Heavy Weather (album)

Heavy Weather
Studio album by Weather Report
Released	March 1977
Recorded	Late 1976 – Early 1977
Studio	Devonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California
Genre	Jazz fusion
Length	37:39
Label	Columbia
Producer	Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter
Weather Report chronology
Black Market (1976) Heavy Weather (1977) Mr. Gone (1978)

Heavy Weather is the eighth album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release originally sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band's most commercially successful album. Heavy Weather received a 5-star review from Down Beat magazine and went on to be voted jazz album of the year by the readers of that publication.

Featuring the jazz standard "Birdland", the album is one of the best-sellers in the Columbia jazz catalog. This opening track was a significant commercial success, something not typical of instrumental music. The melody had been performed live by the band as part of "Dr Honoris Causa", which was from Joe Zawinul's eponymous solo album.

Although not mentioned as a live recording in the liner notes, "Rumba Mamá" (a percussion and vocals feature for Manolo Badrena and Alex Acuña) was recorded at the band's concert in Montreux in summer 1976, of which a film would be released on DVD in 2007.^[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Contemporary
Review scores
Source	Rating
Rolling Stone	(Not Rated)[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]

Dan Oppenheimer in a June 1977 review for Rolling Stone felt the band had moved from their earlier music, losing a lot of the space, melodies and airy feel that marked them out 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".^[2]

Legacy

Professional ratings
Legacy
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
Artistdirect	[5]

Richard Ginell commented in a retrospective review for Allmusic that it was released "just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam", however he felt that "this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom."^[4]

In February 2011, Heavy Weather was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[6]

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

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Birdland"	Zawinul	5:57
2.	"A Remark You Made"	Zawinul	6:51
3.	"Teen Town"	Pastorius	2:51
4.	"Harlequin"	Shorter	3:59

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Rumba Mamá"	Badrena, Acuña	2:11
2.	"Palladíum"	Shorter	4:46
3.	"The Juggler"	Zawinul	5:03
4.	"Havona"	Pastorius	6:01

Personnel

Weather Report

• Joe Zawinul – ARP 2600 on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", Rhodes electric piano on all tracks except "Birdland", "Rumba Mamá" and "Havona", Yamaha grand piano on "Birdland", "Harlequin", "The Juggler" and "Havona", Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer on all tracks except "Rumba Mamá", "Palladíum" and "The Juggler", 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 – Fretless 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"

Production

• Joe Zawinul – Producer and orchestrator
• Jaco Pastorius – Co-producer
• Wayne Shorter – Assistant producer
• Ron Malo – Engineer
• Jerry Hudgins – Assistant engineer
• Brian Risner – Assistant engineer and chief meteorologist
• Nancy Donald – Design
• Lou Beach – Illustration
• Keith Williamson – Photography

Chart positions

Year	Country	Chart	Peak position
1977	Sweden	Album[7]	40
1977	U.S.	Billboard 200[8]	30
1977	U.S.	Jazz Albums[8]	1
1977	U.S.	R&B Albums[8]	33

Release history

The album was first released in LP format worldwide throughout Columbia Records, CBS Records, Sony Records, and other minor record labels. In 1984, it was first released in CD format in the U.S. on Columbia Records. In 1992, the album was remastered, and, in 2002, published in Super Audio CD format.^[9]

See the table below for a more comprehensive list of the album releases.^[9]

Year	Format	Label	Country	Note
1977	LP	Columbia (PC 34418)	Canada, U.S.	—
		CBS, Sony (25AP 357)	Japan
		CBS ([CBS ][S ]81775)	Italy, Netherlands, UK, U.S.
		Suzy (CBS 81775/P 1977)	Yugoslavia	Published as Heavy Rain
		CBS (SBP 234974)	Australia	—
1979		Supraphon, CBS (1115 2490)	Czechoslovakia	Published as Weather Report
1981		Columbia (HC 44418)	U.S.	—
1983		CBS (CBS 32358)	Europe
1984	CD	Columbia (CK 34418)	U.S.
1991		Columbia (468209 2)
1992		Columbia (CK 47481)		Remastered
1994	CD, Gold CD	Columbia, Legacy, Master Sound (CK 64427)
1997	CD, MD	M] 65108), (01-065108-10)	Europe, U.S.
2002	SACD	Columbia, Legacy (CS 65108)	U.S.

References

1. Kelman, John (2007). "Live at Montreux 1976 : Weather Report : Review : All About Jazz". All About Jazz. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
2. Oppenheimer, Dan (1977). "Heavy Weather : Weather Report : Review : Rolling Stone". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on February 27, 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
3. Swenson, J. (Editor) (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 204. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
4. Ginell, Richard S. (2011). "Heavy Weather - Weather Report". AllMusic. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
5. "Heavy Weather by Weather Report". ARTISTdirect.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
6. Sterdan, Darryl [QMI Agency] (February 13, 2011). "Ramones get lifetime achievement". Conoe.ca. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
7. "Weather Report - Heavy Weather". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
8. "Heavy Weather > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
9. "Weather Report – Heavy Weather". Discogs. Retrieved 2011-09-20.

External links

• Weather Report Annotated Discography: Heavy Weather
• Heavy Weather (album) at Discogs (list of releases)