Weather Report - Live In Tokyo (1972) [2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000]

Reissue with DSD remastering. Comes with liner notes. A Japanese-only album from Weather Report – recorded early in the group's career, and with some of the same sort of freedoms that Miles Davis was getting on his own double-length dates from Japan! The tracks here are quite stretched out, and often adventurous – showing a marked ability to jam heavily at one moment, get contemplative the next, and continually explore sounds on the frontiers of fusion in the 70s. The group's the "second chapter" Weather Report – with Wayne Shorter on reeds, Joe Zawinul on keyboards, Miroslav Vitous on bass, Eric Gravatt on drums, and Dom Um Romao on percussion – and titles include "Orange Lady", "Vertical Invader/Seventh Arrow/TH", "Surucucu/Lost/Early Minor/Direction", and "Tears/Umbrellas".

While side two of I Sing the Body Electric gives us heavily edited glimpses of Weather Report as heard live in Tokyo, this two-disc Japanese import contains entire group ensembles from that concert – and as such, it is a revelation. Now we can follow the wild, stream-of-consciousness evolution of early Weather Report workouts, taking the listener into all kinds of stylistic territory – from Joe Zawinul's lone acoustic piano to dissonant free form and electronic explosions – with lots of adjustments of tempo and texture. The pulse of jazz is more evident in their work here than on their American albums, and the example of Miles Davis circa the Fillmore concerts directs the fierce interplay. In his subsequent recordings with Weather Report, and as a leader, Wayne Shorter would rarely equal the manic intensity he displayed in Tokyo. All of the music is encapsulated in five lengthy "medleys" of WR's repertoire, three of which contain elongated versions of themes from the group's eponymously titled debut album from 1971. This would be the radical apogee of Weather Report on records, though they could retain this level of fire in concert for years to come.

Artist: Weather Report
Title Of Album: Live In Tokyo
Year Of Release: 1972/2014
Label: Columbia / Sony Music [SICP 4229~30]
Catalog: SICP 4229~30
Genre: Jazz / Fusion
Format: Mp3 / FLAC (Tracks)
Quality: CBR 320 kbps / Lossless
Time: 01:28:55
Full Size: 364 mb / 786 mb (+5%rec.)

Tracks:

CD1
01 - Medley: Vertical Invader - Seventh Arrow - T.H. - Doctor Honoris Causa
02 - Medley: Surucucu - Lost - Early Minor - Directions

CD2
01 - Orange Lady
02 - Medley: Eurydice - The Moors
03 - Medley: Tears - Umbrellas

Personnel:

Joe Zawinul - electric & acoustic piano
Wayne Shorter - soprano & tenor sax
Miroslav Vitous - electric and acoustic bass
Eric Gravatt - drums
Dom Um Romao - percussion