Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Weather Report
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 1980
Running time: 48:05
Rating: 5/5
“Night Passage” is one of the last true classics from the vaults of jazz fusion legends Weather Report, and it manages to conjure up their romantic heyday, when an incredible instrumental harmony and a spontaneity of musical ideas ruled inside this high-caliber collective. The big twist with this studio album is that it was recorded live from start to finish, in front of an audience of 250 lucky souls who found themselves in the Complex hall (Los Angeles) that night. The band, at the peak of its live powers, put on an unforgettable two-night concert spectacle, with two shows each evening. Alongside the Weather Report classics performed live, there were also some brand-new compositions, which went through minor studio touch-ups and ended up as the core ingredients of “Night Passage”. The sound of the album couldn’t be more different from its predecessor “Mr. Gone” (1978), which took plenty of flak for being overproduced, especially when it came to the textures of the heavily modified synthesizers. Mr. Zawinul and Mr. Pastorius didn’t repeat the production mistake, and made sure the sound was exceptionally alive, full and natural.
The thing that really lets “Night Passage” outclass its predecessor lies in the nature of the individual compositions, because they signaled a return to the tradition of relaxed improvisation from the early years of their career. By this point Weather Report were pretty fed up with fame and with playing to a frenzied crowd that demanded hits every night in the manner of rock bands. Their resistance to the “jazz rock” label was growing stronger. The logical reaction followed: they went back to their more traditional jazz roots, built on fully loose improvisation and a less structured approach to composing. That way they partly revived the spirit of their early days while keeping the high complexity, the electricity and the outrageous instrumental swagger; qualities they’d picked up at the turn of the ’70s. Credit for this step in the right direction surely also belongs to the arrival of new percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. With his love of traditional jazz, he brought in the rhythmic dynamism that Zawinul and Shorter had been missing for a few years. Robert’s technique was closer to bebop than to the Latin rhythms of most of his predecessors.
The improvisations within the individual pieces on “Night Passage” are among the most thrilling in the band’s story. Weather Report had always been famous for their incredible tightness and their one-of-a-kind live surprises. And the spontaneity and speed they showed off over those two nights were simply unbelievable. Absolutely every member of the group deserves credit for the stunning instrumental cohesion and the adventurousness in shaping the individual arrangements and harmonies. At the same time, they left enough room for solo spots that showcase legendary talents who need no introduction. All fans of the legendary Jaco Pastorius have a ton of reasons to have a blast with “Night Passage”, because the wittiest, if not the best, bassist of all time delivers a string of unforgettable, rainbow-colored bass lines, original solos and juicy riffs, to the point where you sometimes forget you’re not hearing the sounds of an electric guitar.
Walking from piece to piece, it’s easy to see that the stylistic U-turn back to the roots is embodied already by the excellent title track. The looseness and spontaneity within the individual improvised passages are at an enviable level. Shorter’s saxophone passages, set against rich rhythmic accompaniment, are closer to traditional jazz than to fusion, while the experimental playfulness comes mainly from Pastorius’s funky bass lines. What’s most fascinating about this piece is the speed of the playing, which climbs in a straight line the longer it goes on. The great world traveler Zawinul got his inspiration for it on a night train ride from Venice to Vienna, where he listened to the rhythms of the clattering rails and the announcements at the railway stations. As the rhythmic tempo rises, the atmosphere of an accelerating train is captured down to the last detail. “Dream Clock”, with its gentle melody built on mighty waves of Zawinul’s synthesizers and dreamy saxophone passages from Shorter, pleasantly calms down the turbulence of the previous track. Here you can feel that dreamy pulse that dominated their early work. Peter Erskine, who stands out with a colorful use of cymbals, recorded a slightly altered version of this classic for his solo album “Motion Poet” (1988).
“Port of Entry” is its real opposite, an uncompromising improvisational assault where you can admire the group’s remarkable feel for sonic combinations. The best moment of the piece comes with a killer Pastorius solo that, through spirited percussion and drum accompaniment, hands the baton to an equally superb Zawinul solo on synthesizer. At the end you can hear the roaring ovations of the crowd, which adds even more spice to the heated atmosphere. “Forlorn” is almost a typical Zawinul compositional child, featuring his watchful, slightly melancholic embellishments on electric piano and the most subtle accompaniment from Shorter’s saxophone. Forlorn is an English word for a sense of being lost or abandoned, and it suits the gloomy mood of this piece well. Weather Report were always masters of the live surprise in their own special way. The biggest surprise on the album comes with an excellent cover of the Ellington classic “Rockin’ in Rhytm”, which they beefed up with lots of witty touches on saxophone and keys, along with playful rhythmic embellishments on bass, since covers were a real rarity in their story.
“Fast City” is, true to its title, the embodiment of uncompromising rhythmic speed, especially along the Pastorius-Erskine-Thomas Junior axis, although “the two old guys” keep up with their younger comrades in splendid fashion too. “Three Views of a Secret” is one of Pastorius’s finest compositional-instrumental gems ever. With it, the brilliant bassist proves himself not only a breathtaking instrumentalist but also an exceptional composer. The piece bends under the weight of rich saxophone arrangements, while the improvisations and spine-tingling passages in its middle section are finger-licking good. In the closing stretch, a majestic melody takes shape completely spontaneously and unexpectedly. The original, orchestral version of this classic can be found on Jaco’s second solo album “World of Mouth” (1982). The monumental finale comes from the epic, more than 10-minute “Madagascar”, which reflects Zawinul’s love for African landscapes and world music. In every respect it’s one of the most magnificent improvisations in the band’s story, opening up unimagined sonic expanses, especially through crazy adventures on the Oberheim synthesizer and boundlessly witty rhythmic ethno touches.
“Night Passage” is a hugely successful return to some of the sonic ground rules that let these jazz fusion legends renew their commitment to total musical spontaneity. After flirting with jazz rock on the masterpieces “Black Market” (1976) and “Heavy Weather” (1977), and to a lesser extent with smooth jazz on “Mr. Gone”, this stylistic turnaround arrived as a hugely welcome breath of fresh air. The album is graced throughout by exceptional looseness, spontaneity and a living, breathing sound. At the same time, they hadn’t boasted this level of ethereal feel and such a colorful array of splendid improvisations since their early years. In that respect it stands as one of the best moments in their discography. “Night Passage” is a masterful achievement, one that today will be best appreciated by everyone who always admired Weather Report above all for their spontaneous jazz nature, which drew on completely free, unstructured sonic forms, and who saw jazz rock fusion as just one of many stages in their development.
Lineup
Joe Zawinul – keyboards
Wayne Shorter – saxophone
Jaco Pastorius – bass guitar
Peter Erskine – drums
Robert Thomas Jr. – percussion
Production
Joe Zawinul and Jaco Pastorius
Track list
1. Night Passage
2. Dream Clock
3. Port Of Entry
4. Forlorn
5. Rockin’ In Rhythm
6. Fast City
7. Three Views Of A Secret
8. Madagascar
