Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Weather Report
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 1976
Rating: 5/5
“Black Market”, the sixth studio album by jazz fusion legends Weather Report, was the most important and, in my opinion, also the best album of their rich career. Today this masterpiece is recognized for several cult compositions that reshaped the musical world for good, and not just the then-current idea of the rainbow-colored world of jazz fusion. On “Black Market” the legendary band’s musical direction almost completely shook off the funk rhythms that had dominated until then and moved toward more melodic rhythmic forms. On top of that, Weather Report spiced it all up with a colorful mix of world music elements, especially from the countries of the southern hemisphere, something they’d already become famous for on the previous album, “Tale Spinnin'” (1975). It was also their most electric-sounding record and the closest Weather Report ever came to the term “rock” in the jazz rock fusion sense, since of all the major jazz fusion bands of the time they always sounded the most traditionally jazzy, partly because they never had an (electric) guitarist in their ranks. The group’s legendary founders and leaders, keyboardist Joe Zawinul (1932-2007) and saxophonist Wayne Shorter (1933-), decided the time had come for the next step in their visionary improvisations, and set out to improve an already more than excellent rhythm section even further. There were quite a few innovative elements that made “Black Market” one of the greatest gems in the history of jazz fusion, and almost all of them led to one name – Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987).
It was precisely his arrival that made “Black Market” the most important milestone in the band’s relatively long and colorful career, and a bridge between two different eras of the group. Pastorius, one of the most innovative and respected bassists of all time, first appeared on this very album, coming in to replace the previous bassist, Alphonso Johnson. Johnson decided during the making of the album to join his old buddies Billy Cobham and George Duke on a new joint project, which also featured a young John Scofield on guitar. Zawinul had in fact had a magnifying glass on Pastorius for some time, but before Johnson’s decision he’d been completely happy with the contribution of this excellent bassist, who on the previous albums “Mysterious Traveller” (1974) and “Tale Spinnin'” had driven the band’s next successful evolutionary step after replacing the original, acoustically oriented bassist Miroslav Vitous. The electric-minded Johnson had been, so to speak, the ideal pick for the band up to then, but once the incredible talent and innovator Pastorius showed up, a breathtaking athlete on the fretless bass, a veritable Hendrix of the bass guitar who was also a superb composer, nobody missed Johnson anymore, even though he earned his place among the best bassists of all time for good, and the legendary British prog rockers Genesis even invited him for a while as a live replacement for their former guitarist Steve Hackett. With Pastorius in the lineup, though, Weather Report got, in my opinion, the finest player of that instrument ever to walk the earth, and that was certainly no small thing. The step to the most successful and also best period of their career was then merely a formality. In a symbolic way, “Black Market” closed the Johnson era and opened the Pastorius period, the most exciting chapter in the band’s history.
Even though they’d hit the jackpot with the bass chair, Zawinul and Shorter were still struggling with the nagging problem of constantly changing drummers, and wanted to solve it once and for all. On Johnson’s suggestion they brought in Chester Thompson, who was then working with the legendary Frank Zappa (and later became known as Genesis’ regular live drummer). Thompson, who played most of the tracks on the album, except for the first two, which also feature his predecessor Narada Michael Walden (ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra), sadly didn’t stay with the band for long and left soon after this album came out. Along with Pastorius, who came out of r’n’b and often used the bass the way you’d use a guitar, it was Thompson’s drumming style, a combination of exceptional power and dynamics, that made “Black Market” in my opinion their hardest-hitting album, and in that way somehow also the closest to rock fans, who among the jazz fusion legends usually rated The Mahavishnu Orchestra, steeped in McLaughlin’s guitar madness, the highest. When the excellent percussionist Alejandro Acuna from Peru also joined the lineup, keeping the previous percussionist Don Alias company on the album, Weather Report got, in my opinion, the strongest lineup in their history, at least as far as the breadth of the rhythm section goes. Because Pastorius and Johnson on bass, Thompson and Walden on drums, and Acuna and Alias on percussion all left their mark on “Black Market”, it’s dominated by an exceptional rhythmic variety that’s a true feast for all music connoisseurs. For almost any other band, using so many different rhythm sections would have caused a heap of headaches, but for Weather Report it was true manna from heaven, which makes this album totally unique compared to the rest of their output.
As per tradition, Zawinul and Shorter compositions dominated this album too. The two further expanded their treasury of innovations here and once again proved themselves among the main musical visionaries of the 20th century. But with one important difference from the earlier albums: this time they let others in as well, leaving some compositional room to both bass aces, who each contributed a piece of their own, with “Barbary Coast” (Pastorius) and “Herandnu” (Johnson).
All the compositions on the album are masterpieces, each in its own way. Expecting anything less than pure perfectionism from a lineup like this would have been counting your chickens before they hatch. The album opens with the title track “Black Market”, one of their most popular and best-known pieces and a jazz fusion classic. With a protective double bass line laid over Zawinul’s electric piano and a combination of Shorter’s melodic saxophone passages, underpinned by Johnson’s melodic bass playing, the end result is nothing short of magnificent. For dessert there’s Shorter’s witty sax solo at the end, laid on top of an incredibly varied combination of percussion and bass line. The mood of this melodic treat, which wraps up with a thunder of cannon salvos, easily conjures an image of some Caribbean island where temperamental locals trade their handicrafts and dance exotic dances deep into the night.
The next masterpiece, born from the genius mind of Joe Zawinul, “Cannon Ball”, is his deeply moving tribute to the legendary alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, who died a few months before this album came out. Adderley wasn’t just Zawinul’s musical collaborator, working with him in his group from 1961 to 1970, but also a good friend, with whom he recorded the big jazz hit “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”, still one of the best-known works of Zawinul’s career today. Joe dedicated one of the best pieces on the album to his legendary mentor, and it also marks Pastorius’ debut for Weather Report, which alone earns it classic status. From the very first second Pastorius proves himself with his unique melodic approach, which later contributed, almost revolutionarily, to some completely new directions in how the electric bass is played. The combination of Pastorius’ melodic bass and Zawinul’s protective passages on the Fender Rhodes are the main highlights of this excellent composition, which is steeped in a melancholy mood throughout. A wonderful, timeless tribute to one of the giants of jazz.
On “Gibraltar”, which opens with the rush of waves and the sounds of a steamship, Zawinul once again goes looking for creative inspiration in world music influences. He mostly picked these up on his travels around the world, though some came from entirely his own imagination. In the first part, Shorter’s melancholy saxophone pushes to the front, but it soon strikes a more energetic tone and starts floating between rich rhythmic transitions. The rhythm section, split between the melodic rattle of Johnson’s bass, Thompson’s energetic drum fills and Acuna’s percussion touches, is a feast for the ears and a lovely demonstration of power, dynamics and elegance. The main connecting element is, once again, Zawinul’s passages on the Fender Rhodes, now combative, now elegant. The indestructible Zawinul-Shorter duo manages once more to create a wonderful atmosphere of traveling through an exotic land, an atmosphere so typical of most of the band’s work.
Shorter first shines as a composer on the album with “Elegant People”, where he once again demonstrates his mastery of creating interconnected yet completely different melodies. At the same time his longtime comrade Zawinul excels too, reminding us with his electric piano passages that there was no one else who could have been a better musical partner than him. Especially when it comes to his contribution on the individual entrances. The rhythm line here too practically buckles under its variety and adds something new to the composition from second to second, boosting its liveliness even more.
“Three Clowns” is another splendid Shorter creation, whose inspiration likewise has to be sought in some faraway lands, especially the African coasts or the Caribbean. With its mysterious intro, followed by an energetic passage on percussion and electric piano, it’s yet another wonderful and unusual mix of obscurity and melodicism. The interplay between Johnson’s bass and the witty passages on Zawinul’s piano is especially impressive.
On the superb “Barbary Coast”, which opens with the noise of a traffic jam, Pastorius made his debut as a composer, and with his distinctive bass playing he didn’t hide his r’n’b roots here either. It’s thanks to him that the melody was once again pushed to the front within this composition. Besides Pastorius’ protective touches, there’s Zawinul’s multilayered keyboard passages and Shorter’s elegant saxophone accompaniment to admire. In a way, this is the composition with which Jaco not only introduced himself as an excellent composer and innovator of his instrument, but also lodged himself in the hearts of most of the band’s fans as the third most important member in their history.
To close things out, Johnson waved goodbye with his excellent creation “Herandnu” (the composition’s name comes from a shop in Copenhagen that Johnson visited in the middle of the previous tour with the band), where you can once again marvel at the incredible liveliness of the Johnson/Thompson/Acuna rhythm line, which takes your breath away with its always inventive touches. Meanwhile, as usual, both main masters tie it all together, Zawinul with his elegant switching between acoustic piano and the electric sound of synthesizers, and Shorter with simultaneous use of tenor and alto saxophones. This was yet another of those important compositions with which Weather Report created and contributed something completely new to the world of jazz fusion.
“Black Market”, which brilliantly opened the Pastorius era while ending the Johnson one, is still a phenomenal album today, and in my view even the most magnificent achievement in the history of this legendary band, regardless of the fact that the next album, “Heavy Weather” (1977), was even more popular with most of the band’s fans and more commercially successful. The very fact that it’s the only album on which they used so many different rhythmic factors so successfully (and the only album that also featured the contribution of the best, and one of the best, bassists of all time), something that would have buried most other bands of the time, makes it so special and wonderful, and confirms the incredible vision of the immortal Zawinul/Shorter duo. “Black Market” is without a doubt one of the five best albums in the history of jazz fusion and a masterpiece that still belongs in every decent music collection today, even for those who aren’t regular jazz listeners.
Lineup
Joe Zawinul – Yamaha grand piano, Rhodes electric piano, 2 ARP 2600, Oberheim polyphonic synthesizers
Wayne Shorter – soprano & tenor saxophone, Computone Lyricon
Jaco Pastorius – bass guitar (2-6)
Alphonso Johnson – fretted and fretless bass guitar
Chester Thompson – drums
Narada Michael Walden – drums (1-2)
Alejandro Neciosup Acuña – congas, percussion
Don Elias – congas, percussion (1-6)
Production
Wayne Shorter
Tracklist
1. Black Market (6:30)
2. Cannon Ball (4:40)
3. Gibraltar (7:49)
4. Elegant People (5:03)
5. Three Clowns (3:27)
6. Barbary Coast (3:10)
7. Herandnu (6:38)
Album length: 37:17
