Weather Report - 2006 "Forecast Tomorrow" [3 CD Box]

Forecast: Tomorrow is a 3-CD/1-DVD career-spanning compilation of recordings of Weather Report. The 37 tracks are presented chronologically, beginning with three tracks pre–Weather Report, from ensemble duties with Miles Davis (both Zawinul and Shorter), Cannonball Adderley (Zawinul), and from a Shorter solo album. In addition to one unreleased track, the set closes with DJ Logic's remix of a Weather Report track.
The 4th disc in the package is a 2-hour DVD of a concert in Offenbach am Main, on September 29, 1978 for the German TV program Rockpalast. The boxed set includes a 100-page book with notes on the set by compiler Bob Belden, a long essay on the band by Hal Miller, and a reminiscence of the 1978 concert by drummer Peter Erskine.
Led by Miles Davis alumni Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, Weather Report incorporated elements of electronic, rock and world music into jazz motifs. This 3-CD set covers their entire 15-year (1970-1985) career with 37 tracks, highlighted by favorites like In a Silent Way; Super Nova; Milky Way; Birdland; Havona; Eurydice (Full Version) and more, plus unreleased tracks. And the DVD offers two full hours of live Weather Report in their prime, performing with Jaco Pastorius on bass and Peter Erskine on drums. The forecast is very, very good!

From 1970 to 1985, the jazz-fusion ensemble known as Weather Report reigned supreme as one the most distinguished and indefinable ensembles of the 20th century, and saxophonist Wayne Shorter and keyboardist Joe Zawinul were the cofounders of this ever-changing group. This superb, three-CD, 37-track collection features the band's incredible cast of musicians: drummers Peter Erksine and Alphonse Mouzon; percussionists Airto Moreira, Alex Acuna, and the late Don Alias; bassists Miroslav Vitous, Alphonso Johnson, and the incredible Jaco Pastorius. The roots of their sound are heard in Zawinul's "In A Silent Way," and their greatest hits--from "A Remark You Made" and an unreleased version of "Nubian Sundance" to their 1976 mega-hit, "Birdland," are included here, along with the lesser known classic, "Indiscretions," a DJ Logic, hip-hop remix of "125th Street Congress," and a sizzling, two-hour DVD concert from Germany in filmed in 1978. This set is a powerful primer to their "folk music of the future."

We’ve seen Weather Report best-of discs before, not to mention the remarkable Live and Unreleased of 2002. But Forecast: Tomorrow is the group’s first box set, and probably the final word on Weather Report compilations. Coproduced by founding members Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter and famed producer Bob Belden, the box is part chronology and part historiography, highlighting the band’s aesthetic origins by including a track apiece from Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way, Shorter’s Super Nova and Cannonball Adderley’s Domination. (Zawinul and Belden explored the Adderley connection in depth via their 2004 Capitol Jazz collection Cannonball Plays Zawinul.)
From this artistic soil, Zawinul, Shorter, bassist Miroslav Vitous, percussionist Airto Moreira and others grew an enduring body of work, examples of which fill the rest of disc one. Devotees will not want to miss the unedited, 11-minute version of Shorter’s “Eurydice” (with five minutes of rubato introduction) and a long-lost studio take of Zawinul’s “Directions.”
Disc two, spanning the mid-to-late ’70s, documents the band’s Alphonso Johnson and Jaco Pastorius eras. All tracks are previously released except the first—a 13-minute live version of “Mysterious Traveller,” recorded straight from the soundboard in Chicago in 1974. Disc three focuses on 1980–’85, from the end of Jaco’s reign to the band’s final incarnation with bassist Victor Bailey and drummer Omar Hakim. The parting shot is DJ Logic’s remix of “125th Street Congress,” which, oddly enough, is not as au courant as the 1973 original.
The tracks on all three discs are well-chosen and representative. But the bonus DVD, which captures the band live in 1978, in Offenbach, Germany, is reason enough to acquire this box. As a lean-and-mean four-piece with Zawinul, Shorter, Jaco and a 24-year-old Peter Erskine, Weather Report was a sight to behold. Erskine, in newly penned liner notes, sets the scene and recalls his time (paraphrasing Zawinul) with “the band that never soloed and always soloed.”
Jaco, of course, rules the stage. By concert’s end, he and Erskine are shirtless (and Erskine has enough body hair for the both of them). But behind the rock-star antics lies a bedrock creative integrity—yes, even on pieces like “Mr. Gone” and “River People,” unjustly denounced in their day as pop sellouts. In the end, it is Zawinul’s odd harmonic personality and sonic scope that leave the most lasting impression. The band members can hardly contain their joy as they take their bows—except for Zawinul, who seems above the fray, revealing not a hint of a smile.

Track Listings:

Disc: 1
1. In A Silent Way
2. Super Nova
3. Experience In E Major (Excerpt)
4. Milky Way
5. Tears
6. Eurydice (Full Version)
7. Orange Lady
8. Unknown Soldier
9. Directions
10. Surucucu
11. Second Sunday In August
12. 125th Street Congress

Personnel: Joe Zawinul: organ, electric piano, prepared acoustic piano; Wayne Shorter: tenor and soprano saxophones; Miles Davis: trumpet (1); John McLaughlin: guitar (1, 2); Herbie Hancock: electric piano (1); Chick Corea: electric piano (1), drums (2); Dave Holland: bass (1); Tony Williams: drums (1); Sonny Sharrock: guitar (2); Miroslav Vitous: bass (all tracks except 3); Jack DeJohnette: drums (2); Airto Moreira: percussion (2, 5-8); Nat Adderley: cornet (3); Cannonball Adderley: alto saxophone (3); Walter Booker: bass (3); Roy McCurdy: drums (3); orchestra (3); Alphonse Mouzon: drums (5, 6, 7, 8); Wilmer Wise: piccolo trumpet (8); Hubert Laws: flute (8); Andrew White III: English horn (8), electric bass (12); Yolande Bavan: vocals (8); Joshie Armstrong: vocals (8); Chapman Roberts: vocals (8); Roger Powell: consultant (8); Eric Gravatt: drums (9-12); Dom Um Romao: percussion (9-11), pandeira, cuica, tamanco, chucalho, gong, tambourine, cowbell (12); Herschell Dwellingham: drums (12); Marungo: Israeli jar drum (12).

Disc: 2
1. Nubian Sundance (Live)
2. Blackthorn Rose
3. Badia
4. Cannon Ball
5. Black Market
6. Three Clowns
7. Havona
8. Birdland
9. Palladium
10. The Pursuit Of The Woman With The Feathered Hat
11. The Orphan
12. Sightseeing

Personnel: Joe Zawinul: electric piano, synthesizers, oud, melodica, mzuthra, vocal, west africk, xylophone, acoustic piano, orchestration, ARP 2600, Yamaha grand piano, Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer, keyboards, kalimba, thumbeki drums, sleigh bells; Wayne Shorter: tenor and soprano saxophones, vocals; Alphonso Johnson: electric bass (1, 3, 5, 6); Darryl Brown: drums (1); Dom Um Romao: percussion (1); Alyrio Lima: percussion (3); Ndugu: drums (3); Jaco Pastorius: electric bass, mandocello, vocals, steel drums, drums (4, 7-10, 12); Narada Michael Walden: drums (4, 5); Don Alias: percussion (5); Alex Acuna: percussion (5, 6), drums (7-9); Chester Thompson: drums (6); Manolo Badrena: tambourine (8), congas, percussion (9), solo voice, vocals (10); Peter Erskine: drums, vocals (10, 12); Jon Lucien: vocals (10); West Los Angeles Christian Academy Children's Choir: vocals (11).

Disc: 3
1. Dream Clock
2. Three Views Of A Secret
3. Port Of Entry (Live)
4. Dara Factor Two
5. Procession
6. Plaza Real
7. The Well
8. D-Flat Waltz
9. Domino Theory
10. Predator
11. Face On The Barroom Floor
12. Indiscretions
13. 125th Street Congress (DJ Logic Remix)

Personnel: Joe Zawinul: keyboards, percussion, vocoder, vocals, orchestrations, electric piano); Wayne Shorter: tenor and soprano saxophones; Jaco Pastorius: electric bass, percussion, voice (1-4); Peter Erskine: drums, drum computer, claves (1-4); Robert Thomas Jr.: percussion, hand drums, tambourine (1-4); Victor Bailey: electric bass, vocals (5-12); Omar Hakim: drums, vocals (5-12); Jose Rossy: percussion, vocals (5-10); Mino Cinelu: percussion (12); Miroslav Vitous: acoustic bass (13); Andrew White III: electric bass (13); Eric Gravatt: drums (13); Herschell Dwellingham: drums (13); Marungo: Israeli jar drum (13); Dom Um Romao: pandeira, cuica, tamanco, chucalho, gong, tambourine, cowbell (13); Carlos (Omega) Caberini: vocal (13).