iska" – 11:22

Personnel:

Wayne Shorter — soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone

John McLaughlin — 12-string guitar

Chick Corea — marimba, drums, percussion

Ron Carter — bass, cello

Dave Holland — acoustic guitar, bass

Jack DeJohnette — drums, thumb piano

Miroslav Vitouš — bass (uncredited on album cover but mentioned as part of sessions in liner notes)

Micheline Pelzer (credited as Michelin Prell) — drums, percussion

Wayne Shorter - 1967 [2021] "Schizophrenia"

Schizophrenia is the eleventh album by Wayne Shorter, recorded on March 10, 1967, and released on the Blue Note label in May 1969. The album features five Shorter compositions and an arrangement of James Spaulding's "Kryptonite". The album features Shorter with alto saxophonist/flautist Spaulding, trombonist Curtis Fuller, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Joe Chambers.

Wayne Shorter was 33 on March 10, 1967, when he recorded Schizophrenia. It was his eleventh leader date overall, his eighth for Blue Note, and first in a little over a year, after having recorded the previous seven within the 17 months following Night Dreamer in April 1964. He was 30 months into a five-and-a-half-year association with Miles Davis, who had followed a half-year hiatus in 1965 by finding steady work for the Shorter-Hancock-Carter-Williams laboratory, resulting in the music documented two months after Schizophrenia on the astonishing Sorcerer, the date that clarified, as Todd Coolman wrote in the notes for Miles Davis Quintet: 1965-‘68, that Miles “had found and solidified the sound, style, and substance he had been searching for” and that the group, with Shorter as its “central compositional voice,” had become “the singular pivotal force in propelling jazz out of the bebop era and into the music of the ‘70s and beyond.”

On Schizophrenia, the leader deploys a less-traveled front line mix of his tenor saxophone, James Spaulding’s alto saxophone or flute, and Curtis Fuller’s trombone, and the same unitary Hancock-Carter-Joe Chambers “rhythm section” that coalesced Shorter’s October 1965 septet suite, The All Seeing Eye, into a visionary masterpiece. He feeds them such ravishing, harmonically ambiguous songs as “Go” and “Miyako” (for his daughter) and burners-with-an-edge like the title track and “Playground” to dig into. In sum, Shorter attains an equipoise between his first-half-of-the-‘60s achievements in “bish-bash, sock ‘em dead’ hardbop as musical director with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the form-bending equations he was conjuring for his Davis bandmates to experiment with on a nightly basis.

Although it couldn’t be predicted in 1967, Schizophrenia would be Shorter’s last “straight-ahead jazz” album for a while. On his ninth Blue Note date, Super Nova, rendered 30 months later, Shorter incorporated multiple guitars and percussion (with a decidedly Afro-Brazilian orientation), offering his own perspective on the new sounds that Miles Davis was exploring on the 1969 recordings In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. “Miles called me later,” Shorter once told me. “He said,‘We covered a lot of ground, didn’t we.’ His saying that stayed with me. It was music for music’s sake. Miles realized that we had covered a lot of ground; somehow it touched his whole human essence.”

One of the albums that Shorter recorded while he was part of Miles’ second quintet, Schizophrenia is somewhat of a cornerstone or hinge in his solo discography. Indeed, while still entrenched in the standard jazz like his previous albums (like SNE, for ex), Wayne is definitely wondering about and sometimes daring to reach beyond himself, something that Miles was also doing, as clearly both men were pushing each other. The present album is still in the previous effort’s line, despite a psychedelic photo for artwork, with the usual suspects of Hancock, Chambers and Carter, but fronting a horn-trio with, perhaps, the less-expected Spaulding (flute, sax) and Fuller (trombone).

Track listing:

"Tom Thumb" – 6:16

"Go" – 5:42

"Schizophrenia" – 6:50

"Kryptonite" (James Spaulding) – 6:29

"Miyako" – 5:00

"Playground" – 6:20

Personnel:

Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone

Curtis Fuller – trombone

James Spaulding – flute, alto saxophone

Herbie Hancock – piano

Ron Carter – bass

Joe Chambers – drums

Bunny Brunel - 1984 [1996] "Ivanhoe"

Ivanhoe by Bunny Brunel Featuring... BUNNY BRUNEL: Fretless Bass & Electric Upright Bass CHICK COREA: Mini Moog & Fender Rhodes HERBIE HANCOCK: Piano STANLEY CLARKE: Piccolo Bass TONY WILLIAMS: Drums JOE FARRELL: Tenor & Soprano Saxes BILL WATROUS: Trombone STEVE KUJALA: Tenor Sax AL VIZZUTTI: Trumpet DANIEL GOYONE, KEI AKAGI, KEN SHIMA: Keyboards MICHAEL O'NEILL, BERNARD TORELLI: Guitars JEAN PAUL CECCARELLI, TOM BRECHTLEIN: Drums DON ALIAS, LAUDIR DE OLIVIERA: Percussion.

About Bunny Brunel.... When CHICK COREA watched BERNARD BUNNY BRUNEL play one night at an upscale London jazz club in 1978, Bunny was unaware of the ultimate significance Corea would play in his future success as a bassist. A few weeks after that visit to London, Chick called Bunny on the telephone and asked him to pack up and join him on a world wide tour. Bunny quickly accepted and went on to record the classics "Tap Step" and "Secret Agent" with the legendary jazz fusionist. 

The roster of artists Bunny went on to record and perform with is practically a "Who's Who" of music industry giants. Notables include: HERBIE HANCOCK, WAYNE SHORTER, TONY WILLIAMS, AL JARREAU, NATALIE COLE, LARRY CORYELL, AL DIMEOLA, MIKE STERN, JOE FARRELL, and a list that goes on and on. Besides his work as a performer, he is equally at home in the roles of composer, arranger and producer. 

As a soundtrack composer, Bunny collaborated with Clint Eastwood in creating the main theme ("Claudia's Theme") for the Oscar winning film, "The Unforgiven." He also worked on several TV shows, including the popular series "Highlander." As a designer, Bunny created a line of Electric Bass Guitars for Carvin Corp. And an Electric Upright Bass. 

Bunny has released many albums. See his page on CD Baby or personal website at bunnybrunel.com for current list. These projects highlight his beautiful compositions and melodic solos and show off breathtaking bass lines. 

'CAB2' was nominated for the "Best Contemporary Jazz Instrumental Album" Grammy award of 2002. Taking an active interest in helping bass players, Brunel regularly gives seminars and lessons on his unique approach to the instrument. He has written several books and instructional videos.

Great, great, great! Meaningful and well-constructed music for jazz-fusion aficionados. The overall sound is awesome and Brunel has it all: the sound, the groove, the compositional knack. The guests are well-chosen and used: Herbie Hancock on piano on two tracks, Chick Corea, Tony Williams, Joe Farrell etc. Tracks are in various styles: latin, funk, jazz... Track dedicatees include Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea.

As far as bass players are concerned, this is better than anything by Stanley Clarke (who plays piccolo bass here on the opening track), Marcus Miller or Victor Wooten. If I was to describe Brunel's sound on bass, I'd say he is somehow at the crossroads between Jaco Pastorius (for the velocity and groove) and Bill Laswell (for the BIG sound and some of the effects used), with a strong hint of Stanley Clarke thrown in. This record (which I discovered via the Hancock connection) has made me hungry for other Brunel recordings. This one's from 1986, still sounds fresh in 2009 and it sincerely is a blast.

Track listing:

1 Ivanhoe 4:48

2 Going Home 4:28

3 Dede 6:00

4 Latin 6:10

5 Magic Player 3:25

6 Song For Wayne 8:50

7 As My Brother 3:20

8 Nani 3:23

Personnel:

Bass [Piccolo] – Stanley Clarke (tracks: A1)

Bass, Producer – Bunny Brunel

Congas – Don Alias (tracks: A2)

Drums – Tony Williams* (tracks: A1, B4), Jean Paul Ceccarelli* (tracks: B1, B3), Tom Brechtlein (tracks: A2, A3, A4, B2)

Guitar – Bernard Torrelli* (tracks: B1, B3), Michael O'Neill (tracks: A2, A3)

Keyboards – Chick Corea (tracks: A2, A4), Daniel Goyone (tracks: B1, B3)

Percussion – Laudir De Oliveira (tracks: A2, A4)

Piano – Herbie Hancock (tracks: A4, B2), Ken Akagi* (tracks: A3)

Piano, Keyboards – Ken Shima (tracks: A1, A3)

Saxophone – Joe Farrell (tracks: B1, B3), Steve Kujala (tracks: B1, B3)

Trombone – Bill Watrous (tracks: B1, B2, B3)

Trumpet – Al Vizzutti* (tracks: B1, B3)

Vocals, Percussion – Nani Villa Brunel

Weather Report - 1976 [2002] "Black Market"

Black Market is the sixth studio album by American jazz fusion band Weather Report. Released in 1976, it was produced by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter. It was recorded between December 1975 and January 1976 and released in March 1976 through Columbia Records. Columbia released it again as a digitally remastered CD in 1991.

This is Weather Report's sixth studio album and the first to feature bass player Jaco Pastorius, who appears on two tracks, one of which was his own composition "Barbary Coast." The back cover photo shows Pastorius, Chester Thompson, and Alex Acuña with the band, although bass player Alphonso Johnson played on the majority of the record's tracks. The album draws heavily from African influences and its style could be described as "world fusion". The second track, "Cannon Ball", is a tribute to saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Zawinul's employer for several years during the 1960s. Adderley died a few months before Black Market was recorded.

The shifts in Weather Report's personnel come fast and furious now, with Narada Michael Walden and Chester Thompson as the drummers, Alex Acuna and Don Alias at the percussion table, and Alphonso Johnson giving way to the mighty, martyred Jaco Pastorius. It is interesting to hear Pastorius expanding the bass role only incrementally over what the more funk-oriented Johnson was doing at this early point -- that is, until "Barbary Coast," where suddenly Jaco leaps athletically forward into the spotlight. Joe Zawinul or just Zawinul, as he preferred to be billed -- contributed all of side one's compositions, mostly Third World-flavored workouts except for "Cannon Ball," a touching tribute to his ex-boss Cannonball Adderley (who had died the year before). Shorter, Pastorius, and Johnson split the remainder of the tracks, with Shorter now set in a long-limbed compositional mode for electric bands that would serve him into the 1990s. While it goes without saying that most Weather Report albums are transition albums, this diverse record is even more transient than most, paving the way for WR's most popular period while retaining the old sense of adventure.

Changing personnel marked each of Weather Report’s first five albums, and Black Market carried forth that tradition, with Chester Thompson, Narada Michael Walden, Alex Acuña, and Jaco Pastorius all making their Weather Report recording debuts.

Asked about the changes in a March 1976 article, Zawinul said, “We’re always happy with the group, because if we’re not happy, we change it. There are a lot of musicians out there in the world. All the people who have played with us are great mother-fucking musicians. They have fantastic skills. But sometimes they’re going in one direction and we’re going in another one, so we have to make a change. Changing musicians gives us fresh blood, new ideas.”

In that article, Shorter and Zawinul said it didn’t really matter who played what–it was the end result that counted. “You can enjoy a symphony orchestra without knowing everybody’s name,” Shorter said. “You don’t have to know who the concertmaster is to know that the string section is incredible.” Zawinul added, “I’ve been playing our new album [Black Market] for some other musicians, and even some of them can’t always tell who’s playing what, or what instruments are being used at a given time. I like that. I like that a lot. Why should people know? We’re not a bunch of individual musicians. We’re a group.”

The personnel for Black Market took shape over the course of 1975, following the release of Weather Report’s previous album, Tale Spinnin’. Early in the year the problematic drum chair was filled by Thompson, who was recommended by Johnson. “Alphonso was in the band,” Thompson recalled, “and we had already played together in a couple of situations, and he urged me to come down and jam, so I guess it was kind of an informal audition, just free playing. And it was one of those bands that just clicked. I was not at all nervous. I knew they’d had several drummers in the year before. I had a large and pretty wide experience. I’d been interested in playing lots of different kinds of music. I’d been in experimental kinds of bands, and in technically demanding kinds of bands — [Frank] Zappa’s was the most technically demanding … I’d had a lot of chance to play jazz; by the time I was 15, I was playing in really good jazz groups. I played funk, too, probably an equal amount, having grown up in the ’60s, with early James Brown and Motown going on.”

“Al Johnson had been on Mysterious Traveller, Tale Spinnin’, and part of Black Market when he told us he wanted to quit,” Zawinul recalled in 1984. “He wanted to form a band with George Duke where he was the co-leader, rather than just a sideman. We felt that everybody should do what they wanted to do, and by that time I had already met Jaco [Pastorius]. Jaco had sent me a tape of his band, and I was really impressed with the way he played; but I wasn’t sure if he could really play funk. [Drummer] Tony Williams had played with him, and assured us that Jaco could play anything. Jaco was a great Cannonball Adderley fan, and I had written a song called ‘Cannon Ball,’ so I said to myself, ‘it might be a good idea, just for the fun of it, to have Jaco play on that tune and audition him at the same time.’ We flew him in, he played on the tune, he wrote a song for Black Market, and the rest is history!”

Track listing:

1. "Black Market" Joe Zawinul 6:28

2. "Cannon Ball" Zawinul 4:36

3. "Gibraltar" Zawinul 8:16

4. "Elegant People" Wayne Shorter 5:03

5. "Three Clowns" Shorter 3:31

6. "Barbary Coast" Jaco Pastorius 3:19

7. "Herandnu" Alphonso Johnson 6:36

Personnel:

Joe Zawinul – Yamaha Grand Piano, Rhodes Electric Piano, 2 × ARP 2600, Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer, orchestration

Wayne Shorter – Selmer soprano and tenor saxophones, Computone Lyricon

Alphonso Johnson – electric bass

Jaco Pastorius – electric fretless bass (tracks 2 & 6)

Narada Michael Walden – drums (tracks 1–2)

Chester Thompson – drums (tracks 1, 3–7)

Alex Acuña – congas, percussion (tracks 2–5, 7)

Don Alias – percussion (tracks 1 & 6)

Weather Report - 1977 [1997] "Heavy Weather"

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.

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".

This is simply one of the best jazz albums ever. The line up collaboration is perfect.Joe Zawinul on keys, Wayne Shorter on sax, Alex Acuna drums, Manolo Badrena percussion and Jaco Pastorius whose brilliance on a fretless bass in the '70s is again captured timelessly. Each track has a journey of its own with these guys. Birdland (a jazz standard) and TeenTown are classics. The latter featuring a blistering fretless bass line as the lead instrument. The whole album is absolutely outstandingly executed and timeless. Unbeatable driving music.

Weather Report's biggest-selling album is that ideal thing, a popular and artistic success -- and for the same reasons. For one thing, Joe Zawinul revealed an unexpectedly potent commercial streak for the first time since his Cannonball Adderley days, contributing what has become a perennial hit, "Birdland." Indeed, "Birdland" is a remarkable bit of record-making, a unified, ever-developing piece of music that evokes, without in any way imitating, a joyous evening on 52nd St. with a big band. The other factor is the full emergence of Jaco Pastorius as a co-leader; his dancing, staccato bass lifting itself out of the bass range as a third melodic voice, completely dominating his own ingenious "Teen Town" (where he also plays drums!). By now, Zawinul has become WR's de facto commander in the studio; his colorful synthesizers dictate the textures, his conceptions are carefully planned, with little of the freewheeling improvisation of only five years before. Wayne Shorter's saxophones are now reticent, if always eloquent, beams of light in Zawinul's general scheme while Alex Acuña shifts ably over to the drums and Manolo Badrena handles the percussion. Released just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam, this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom.

Tracks Listing:

1. Birdland (5:57)

2. A Remark You Made (6:51)

3. Teen Town (2:51)

4. Harlequin (3:59)

5. Rumba Mama (2:11)

6. Palladium (4:46)

7. The Juggler (5:03)

8. Havona (6:01)

Personnel:

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"

Tribal Tech - 1993 "Face First"

Face First is the sixth album by jazz fusion band Tribal Tech. It was released in 1993. The album is more improvisational than the band's previous works, and features elements of funk, bop and blues. "Boat Gig" is the only track on the album that contains singing, with vocals by drummer Kirk Covington.

Guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis, known as Tribal Tech (the renegade rock/jazz/fusion warriors) are back with the release of their 1993 album, entitled "Face First". Equally adapt at recalling Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix, the band successfully bridges the gap between jazz and rock, blending elements of entities such as Weather Report, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and Return To Forever, while simultaneously expanding the dimensions of jazz. Scott Henderson (also known for his work with the Chick Corea Elektric Band and The Zawinul Syndicate) is generally admired as one of the most exciting fusion guitarists in the world today. Gary Willis first made a name for himself in the bands of Wayne Shorter and Allan Holdsworth. Incredibly tasteful phrasing and standout guitar playing dominate "Face First", and interestingly, in a somewhat bizarre move, the band dedicated the song "Boat Gig" to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert King.

Although it was their sixth album overall, Tribal Tech's 1993 release, Face First, was only the second to feature the still-existing lineup of guitarist Scott Henderson, bassist Gary Willis, keyboardist Scott Kinsey, and drummer Kirk Covington. Previously, Henderson and Willis had juggled lineups and eased further away from traditional jazz toward improvisational fusion through the 1985-1991 albums Spears, Dr. Hee, Nomad, and Tribal Tech. But the quartet of musical leftists gelled on Face First, improving on its promising 1992 debut, Illicit. Henderson's solo on the opening title track -- over a percolating Willis bassline -- shows the guitarist's range of influences from Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix to Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Funk pieces like "Canine" and "Uh...Yeah OK" show glimpses of the group's future, all-improvised CDs; hummingbird-quick drummer Covington's lead vocal on the cover-band farce "Boat Gig" set the stage for Henderson"'s solo blues debut the next year. In between, synth-master Kinsey's jazzy "After Hours" and Henderson's New Orleans-tinged "Revenge Stew" provide thought-provoking rest areas -- necessary because of breathtaking ten-minute thrill rides like the blues, bop, and beyond of "Salt Lick." Willis' Weather Report-like "The Precipice" and "Wounded" ease you to the finish of Face First, the album that made a statement that Henderson, Willis, and company have not yet begun to finish.

Track listing:

01.    "Face First"    7:04
02.    "Canine"    6:24
03.    "After Hours"    7:23
04.    "Revenge Stew"    6:07
05.    "Salt Lick"    9:45
06.    "Uh... Yeah OK"    6:44
07.    "The Crawling Horror"    7:44
08.    "Boiler Room"    1:35
09.    "Boat Gig"    6:00
10.    "The Precipice"    6:17
11.    "Wounded"    5:39

Personnel:

    Scott Henderson – guitar
    Gary Willis – fretless bass
    Scott Kinsey – keyboards
    Kirk Covington – drums, vocals

Weather Report - 1980 [1992] Night Passage

 

Night Passage is the ninth studio album by Weather Report, released in 1980. The tracks were recorded on July 12 and 13, 1980 at The Complex studios in Los Angeles (before a crowd of 250 people who can be heard on a couple of tracks), except for "Madagascar", recorded live at the Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan on June 29 of the same year.

The album introduces a new member to the band, namely percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. Night Passage loses the over-done production layers of some of Weather Report's earlier releases (most notably 1978's Mr. Gone). What is lost in layers of overdubs is made up in solo improvisation in the classic jazz tradition.

All things being relative, this is Weather Report's straightahead album, where the elaborate production layers of the late-'70s gave way to sparer textures and more unadorned solo improvisation in the jazz tradition, electric instruments and all. The flaw of this album is the shortage of really memorable compositions; it is more of a vehicle for the virtuosic feats of what is considered by some to be the classic WR lineup -- Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Robert Thomas, Jr. and Peter Erskine. For Erskine, this is is first full studio album and he amply demonstrates his terrific sense of forward drive unique among the other superb drummers in WR annals. "Port of Entry" is a tour de force for Jaco, who knocks off several of those unbelievably slippery, pointed runs that have made him a posthumous legend. There is also a tremendously fun retro trip to Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm," everybody swinging their heads and hands off.

The music for Night Passage was honed during the tours of 1979-1980, following the release of 8:30. Whereas 8:30 relied largely on the music of the past, on the ’79-’80 tours the Pastorius-Erskine-Thomas edition of Weather Report developed its own unique identity independent of earlier work. Perhaps Jon Pareles captured the difference best in his article in Musician Player & Listener describing Weather Report’s New York concert in early 1980

Track listing:

1.    "Night Passage"    Joe Zawinul    6:30
2.    "Dream Clock"    Zawinul    6:26
3.    "Port of Entry"    Shorter    5:09
4.    "Forlorn"    Zawinul    3:55
5.    "Rockin' in Rhythm"    Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, Harry Carney    3:02
6.    "Fast City"    Zawinul    6:17
7.    "Three Views of a Secret"    Pastorius    5:50
8.    "Madagascar"    Zawinul    10:56

Personnel:

    Josef Zawinul – keyboards and synthesizers
    Wayne Shorter – saxophones
    Jaco Pastorius – fretless bass
    Peter Erskine – drums
    Robert Thomas Jr. – percussion

Weather Report - 1978 [1991] "Mr. Gone"

 

Mr. Gone is the eighth studio album by jazz fusion band Weather Report released in 1978 by ARC/Columbia Records. The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.

As the group was still looking for a drummer following the departure of Alex Acuña, outside drummers Tony Williams and Steve Gadd appear along with Peter Erskine, who would become Acuña's replacement. Singers Deniece Williams and Maurice White also appear on the track "And Then." The Pastorius-penned "Punk Jazz" was later the title of a posthumous compilation of Jaco Pastorius's music.

The record became a center of controversy when DownBeat magazine gave it a one-star review. Zawinul went on to deliver a furious response to this review during a later interview.

On Mr. Gone, Weather Report becomes merely a cover name for a Joe Zawinul/Jaco Pastorius jazz/rock/funk record production, with several guest drummers (Steve Gadd, Tony Williams, Peter Erskine), no resident percussionist, and Wayne Shorter as a still-potent solo saxophone threat. This album was denounced in its time as a sellout, probably on the reputation of Jaco's pulsating "River People," which is as close as WR ever came to outright disco. But there is lots of diversity and adventure here, as the creative core of the band uses the latest electronics to push out the boundaries of sound while maintaining tight control over structure. "The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat" is quintessential Zawinul; the Third World-centered groove is everything, no chord changes to impede this rush of layered electronics, percussion, and voices. Shorter's spare "The Elders" flirts with the electronic avant-garde and he retrofits his Miles Davis-era "Pinocchio" in rapid-fire electro-acoustic garb. In other words, the multi-flavored WR stew continues to cook at a fine boil.

Mr. Gone is one of those recordings which causes debate among fans of Weather Report and Jaco. The album features two Jaco compositions, including “River People” and “Punk Jazz”. Jaco elaborated about “River People” during an interview with the BBC’s Clive Williamson: “I have a tune, ‘River People’, and I wanted a certain kind of feel, so I decided to play drums on it. We were in a transformation period, I broke my right wrist and we had some time off, and just Joe and I were in the studio. So we did ‘River People’ that way, building the tune up on the spot. It was all written out, so all Joe had to do was play his parts, and I played mine, and it just all gelled together, and I did some overdubs. In fact, we played the bass parts together ‘coz he got this synth sound, sort of a little twang, almost like a little guitar on the top, with my bass rolling on the bottom. So we just played to the click track, and I went back and overdubbed the drums with that, as opposed to ‘Teen Town’ where I played the drums first, and overdubbed the bass part afterwards.”

Track listing:

01  "The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat" (Zawinul) 5:03
02  "River People" (Pastorius) 4:50
03  "Young and Fine" (Zawinul) 6:55
04  "The Elders" (Shorter, arranged by Zawinul) 4:21
05  "Mr. Gone" (Zawinul) 5:26
06  "Punk Jazz" (Pastorius) 5:09
07  "Pinocchio" (Shorter) 2:26
08  "And Then" (music - Zawinul, lyrics - Sam Guest) 3:22

Personnel:

    Joe Zawinul - modified Rhodes 88 electric piano, acoustic piano, two ARP 2600 synthesizers, Oberheim Polyphonic synthesizer, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer, Mu-Tron Bi-Phase and Mu-Tron Volume Wah effects, kalimba, thumbeki drums, sleigh bells, melodica, high hat, vocals (tracks 1 and 5)
    Wayne Shorter - tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones, vocals (track 1)
    Jaco Pastorius - bass, drums (tracks 1 and 2), timpani (track 2), vocals (tracks 1, 2, and 6)
    Peter Erskine - drums (tracks 1 and 7), hi hat (track 3), vocals (track 1)

Additional musicians

    Tony Williams - drums (tracks 5 and 6)
    Steve Gadd - drums (tracks 3 and 8)
    Manolo Badrena - vocal solo (track 1)
    Jon Lucien - vocals (track 1)
    Deniece Williams - vocals (track 8)
    Maurice White - vocals (track 8)

Scott Kinsey - 2019 "We Speak Luniwaz"

 

On We Speak Luniwaz, Kinsey presents a sequence of creatively arranged Zawinul gems, plus a couple of original compositions, with a gifted core band (saxophonist/flutist Katisse Buckingham, bassist Hadrien Feraud, and drummer Gergö Borlai) and guest stars.

“Scott Kinsey’s realization of these Weather Report tunes manages to not only pay tribute to the works of Zawinul and Shorter but also to mine the music for discoverable gold. His band plays the daylights out of these tunes. This album deserves your attention.”
— Peter Erskine

Widely known as one of the most skilled keyboard players of his generation, Scott Kinsey is also one of the foremost interpreters of Joe Zawinul’s rich musical legacy. As musical director of the Zawinul Legacy Band, Kinsey has delivered electrifying performances in celebration of Zawinul’s groundbreaking work with Weather Report and the Zawinul Syndicate.

On 'We Speak Luniwaz', his Whirlwind Recordings debut, Kinsey brings his expertise to bear on re-imaginings of seven scintillating Zawinul compositions, plus one by Wayne Shorter and two originals. Joined by electric bass phenom Hadrien Feraud, saxophone/flute master Katisse Buckingham and Hungarian drummer Gergo Borlai, this accomplished crew generates sparkling energy and percolating grooves on entrancing Zawinul fare like “The Harvest” ('Dialects', 1986), “Victims of the Groove” ('Lost Tribes', 1992), “Black Market” ('Black Market', 1976), “Fast City” ('Night Passage', 1980), “Between the Thighs” ('Tale Spinnin’', 1975) and “Where the Moon Goes” ('Procession', 1983). For the funky “Cucumber Slumber,” ('Mysterious Traveler', 1974), Kinsey showcases Buckingham’s skills as rapper with a testimony to Joe in a segment titled “World Citizen.”

“Zawinul’s music has been near and dear to me ever since the moment I first heard it,” Kinsey wrote in the liner notes. “My objective was to try to do justice to this material, more than anything as a little thank-you note to someone who certainly changed my life,” added Kinsey. “And someone who gave us all so much through his uncompromising and impossibly high musical standards. What Joe did was create his own personal language that was always in the moment and totally fresh! So with time, I also learned to speak Luniwaz, perhaps using my own personal dialect… I’m pretty sure he would have loved this record.”

Scott Kinsey is something of a leading light in the world of fusion thanks to his collaborations with the likes of Scott Henderson’s Tribal Tech, Alphonso Johnson and  John McLaughlin, new-school types like Matthew Garrison and Tim Lefbvre, and hipsters such as Thundercat and Flying Lotus, not to mention a host of movie scores. Here he returns to the fusion well-spring by exploring the legacy of one of the genre’s founding fathers, with whom he also enjoyed a fruitful working relationship as keyboard programmer and whose legacy he already supports via the official Zawinul Legacy Band. There’s a host of well-loved Zawinul Weather Report classics on offer here, plus Wayne  Shorter’s ‘Port Of Entry’ and a pair of originals by Scott and the band (essentially the same line-up as the Legacy Band plus Hungarian power drummer Borlai). In addition, in the best Weather Report tradition there’s a pool of percussionists, many of whom worked with the man himself.

The band sound terrific, and Hadrien Ferraud in particular continues to justify his place as the current holder of the Jaco mantle with his awesome speed, accuracy and creativity. There’s a slightly disconcerting rap from saxophonist Buckingham on ‘Cucumber Slumber’ but elsewhere the creative choices throughout are totally in keeping with the genre. While the project has the whole-hearted endorsement of the Zawinul family, and undoubtedly keeps the flame burning for his unique vision, one may feel that this album points the listener back towards the brilliance of the originals rather than holding the attention in its own right. But maybe that’s the idea.

Track listing:

01 The Harvest     
02 Victims of the Groove     
03 Cucumber Slumber / World Citizen Medley     
04 We Speak Luniwaz     
05 Black Market     
06 Fast City     
07 Running The Dara Down     
08 Port Of Entry     
09 Between The Thighs     
10 Where The Moon Goes

Personnel:

Scott Kinsey - keyboards, piano, vocoder
Katise Buckingham - tenor & soprano saxophones, flute, rhymes
Hadrien Feraud - electric bass
Gergo Borlai - drums

Special Guests:

Bobby Thomas Jr - percussion
Arto Tunçboyaciyan - percussion
Steve Tavaglione - saxophone
Jimmy Haslip - electric bass
Michael Baker - drums
Danny Carey - electronic drums
Cyril Atef - drums
Brad Dutz - percussion
Naina Kundu - voice

Mark Varney Project - 1990 "Truth In Shredding"

 

Truth in Shredding is the first studio album by the Mark Varney Project (MVP), released in 1990 through Legato Records and reissued on November 4, 2003, through Tone Center Records. MVP was a short-lived collaborative project put together by Mark Varney, brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney. Mark founded Legato in the 1980s, which served as a jazz-oriented counterpart to the rock stylings of Shrapnel. This incarnation of the group features guitarists Frank Gambale and Allan Holdsworth. Besides one track written by Gambale, the rest are covers of existing jazz fusion compositions.

1990 Legato Records release of MVP (The Mark Varney Project), "Truth In Shredding", offers "a relentless, thrill-a-minute, Indiana Jones of instrumental music! The guitar work by two Guitar Player Magazine Reader's Poll winners is staggering!" Those two winners happen to be none other than Allan Holdsworth (guitar, synthaxe) and Frank Gambale (rhythm guitar, lead guitar), who also produced the album of seven instrumentals - 99% of which was tracked live! Intense, mind-numbing, intimidating - all have been used to describe the music on "Truth In Shredding" - recommended for fans ranging from fusion to progressive to metal.

MVP stands for the Mark Varney Project. He has been a longtime recruiter of guitar speed demons such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Tony Macalpine. Here he brings together accomplished and established players. It is a very intense fusion recording that can be an intimidating listen both in terms of technique and the consistent intensity maintained throughout. The metal-influenced Frank Gambale is one of the pioneers of the sweep-picking technique that allows him to generate mind-numbing speed. Allan Holdsworth proves a good counterpoint, as his unique approach also produces lightning-quick runs. Guitar fans, especially the younger crowd, will appreciate the extended solos and lack of any commercial hooks here. It is basically a blowing date. This is not to say that the musicians don't deserve credit for their playing -- quite the contrary. Out of the two, Holdsworth seems a bit more inspired and more comfortable in this setting. Tommy Brechtlein turns in a fine performance on drums, especially when given some space on "Bathsheba." If taken in short doses, the impact of this recording is more effective. Recommended for fans ranging from fusion to progressive to metal.

Track listing:

1. "Rocks"    Randy Brecker    7:01
2. "Humpty Dumpty"    Chick Corea    6:31
3. "The Fall"    Wayne Shorter    8:15
4. "Not Ethiopia"    Michael Brecker    9:36
5. "New Boots"    Frank Gambale    6:24
6. "Ana Maria"    Shorter    9:15
7. "Bathsheba"    M. Brecker    8:16
Total length:    55:08

Personnel:

Frank Gambale – guitar, engineering, mixing, production
Allan Holdsworth – guitar, SynthAxe, overdub engineering
Freddy Ravel – keyboard
Tom Brechtlein – drums
Jimmy Earl – bass
Steve Tavaglione – saxophone, EWI

Miles Davis - 1973 [1997] "Black Beauty" - Miles Davis at Fillmore West

 

Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West is a live double album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on April 10, 1970, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, shortly after the release of the trumpeter's Bitches Brew album and the recording of Jack Johnson (1971). Black Beauty was produced by Teo Macero, Davis' longtime record producer.

A jazz-rock album, Black Beauty captured one of Davis' first performances at a rock venue during the early stages of his electric period. At the concert, he led his band—saxophonist Steve Grossman, bassist Dave Holland, keyboardist Chick Corea, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and percussionist Airto Moreira—through one continuously performed set list which functioned as a musical suite for soloists to improvise throughout. He signaled changes from one piece to the next with phrases played on his trumpet.

Black Beauty was first released only in Japan by CBS/Sony in 1973 without individual songs specified in the track listing. Columbia Records, Davis' American record label, had difficulty identifying the compositions for royalty purposes, and the album was not released in the United States until 1997. Critics were generally positive toward Black Beauty, although some were critical of its sound quality and Grossman's solos; Corea said the recording was an accurate document how that particular band of Davis' played live.

The recording of this concert, not released until 1973 and only in Japan, took place on April 10, 1970 at the Carousel Ballroom, where Bill Graham, the legendary west coast impresario of psychedelic rock, had moved his Fillmore Auditorium in 1968. Steve Grossman, who replaced Wayne Shorter, used only the soprano saxophone, an instrument more capable than the tenor of penetrating the wall of sound produced by the decidedly free and powerful rhythm section, which was pervaded by the electronic effects created by Chick Corea’s electric piano. On its first release, the four sides were simply titled “Black Beauty Part 1,” “Part 2,” etc. Admittedly, identifying these pieces, which flowed into each other in an unbroken medley, was not easy. Although fragments of “I Fall in
Love Too Easily” and “The Theme” (Miles’ sign-off since the 50s) remained, he was in the process of leaving behind his popular standards. Aside from the very abstract “Masqualero” by Wayne Shorter and “Directions,” his habitual opening number borrowed from Joe Zawinul, his program was drawn from In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and the Jack Johnson sessions, completed three days before the concert.

When Miles Davis gave his triumphant live date at the Fillmore East in New York City in 1970 (where it was captured in the widely acclaimed Miles Davis At Fillmore) he also gave another highly successful live performance at the Fillmore West in San Francisco the same year when he became one of the top live attractions of this rock venue.
Released in 1973, Black Beauty: Miles Davis At Fillmore West again feature the exhilarating fireworks and hard-rocking funk highlighted with a series of nonstop artistic action, soaring electric keyboard artistry which sways or screams through the live performance with stunning vitality and sheer background that have made it such a surefire hit.
By starting off with a superlative bang on Directions, the crash course- driven track set concludes on Miles Runs The Voodoo Down, Willie Nelson, a rather brief reindition of I the classic standard Fall In Love Too Easily, Sanctuary, It’s About That Time, Bitches Brew, Masqualero and Spanish Key as Miles and the band plays
them in absolute timing. Again heading a vigorous band line-up which feature Steve Grossman on tenor or soprano saxophones, Chick Corea on Fender Rhodes electric piano, Dave Holland on electric bass, Jack DeJohnette on the drums and percussion maestro Airto Moreira (who also plays the cuica) alongside Miles’ wah-wah powered trumpet solos, they give Black Beauty: Miles Davis At Fillmore West the high energy and low key vim that made it quite a hit on the jazz and R&B charts.

Track listing:

Disc 1
    Directions
    Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
    Willie Nelson
    I Fall In Love Too Easily
    Sanctuary
    It’s About That Time

Disc 2
    Bitches Brew
    Masqualero
    Spanish Key/The Theme

Personnel:

    Chick Corea – electric piano
    Miles Davis – trumpet
    Jack DeJohnette – drums
    Steve Grossman – saxophone
    Dave Holland – bass
    Airto Moreira – percussion

Charlier - Sourisse Multiquarium Big Band feat. Biréli Lagrène - 2020 "Remembering Jaco"

 Jaco Pastorius is well worth remembering, so this new album by French big band Multiquarium would be welcome for that reason alone. But this is a superior collection by any standards. No single arranger is credited: one can only assume the job was a collaboration instigated by the band’s leaders, drummer André Charlier and pianist/organist Benoît Sourisse. Meanwhile, Biréli Lagrène (best known as a guitarist, although he sticks to fretless bass here), has the almost impossible task of living up to Pastorius’s legacy. Lagrène has certainly earned the right: as a guitarist, he played and recorded with Jaco, and was co-credited with him on the posthumous 1986 album Stuttgart Aria.

And what an astonishing player he is. Just listen to the intro to Invitation which the band plays at around 160bpm with Lagrène pumping out the sixteenth notes with the greatest of ease. Personally, as a long-time admirer of the great Laurence Cottle (not to mention Laurence’s disciple Janek Gwizdala), that makes my head spin. I would add that anyone who is still suspicious of the Pastorius style, regarding the very concept of “lead bass” as a contradiction, might do well to give this a listen. Producer Charlier has sensibly avoided mixing Lagrène too high, so that his playing doesn’t dominate: he blends in beautifully.

As you’d expect, the tunes on Remembering Jaco are taken from both the Weather Report years and Jaco’s solo career. Material from his eponymous official first solo album includes Continuum, Kuru/Speak Like a Child and (Used to be a) Cha-Cha. There’s also a version of Jaco’s composition Teen Town from Weather Report’s Heavy Weather, with its memorable bass intro, while Invitation, Liberty City and Fannie Mae all appeared on his Invitation live album from 1983.

Remembering Jaco is an enjoyably varied set. The band is super-tight, and they swing like a barn door in a gale. Not everything is taken at the sort of uptempo clip we usually associate with Jaco: Three Views of a Secret is a serene waltz, and there are some fine solos here from Stéphane Chausse on clarinet, Pierre Perchaud on guitar and Claude Egéa on flugelhorn. Elsewhere I particularly enjoyed the solo work of altoist Lucas Saint-Cricq and pianist Sourisse on Barbary Coast. The album culminates with Buster Brown’s blues Fannie Mae, sung here with gravelly panache by Yannick Boudruche.

Multiquarium Big Band feat. Biréli Lagrène: “Remerbering Jaco” is a tribute to Jaco Pastorius’s music, made by André Charlier (drums) and Benoit Sourisse (piano) from the Multiquarium Big Band, one of the best French Big Bands.

Jaco Pastorius is a big star in the Jazz-Rock scene (and beyond), an icon for bass players all around the world, the one who brought to electric bass the possibility of becoming in some cases, a soloist instrument in a band. Jaco Pastorius made very famous solo albums and wrote amazing big band music. He played with Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell but was also a very important member of the famous Jazz-rock band, Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, Peter Erskine (who contributes some spoken word to this album!)

The virtuoso gypsy guitar player, Biréli Lagrène, has been invited to play electric fretless bass on the album. Biréli, who, as a young genius of the guitar, began to play in Montreux when he was 14, he is now 50 and played one year and a half with Jaco Pastorius on stage when he was 19 years old. Biréli is an amazing bass player, he perfectly integrated how Jaco’s Music was working and pushed it beyond its borders.

Personnel:

    Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet – Stéphane Chausse
    Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Lucas Saint-Cricq    
    Baritone Saxophone – Frédéric Couderc
    Bass Trombone, Tuba – Didier Havet
    Drums, Mixed By, Mastered By – André Charlier
    Fretless Bass, Guest – Biréli Lagrène (tracks: all tracks)    
    Guest, Narrator [Spoken Text] – Peter Erskine (tracks: 1, 4, 8, 12)
    Guitar – Pierre Perchaud
    Percussion – Nicolas Charlier
    Piano, Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Electric Organ [Hammond Organ] – Benoît Sourisse
    Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Flute – Stéphane Guillaume
    Tenor Saxophone – Frédéric Borey
    Trombone – Damien Verherve, Denis Leloup, Philippe Georges
    Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Claude Egéa, Erick Poirier, Pierre Drevet, Yves Le Carboulec

Track listing:

01 Introduction by Peter Erskine     1:19
02 Used to Be a Cha Cha     4:49
03 Barbary Coast     6:19
04 Interlude by Peter Erskine #1     1:08
05 Liberty City (intro) / Invitation     9:46
06 Continuum     2:01
07 Kuru / Speak Like a Child     6:42
08 Interlude by Peter Erskine #2     1:30
09 Teen Town     3:32
10 Three Views of a Secret     6:15
11 Palladium     8:15
12 Conclusion by Peter Erskine     2:10
13 Fanny Mae     3:46

Weather Report - 1974 [2002] "Mysterious Traveller"

Mysterious Traveller is the fourth studio album of Weather Report and was released in 1974. This album marked the end of bassist Miroslav Vitouš's tenure with the band. Vitouš was replaced by Alphonso Johnson. Another addition to the line-up is drummer Ishmael Wilburn. Greg Errico was the drummer for the tour between the previously released Sweetnighter and this album, but declined an invitation to be a permanent member of the band.

The record is the band's first that predominantly uses electric bass and incorporates liberal uses of funk, R&B grooves, and rock that would later be hallmarked as the band's "signature" sound. Also, the more restricted compositional format became evident on this album, replacing the more "open improvisation" formats used on the first three albums. It was voted as the album of the year by the readers of Down Beat for 1974, garnering their 2nd overall win in that category, also garnering a five-star review from that publication along the way.

Weather Report's fourth recording finds Wayne Shorter (on soprano and tenor) taking a lesser role as Joe Zawinul begins to really dominate the group's sound. Most selections also include bassist Alphonso Johnson and drummer Ishmael Wilburn although the personnel shifts from track to track. "Nubian Sundance" adds several vocalists while "Blackthorn Rose" is a Shorter-Zawinul duet. Overall the music is pretty stimulating and sometimes adventurous; high-quality fusion from 1974.

In 1974, three years after the band's inception, Weather Report became one of the world's most popular jazz groups due to their uncompromising originality and musicianship. This was the year that founding member Miroslav Vitous was replaced by Alphonso Johnson, who became a critical asset as both a fluid, creative bassist and a composer. Drummer Ishmael Wilburn and Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romao, with a shifting cast of supporting players, laid the foundation for the band's most exciting incarnation yet. The overdue reissue of Mysterious Traveller is a welcome acknowledgement of this mid-period lineup's importance in the evolution of fusion.

This album contains some of the Report's most popular works, chiefly the long opener "Nubian Sundance." The sound of cheering crowds (apparently tacked on in the studio to simulate a live performance) still seems a bit presumptuous today, but the overall performance is certainly worth cheering. Zawinul's weirdly nonsensical vocals seem a precursor to Pat Metheny's wordless singing, and they add a witty flavor to the tune. "Cucumber Slumber" is another perennial favorite which gives Johnson the chance to work out the funk via slides and double-stops. The skulking title track brings much fun as well, with Shorter squeaking out alarums in the alley. The bass and sax take a coffee break on "Jungle Book," leaving Zawinul with two percussionists to carve out an inarguable masterpiece. His ability to program the synthesizers to suit his vision was always key to the WR sound, and this track was the ultimate realization of his artistry.

The disc is admittedly uneven at times, a risk run by any ensemble that chews at boundaries as much as the Report. "American Tango," for example, is rather inconsequential in the big picture despite its interesting textures. It's an ironic farewell for Vitous as his bandmates had bigger fish to fry. "Scarlet Woman" is disconcerting on the first few listens, as Shorter and Zawinul cough out sinuous lines sporadically over a net of near-silence. On the other hand, the sax/piano duet "Blackthorn Rose" is both gorgeous and rejuvenating as a change of pace from the electronic effluvium.

Zawinul's motto for the group was "We always solo, we never solo." The special combination of freedom and composition that Weather Report consistently achieved on record amply testifies to that philosophy, and Mysterious Traveller is a quintessential piece of evidence.

Mysterious Traveller was Weather Report's fourth studio album and the successor to Sweetnighter, I Sing The Body Electric and the eponymous first album (Live In Tokyo was only recently released in full outside Japan).

"Nubian Sundance" kicks in hard with two drummers and a percussionist, but there's a curious feeling of suspension, akin to watching Muybridge's horse forever galloping but never moving forward. On top of this, bass, a lot of Rhodes, synthesizers, crowd sounds and vocals create a wonderful impression of a neon-lit rainforest peopled by Rio carnival celebrants.

After the festival comes "American Tango"; a more reflective pace like wandering in the shadows of a Mediterranean sidestreet, the keyboard melody languorous as sleepy sex in morning sunlight. "Cucumber Slumber" (what great titles they had!) is all electric bass, sax, Rhodes and chugging drums.

"Mysterious Traveller" slips in spookily then revs up to a rhythmic workout that recalls Sweetnighter. After all the colour and wonderful grandstanding of the previous four tracks, the acoustic duet of "Blackthorn Rose" between Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul arrives like a welcome, meditative oasis.

"Scarlet Woman" steals in with a plangent sax call, muted desert drum and synthesized wind and slowly steals away again. The album closes with the reflective "Jungle Book", as if recalling the events of a long hot day after the sun has set.

On Mysterious Traveller Weather Report were clearly growing, employing a wider palette of sounds, conjuring different moods: the music is sunnier, more upbeat, colourful and funky than its predecessors.

Early copies of the album do not list "Cucumber Slumber" on the back cover or inner sleeve, and list "Jungle Book" as the final track of side one rather than side two. However, most known copies of the album include the seven tracks in the order listed above. One exception is the cassette release, with "Blackthorn Rose" as the second track of side one and "American Tango" as the second track of side two.

The Mastersound SBM edition of Mysterious Traveller includes a previously unreleased song, "Miroslav's Tune", as a bonus track at the end of the album.

The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Jazz album chart, #31 in the R&B album chart, and #46 in the Billboard 200 chart.

Track listing:

1. "Nubian Sundance" (Zawinul) – 10:40
2. "American Tango" (Vitouš, Zawinul) – 3:40
3. "Cucumber Slumber" (Johnson, Zawinul) – 8:22
4. "Mysterious Traveller" (Shorter) – 7:21
5. "Blackthorn Rose" (Shorter) – 5:03
6. "Scarlet Woman" (Johnson, Shorter, Zawinul) – 5:46
7. "Jungle Book" (Zawinul) – 7:25

Personnel:

Josef Zawinul - Electric and acoustic piano, synthesizer, guitar, kalimba, organ, tamboura, clay drum, tack piano, melodica
Wayne Shorter - Soprano and tenor saxophone, tack piano
Miroslav Vitouš - Upright bass (track 2 only)
Alphonso Johnson - Bass guitar
Ishmael Wilburn - Drums
Skip Hadden - Drums (tracks 1 and 4 only)
Dom Um Romão - Percussion, drums

Guest musicians:

Ray Barretto - Percussion (track 3)
Meruga Booker aka Muruga Booker - Percussion (track 1)
Steve Little - Timpani (track 6)
Don Ashworth - Ocarinas and woodwinds (track 7)
Isacoff - Tabla, finger cymbals (track 7)
Edna Wright - Vocalists (track 1)
Marti McCall - Vocalists (track 1)
Jessica Smith - Vocalists (track 1)
James Gilstrap - Vocalists (track 1)
Billie Barnum - Vocalists (track 1) 

Weather Report - 2015 "The Legendary Live Tapes" 1978-1981 [4 CD Box]

The Legendary Live Tapes: 1978–1981 is a four CD live recording of Weather Report on Columbia, Sony, released on 20 November 2015. Disc One and Three are quintet recordings from 1980–81, while Disc Two and Four are quartet recordings from 1978. Most of the music was recorded on analog tape by the band’s then drummer (and producer of this live album) Peter Erskine and front of house mixing engineer Brian Risner. In the liner notes, Erskine provides insight into Weather Report’s live performances and life on tour via a song by song discussion.

Weather Report's The Legendary Live Tapes features four discs of sensational unreleased performances all "completely, totally, unapologetically and insanely live" recorded by the legendary jazz group from 1978 to 1981.

Formed by onetime Miles Davis sidemen Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter in 1970, Weather Report defied categorization in the 15 years they recorded together. Inspired by their "electric" collaborations with Davis, Zawinul and Shorter would lead Weather Report into unpredictable territory, from free-jazz to structured but sprawling multicultural jazz-rock. Though Zawinul would reject the "fusion" genre the band are so often associated with "We don't fuse nuthin', we just play from the heart," he once said their music would serve as a landmark for jazz revolution and evolution in the 1970s and 1980s.

The dramatic addition of electric bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius to the lineup in 1976 led to an even more energetic and daring Weather Report, who would even score a crossover hit in 1977 with "Birdland." A year later, drummer Peter Erskine joined the fold, creating one of the band's most notable lineups; that lineup would expand to a quintet with the addition of percussionist Bobby Thomas, Jr. in 1980.

These two lineups, responsible for some of Weather Report's most important moments, are chronicled in this four-disc set, sourced from never-before-heard soundboard tapes recorded by longtime live mixing engineer Brian Risner. Produced by Erskine and executive produced by Joe Zawinul's son Anthony, this package uniquely showcases Weather Report's extensive prowess as a band, opting not to replicate the ebb and flow of a standard Weather Report set at the time, instead offering a uniquely curated experience that captures the dazzling directions the group took at the arguable height of their powers.

Culled from Peter Erskine's own private collection, the bulk of the material on this four disc set consists of board mixes, which were made by long time WR sound man, Brian Risner. They are some of the finest live performances of the band ever captured on tape. This is a curated collection, i.e. each track comes from a different performance, dating from 1978-1981. Each disc is sequenced in order to offer the listener a complete and satisfying listening experience, as opposed to making an attempt to replicate a live set.

There are two configurations: one with Bobby Thomas Jr on percussion (discs 1 and 3,) and one with just the quartet. The highlight for this listener is disc 3, on which the quintet plays six tunes off of one their finest late albums, Night Passage. (The entire album is presented-the two remaining tracks from that album, Pastorius' Three Views of a Secret and Zawinul's Forlorn, can be found on disc 1.) The band attacks this material with fierce abandon, stretching far beyond the time constraints of the original recordings. Check out the epic 17 minute version of Madagascar. Like Mile's late bands, there are ensemble marks to hit, cued unison figures to play, but most of this piece is very free, funky and swinging. In general, Wayne Shorter stretches more on this collection than has been captured thus far on any other live WR recording.

Another high point is the quartet version of the rarely performed Gilbraltar, off of the classic Black Market album. Clocking in at 21 minutes, talk about epic - the guys are swinging for the rafters here. It is the definitive version of this tune. This take-no-prisoners attitude dominates these discs, proving once and for all that the late WR formation could still take it all the way into the stratosphere with as much freedom and risk taking as in the early days.

These discs capture some of Joe Zawinul's most inspired solos on record. His control of his keyboards is really amazing, considering the limitations of the technology he had access to at the time. Somehow he's able to duplicate subtle details on the fly, such as the signature repeated synth rise at the beginning of a rollicking rendition of the Ellington chestnut, Rockin' in Rhythm. He sounds like a one man big band here. He was still integrating the acoustic piano into his setup for these tours. Unfortunately, the only time we get to hear the acoustic piano in this collection is on his solo piano spot, in which he freely improvises, cycling through several standards before segueing into a very simpatico duo with Shorter. As masterful as he was on synths, this recording reminds us just how great a pianist he was. Unbelievable technique and freedom.

Also, these discs contain some of Jaco's best playing ever recorded during his tenure with the band. His playing here is audacious, edgy and powerful, yet somehow always in the pocket and in control. Here we hear the Jaco of legend. Even though it's comprised of material similar to other recorded live solos, Jaco's solo spot presented here, replete with quotations from Jimi Hendrix to Alan Hovaness, is focused and clear, and is about as good a representation of what he was doing at the time as one is likely to hear.

While the sound quality can't compete with say, 8:30 or the Offenbach recordings, the audio is surprisingly good, considering these were made from cassettes! While mostly mono, (only the drum overheads are in stereo,) the balances are very good, with the exception of the two or three audience tapes where the keys occasionally sit a little low in the mix, a testament to how good this band sounded onstage. On the other hand, Jaco's bass is pretty high in the mix most of the time, which should please fans, but never so much as to detract from the overall enjoyment, as is sometimes the case on Live and Unreleased. Again, considering the source material, these recordings sound very good indeed, even if it isn't exactly audiophile quality.

Kudos to Peter Erskine for sharing his private tapes with the world and for his wonderful 16 page essay, which includes fascinating background information for each performance. (By the way, if you haven't read his ebook, No Beethoven, it's a must read!) Also, a shout out to Brian Risner who made most of these tapes-his board mixes are way better than one could ever hope for. Mastering meister Rich Breen did a wonderful job, as did the folks who transferred the analog cassettes to digital over at Stanford University.

All in all, this is a labor of love. I feel as if this is a kind of holy grail of live WR recordings. It is hard to imagine topping these, both for content and relative audio quality. I haven't heard anything that comes closer to the excitement this band generated on stage at the shows I had the good fortune to attend. Whereas even with 8:30, the band's only official live release with this lineup, overdubbing and editing were used to achieve its polished final form, this is the totally un-retouched and raw Weather Report I remember. As Peter Erskine says in his liner notes: "the performances on this 4 CD set are completely, unapologetically and insanely live."

Track Listing:

CD 1
1. 8:30
2. Sightseeing
3. Brown Street
4. The Orphan
5. Forlon
6. Three Views Of A Secret
7. Badia / Boogie Waltz
8. Wayne Solo
9. Jaco Solo (Osaka 1980)

CD 2
1. Joe And Wayne Duet (Tokyo 1978)
2. Birdland
3. Peter’s Solo
4. A Remark You Made
5. Continuum / River People
6. Gibraltar

CD 3
1. Fast City
2. Madagascar
3. Night Passage
4. Dream Clock
5. Rockin’ In Rhythm
6. Port Of Entry

CD 4
1. Elegant People
2. Scarlet Women
3. Black Market
4. Jaco Solo (Osaka 1978)
5. Teen Town
6. Peter’s Solo (Osaka 1978)
7. Directions

Personnel:

Joe Zawinul – keyboards; ARP Quadra synthesizer bass (Disc 1 / tracks 1, 3); acoustic piano (Disc 2 / track 1); ”Chicken Neck” (Disc 1 / track 8)
Wayne Shorter – saxophones
Jaco Pastorius – fretless bass; drums (Disc 1 / track 1)
Peter Erskine – drums, timpani (Disc 2 / track 3)
Robert Thomas Jr. – hand drums (Discs 1 & 3)

Joe Henderson Quintet - 1970 [2006] "At the Lighthouse"

Joe Henderson Quintet at the Lighthouse is a live album recorded at the Lighthouse Café, Hermosa Beach, California, between September 24, 1970 and September 26, 1970. Personnel include Woody Shaw on trumpet and flugelhorn, George Cables on electric piano, Ron McClure on acoustic bass (electric bass on track 8 only), and Lenny White on drums. Tony Waters plays congas on tracks 1, 8 and 9 only.

This is a live album from the famous Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach CA. This venue has hosted many live albums over the years by Lee Morgan & Cannonball Adderley to name two of my favorite albums recorded there.
This recording is special in my opinion due to the presence of trumpeter Woody Shaw as Henderson's frontline partner and George Cables on Fender Rhodes EP and acoustic piano. Lenny White on drums is in inspired form.

This music is similar in style and content to the music Freddie Hubbard composed for his Cti album "Red Clay" that Henderson and White played on so its not a big surprise to me to hear him coping Red Clay's sound for his group. The sound if I had to label it would be hard bop with subtle traces of R&B and early fusion especially on the track "If you're not part of the problem you're part of the solution". The group performs several of Henderson's most well known tunes that have become jazz standards & jam session favorites in the many years after this was recorded such as "Blue Bossa", Recorda Me and "The Shade of Jade" If you're a fan of live albums and jazz in general then you should have this album in your collection.

I cut my musical teeth back in the 1960s and 1970s, soaking up the Rock, Pop, and Soul sound of that era, and I didn't hear a lot of jazz growing up. So, I've somewhat belatedly been discovering some of the great jazz artists of the past several decades, and Joe Henderson ranks as one of those that I enjoy very much. I can't really pinpoint what it is about his syle of playing that appeals to me, but it just does. The tone, the mood, the vibe, whatever you want to call, it works for me.

In addition to Henderson, I've also become a fan of Woody Shaw, and both of those great musicians feature prominently on this live recording. And a good, clean recording it is, not even sounding like a typical noisy club show. You can read the other rave reviews for a rundown of the songs and who does what. If you've heard any Joe Henderson albums from this period (this was recorded in 1970) I think you'll dig it.

The CD comes with a booklet that includes the original liner notes written by Orrin Keepnews. It also includes a newer essay about Henderson and this recording, written by Jeff Kaliss for the reissue of the CD in 2004. I love the description of the music in liner notes: "... the dominant mood is effervescent, with the soloists at the tops of their respective games." Indeed, these guys are all in top form. A jazz treat!

If you're new to Joe Henderson, you need to check him out and this is a fine place to start.

I hear his improv style as a blend of Parker (master of changes), Rollins (exploits the tenor range and grabs the unexpected, but right note) and Coltrane (great intensity and lots of notes when he cuts loose.) In other words, he plays lots of well chosen notes, plays very quickly and clearly, has great intensity and can make very musical noise. I think of him as an earthier (more authentic?) sounding Michael Brecker.

On this disk, he covers a lot of stylistic territory. There's a lot of hard bop, bossa nova, some free blowing, modern jazz standards interpretation, even one cut ("If You're Not Part of") that is fusion...this CD is like a jazz sampler playlist all in one.

Regarding the other players, Woody Shaw is fine in the style of Freddie Hubbard. He's a very good match for Joe, so you get a lot of great trumpet at no extra charge.

The rhythm section is very tight. For the most part, Lenny White plays straight ahead drums here (vs. his better known fusion style with Return to Forever.) Ron McClure mostly plays the string bass. He has a very clear and harmonically informed touch. So no worries on the bottom end of the band. (The exception, of course is the "If You're Not Part of" cut where Lenny and Ron funk and Fender out.)

For me the electric piano is a nice touch throughout the CD. It gives the tunes a little of the original Chick Corea/Return to Forever sound (i.e. back when Chick played with Joe Farrell; prior to adopting an electric guitar into the band.) So, if you're worried that this is a dreaded "jazz fusion" album, you can relax.

George Cables is the pianist and he does a fine job when given the opportunity. Unlike Chick on Return to Forever, he's much less intense, which fits his supporting player role.

To wrap up, I can only say that I wish I was in the audience when Joe and co. were blowing the roof off.

I took a few lessons from the late great Joe Henderson in the mid 70's when he resided up north in the San Francisco bay area near Colma. In my opinion, he was one of the best of the post-Coltrane saxophonists along with Wayne Shorter. This set culled from his performances at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, 22 miles from L.A., represent one of his best live performances along with the "Live in Japan" date. The greatly under-rated trumpeter Woody Shaw, George Cables on Rhodes electric keyboard, Ron McClure on bass and Lenny White on drums composed a power house group with some Henderson originals (Isotope, Inner Urge, Recorda-Me) and some of the Blue Note tunes like "Blue Bossa", "Mode for Joe" and standards like "Round Midnight", "Invitation" ( a tune I've heard Joe play many times live and on record). If you're a fan of Joe Henderson or a hard bop buff, do get this one--it smokes!!

https://jazz-rock-fusion-guitar.blogspot.com/search?q=joe+henderson

 Track listing:

01     Caribbean Fire Dance     5:37
02     Recorda-Me     8:18
03     A Shade Of Jade     10:28
04     Isotope     4:28
05     'Round Midnight     9:02
06     Mode For Joe     8:34
07     Invitation     7:32
08     If You're Not Part Of The Solution, You're Part Of The Problem     11:29
09     Blue Bossa     9:43
10     Closing Theme     0:47

Personnel:

Saxophone – Joe Henderson
Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Woody Shaw
Bass – Ron McClure
Congas – Tony Waters (tracks: 1, 8, 9)
Drums – Lenny White
Electric Bass – Ron McClure (tracks: 8)
Electric Piano – George Cables

Miles Davis - 2013 "Live in Europe 1969 - The Bootleg Series" Vol. 2

Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 is a 3 CD + 1 DVD live album of the Miles Davis Quintet featuring saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The CDs contain recordings of two concerts in France and one in Sweden and the DVD has an additional concert recorded in Germany.

The first two discs were recorded at the Festival Mondial du Jazz d'Antibes, La Pinède in Juan-les-Pins, France, on July 25 & 26, 1969 with the first concert originally released in Japan in 1993 as 1969 Miles Festiva De Juan Pins. The third disc contains the concert from November 5, 1969 at the Folkets Hus, Stockholm. The DVD was recorded in West Germany on 7 November 1969 at the Berliner Jazztage in the Berlin Philharmonic.

The sets include songs that had been jazz standards for several decades on, material from Davis' hard bop late 1950s and early 1960s period, material from his second great quintet and Miles Runs the Voodoo Down, a fusion composition that his band did not record until four weeks later, on the Bitches Brew album. The last two disks were recorded after Bitches Brew and include that album's title track.

This new set is the first collection of Miles’s Third Great Quintet, the “Lost” Band of 1968-1970 with Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette at their peak (they were never recorded in the studio). The album captures the short-lived quintet in three separate concert settings, starting with two full-length (one hour-plus) sets at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France, in Stockholm as part of “The Newport Jazz Festival In Europe,” and completed with a stunning 46-minute performance at the Berlin Philharmonie, filmed in color.

The first volume Legacy’s Miles Davis bootleg series offered audio and video evidence of his second great quintet playing the Newport Jazz Festival in Europe in 1967. Acclaim from critics and fans was universal. This second entry, Live in Europe 1969: Bootleg Series, Vol. 2, showcases almost an entirely different band -- only saxophonist Wayne Shorter remains. Bassist Dave Holland, drummer Jack DeJohnette, and pianist Chick Corea made up Davis' road band, and other individuals participated in sessions for Filles de Kilimanjaro and In a Silent Way. But this quintet was never recorded as a lone studio group, making this the first officially released music from the monster "third quintet." Three discs and a DVD offer four concerts: two from Antibes and one from Stockholm are on audio discs, while a performance from Berlin is on video.

The set lists vary but offer something remarkable as a whole: The only period where Davis played music from his bebop, hard bop, modal, and electric eras on one tour. In Antibes, "Directions" opens at a furious tempo with freewheeling solos from Davis and Shorter. It morphs into "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," featuring an aggressive Holland bassline and DeJohnette's machine gun drums. There is a completely re-envisioned "Milestones" that materializes from the bass solo. Shorter and Davis play with a muscular, intense, communicative freedom that reaches its creative peak here. The rhythm section, emboldened by the front line, is wildly inventive. Corea plays an exceptionally large role.

By 1969, Davis was using not only electric guitar in the studio, but often multiple keyboard players simultaneously. Corea is everywhere as a rhythmic and harmonic counterpart, and as a visionary soloist. His chord voicings on "'Round Midnight" move from skeletal to maximal as the tune is thoroughly reinvented from its spare melody into a nearly funky modal jam with him leading the way. Highlights from the second Antibes gig include a blistering "Spanish Key," driven by Holland and DeJohnette, followed by a brief, lyrical "I Fall in Love Too Easily," preceding an angular, exciting "Masqualero," with fiery interaction between Shorter and Corea. "No Blues," a band solo showcase, gives way to a nearly shimmering swing in "Nefertiti" that unmakes itself after Shorter's solo, eventually gathering steam for a galloping group exchange before shifting to more relaxed pacing, then re-energizing along different harmonic lines.

In Stockholm, the 14-minute "Bitches Brew" is revealed to be still evolving; harmonic and rhythmic ideas are thrown into the mix minute-by-minute. "Paraphernalia" is almost free jazz. Davis' solo on set-closer "This," is risky and physically strident. The DVD offers a gorgeous, color, multi-camera shoot, with terrific sound. The band's intuitive, concentrated interaction is mesmerizing to watch. Seeing and hearing them move seamlessly -- even dramatically -- through "It's About That Time"/"I Fall in Love Too Easily"/"Sanctuary" reveals Davis' in the present viewing the past as a gateway to his musical future. It's obvious here that he freely embraced the sonic, textural, and timbral possibilities that electricity offered him in creating a more open, in-the-moment, music. Live in Europe, 1969 makes obvious that on this tour, Davis' creative vision was holistic and completely assured. These fire-breathing performances offer a band at fever pitch hearing and playing what they knew even then was a new chapter in jazz history.

"It was really a bad motherfucker," Miles Davis wrote in his autobiography of the live band he led in 1969.

Track listing

Disc One: July 25, 1969 at the Jazz à Juan festival, La Pinède in Juan-les-Pins.
1.    "Introduction by André Francis"         0:27
2.    "Directions"    Joe Zawinul    6:00
3.    "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down"    Miles Davis    9:17
4.    "Milestones"    Miles Davis    13:45
5.    "Footprints"    Wayne Shorter    11:44
6.    "Round Midnight"    Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams, Bernie Hanighen    8:51
7.    "It's About That Time"    Joe Zawinul, Miles Davis    9:30
8.    "Sanctuary"    Wayne Shorter    4:15
9.    "The Theme"    Miles Davis    0:53
Total length:    1:05:42

Disc Two: July 26, 1969 at the Jazz à Juan festival, La Pinède in Juan-les-Pins.
1.    "Introduction by André Francis"         0:26
2.    "Directions"    Joe Zawinul    6:17
3.    "Spanish Key"    Miles Davis    10:36
4.    "I Fall in Love Too Easily"    Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne    2:54
5.    "Masqualero"    Wayne Shorter    8:28
6.    "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down"    Miles Davis    8:46
7.    "No Blues"    Miles Davis    13:34
8.    "Nefertiti"    Wayne Shorter    8:50
9.    "Sanctuary"    Wayne Shorter    0:53
10.    "The Theme"    Miles Davis    0:48
Total length:    1:04:11

Disc Three: November 5, 1969 at the Folkets Hus, Stockholm.
1.    "Introduction by George Wein"         0:30
2.    "Bitches Brew"    Miles Davis    14:38
3.    "Paraphernalia"    Wayne Shorter    9:19
4.    "Nefertiti"    Wayne Shorter    10:02
5.    "Masqualero" (Incomplete)    Wayne Shorter    8:02
6.    "This"    Chick Corea    6:18
Total length:    48:49

Disc Four (DVD): November 7, 1969 at the Berliner Jazztage in the Berlin Philharmonie.
1.    "Introduction by John O'Brien-Docker"         2:07
2.    "Directions"    Joe Zawinul    6:42
3.    "Bitches Brew"    Miles Davis    13:39
4.    "It's About That Time"    Miles Davis    14:09
5.    "I Fall in Love Too Easily"    Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne    3:39
6.    "Sanctuary"    Wayne Shorter    3:55
7.    "The Theme"    Miles Davis    1:11
Total length:    45:22

Personnel

    Miles Davis – trumpet
    Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
    Chick Corea – electric piano, piano on disc three numbers 3,4 &5
    Dave Holland – bass
    Jack DeJohnette – drums