Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Weather Report
Label: Columbia Records
Release: 1979
Rating: 5/5
“8:30” is a monumental live album that captures the untamed stage magic and energy of jazz fusion legends Weather Report in the best possible way. The album was recorded live from start to finish, except for the last three tracks, which come from the studio. The reason for this move was a mistake by the sound engineers, which forced the band to replace some recordings, mainly the performances of songs from the then-current album “Mr. Gone” (1978), with new studio creations. Had everything gone the way the band wanted, “8:30” would have come out as a double live album and most likely taken on even more epic proportions. Despite this unfortunate mishap, the band members weren’t too bummed, since all three studio compositions are excellent and hold an important place in their body of work. The album’s odd title comes from the band’s habit of kicking off every single show at 8:30 p.m.
The lion’s share of the recordings comes from a show at the famed Long Beach arena (California, USA), in the middle of the “Mr. Gone” tour. That tour turned out to be their most successful, and it was where audiences first saw the classic, most beloved incarnation of the band live. With the arrival of drum maestro Peter Erskine, they stepped into their most stable period, which lasted all the way until the start of 1982. During those years they were the undisputed rulers of the jazz fusion scene, creatively and commercially alike. That epoch-making lineup, featuring the best bassist of all time, a keyboardist and a saxophonist who had earned musical immortality even before the band existed, and one of the hottest drummers in the jazz world (who is still an incredibly in-demand name among session musicians today), drove not only every jazz fusion devotee wild every night with unbelievable ease, but also every music lover with heart and soul.
“8:30” vividly demonstrates the glorious moment in the band’s story when they “demolished” the Long Beach arena and other venues with stunning renditions of some of their most cherished classics. For all the dazzling technical polish of all four members, which belonged at the very top of the jazz scene, it always meant far less to them than conveying the most sincere emotions by creating vast, eclectic soundscapes with always enough room for colorful solo showcases. And that’s exactly what the loyal fans of Weather Report’s music have always valued and respected most. Despite their many adventures in the worlds of funk and third-world ethnic music, they always remained the most jazz-minded band of all the jazz fusion heroes, and that’s probably the main secret to their longevity. In my opinion, no other Weather Report album demonstrates this virtue better than “8:30”.
The live performances, quite understandably, focus on material from “Black Market” (1976) and “Heavy Weather” (1977), the albums that brought them the greatest standing and worldwide success. Each of the four members takes time for a solo spot. These aren’t just there to show off an individual’s virtuosity, but also serve as a breather for the rest of the band. Some performances are even better than their studio versions, mostly thanks to the extra improvisations.
Before the first number, the band shows off its distinctive sense of humor with a short intro full of monkey noises. For the opening assault they pick “Black Market”, an ideal opener and a classic of classics that, with its bouncy funk bass lines, fiery drum fills and mischievous electric piano passages, sucks the listener straight into the heart of the show. Wayne Shorter, who on some performances plays percussion instead of saxophone, delivers, as always, that primal jazz fluidity he perfected back in the school of his great musical mentor Miles Davis. Naturally, there’s no shortage of insanely good improvisations and brief, witty solo attacks from every member of the band. After this outstanding opening treat, the listener is invited to a passionate encounter with the “Mysterious Traveller” classic “Scarlet Woman”. After a dramatic intro with effects of rain and thunderstorms, the legendary trio takes us through an excellent version of one of their most complex creations. Amid an ever-shifting atmosphere, they move between wild improvisations, Zawinul’s ambient keyboard curtains and virtuoso solo showcases.
The moment when the concert mood hits boiling point comes courtesy of two “Heavy Weather” classics. The first is “Teen Town”, where Pastorius, with melodic bass lines that make plenty of established guitarists look silly, shows why he was (and still is) the greatest of the greats, and the romantic “A Remark You Made”. The latter serves as a great playground where all the band members shine with solo moves, whether it’s Shorter’s cheeky saxophone attacks, Zawinul’s keyboard romanticism, Pastorius’s infectious bass lines or Erskine’s mighty drum fills . “Slang” is the moment that seals the legendary status of “8:30” for good, as it’s Pastorius’s solo spot, where he shows the influence of his guitar “cousin” Jimi Hendrix. In it, the bass legend strings together segments of classics like “Donna Lee” (Charlie Parker), “Giant Steeps” (John Coltrane) and “Third Stone form the Sun” (Jimi Hendrix) and carries them over into his own unique, instantly recognizable playing, with extensive use of various echoing effects. The way he plays the individual solo lines, pulled across a repeating riff, is still the ideal that everyone who dreams of becoming a successful bassist reaches for.
Zawinul’s solo spot is “In a Silent Way”, probably still his best-known standard, and a bow to his former collaborator Miles Davis. Zawinul contributed this classic to Davis’s album of the same name from 1969, that legendary record that officially launched jazz fusion. This version follows Zawinul’s original vision and is quite different from the one on Davis’s classic, since Miles considerably rearranged it for his own purposes. One of the highlights of the live recording is surely the stunning performance of their biggest hit, “Birdland”. This version comes alive with completely different energy than the studio take, as Erskine’s massive fills inject a whole new, noticeably punchier and more uncompromising rhythmic pulse. “Thanks for the Memory” is Shorter’s saxophone solo spot, in which he interprets the jazz standard, originally by composers Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, with tons of energy. The medley “Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz” is another highlight of the show, loaded to the brim with witty improvisations and a real treat for all lovers of eclectic rhythmic patterns. The title track provides a superb finish to the live performances. It marks the moment Zawinul used a vocoder for the first time in the band’s story. The entire melody on “8:30” is built on the vocoder. This gadget would go on to play an important role on their future studio creations too. Like most of the best creations in the story of experimental music, it came about completely spontaneously, at Pastorius’s suggestion.
At the end of the album there are three more splendid studio creations. The first is “Brown Street”, where the band is joined by Zawinul’s son Erich, who plays percussion together with Pastorius and Erskine. It’s an exceptionally lively piece, based on energetic percussion rhythms with occasional doses of juicy improvisation. Overall, it mostly showcases the virtuoso genius of the band’s two founding members, though Pastorius’s bass lines are breathtaking the whole way through too. As a curiosity, I’ll mention that the first version of this composition was recorded without Pastorius, because he got arrested that very day. Run-ins with “the men in uniform” were a constant in Pastorius’s lifestyle and ultimately led to the tragic end of his life. When we think of one of the greatest tragedies in music history, “The Orphan”, an extremely melancholic piece built on poignant layers of synthesizers, the accompaniment of children’s choir harmonies and funereal saxophone passages, is a fitting choice for the moment. The album closes with the funk-spiced “Sightseeing”, another Weather Report classic of enviable virtuoso proportions. On it, Jaco pushes his vivid, melodic bass lines through various sound effects to the max. The interplay between him and Erskine is at such a level that it simply can’t be described in plain words. In its own way, the sound engineer’s mistake that wiped part of the live recordings turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since otherwise those three more classics, which still shine with incredible expressive power, would never have been created.
“8:30” is pure nirvana for jazz fusion connoisseurs, nailing the live energy of legends at the peak of their powers down to the last detail. Backing up these words is a statement from the immortal Papa Zawinul, who once said this was his favorite Weather Report album. So can there be any doubt that “8:30”, one of the best live documents of all time, which stands shoulder to shoulder with the most dazzling jewels of their discography like “Mysterious Traveller” (1974), “Black Market” and “Heavy Weather”, deserves a place among the greatest achievements in the story of musical art? Maybe for those who deny that perfection exists. And for everyone who measures an album’s success by its commercial reception, here’s a fact: “8:30” earned the band a Grammy for best jazz fusion album of 1979. The only flaw of this monument to the timelessness of Weather Report’s music is that it’s noticeably too short for the insatiable appetites of music gourmands, since it’s over in the blink of an eye. For maniacs like that, there’s still hope that someday, on future editions of “8:30”, some extra, previously unreleased recordings from this unforgettable tour will turn up, a tour for which those of us who never got to experience it shed crocodile tears.
Line-up
Joe Zawinul – keyboards, vocoder
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, percussion
Jaco Pastorius – bass guitar, drums on “8:30” and “Brown Street”
Peter Erskine – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Erich Zawinul – percussion on “Brown Street”
The West Los Angeles Christian Academy Children’s Choir – choir vocal harmonies on “The Orphan”
Production
Joe Zawinul and Jaco Pastorius
Track list
1. Black Market
2. Scarlet Woman
3. Teen Town
4. Remark You Made
5. Slang
6. In A Silent Way
7. Birdland
8. Thanks For The Memory
9. Badia/Boogie Woogie Waltz
10. 8:30
11. Brown Street
12. Orphan
13. Sightseeing
