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Weather Report: The Legendary Unreleased Live 1978-1981


David

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OK, just pulled the plug. What made up my mind were the following comments from Jim Sangrey:

Wayne didn't bring a knife to a gunfight, he brought a freakin' atomicbeamlaserbomb.

Wayne might prefer to be all Zen-y peaceful and shit, but dig, the guy still came from Newark, still came up with Blakey & Miles, and I don't think that you would want to get into any kind of a showdown with Wayne Shorter, even today.

Bertrand.

 

On ‎11‎/‎18‎/‎2015‎ ‎4‎:‎05‎:‎12‎, ghost of miles said:

Fans of the early-1970s edition of the group--have you checked out this 2-CD release yet?

Agora Columbus 1972

 

I texted Wayne and he texted me back. Everyone involved including the estates etc. have signed off on this so it is all legit.

Bertrand.

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On ‎10‎/‎15‎/‎2015‎ ‎12‎:‎26‎:‎14‎, JSngry said:

The last time I saw them with Jaco was at whatever that summer music fest is outside of Detroit, 1981(?). Jaco started the show being obnoxiously loud and overplaying - and by getting all up in Wayne's stage space, very aggressively territorial., and Wayne just was not having it. Wayne always dug in live (at least every time I saw them), but this time, he was going to draw blood, and he did, musically, psychologically, and body language. He was aiming everything at Jaco and damn near literally shooting bullets with his horn and his body. Jaco pulled back into his space and stayed there the rest of the show. Wayne kept shooting him daggers every time he even began to edge over his way. Wayne might prefer to be all Zen-y peaceful and shit, but dig, the guy still came from Newark, still came up with Blakey & Miles, and I don't think that you would want to get into any kind of a showdown with Wayne Shorter, even today. Power in reserve, and do not presume to know how much of it there might be. Odds are, you guess wrong.

My feelings about Jaco are not simple...amazing player and mind, but other than his work with Joni Mitchell, not particularly appealing to me musically. But there's no way to deny his genius, and there's no way to deny his catalytic effect on this version of Weather Report. It's one of those things that you can think what you like, feel what you feel, but it's gonna be what it is no matter what you think or feel about it. And now, it's history, so...yeah. If you want to look at it at all, you just gotta accept all of it as what happened and start from there. Like I said, bad taste aplenty, and even more brilliance, you don't get the one without the other, at least from this thing you don't.

 

What festival outside of Detroit are you talking about here? This was 14 years before I arrived here, but, still, I'm curious ...

Edited by Mark Stryker
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Oh geez, now you ask me to remember...some summer arts festival in some bigass park, that's all I can remember, lots of trees and it took a little driving to get there out of Detroit proper. I was there while the road band I was with found and broke in a new drummer. Saw the 4 Tops live downtown on the 4th of July, took some phony acid (cf Fugs "I Couldn't Get High"). It was a nice place to see a concert though, outdoors, rolling hills, good sound system, nice and clean.

Ok, Poplar Creek Music Theatre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois...how far was that from Detroit? That's where it was, research shows.

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Ok, memory has failed. We were playing out last gig with the old drummer in Des Plaines when we went to see Weather Report. THEN we went to Detroit to retool.

Or else drove from Detroit back to Poplar Creek.

I didn't write any of this down, maybe I should have. all I know is that I was there, wherever it was and whenever it happened. That much I do know.

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Been listening to bits and pieces of this in dribs and drabs over the last week or so, and...damn. Not all of it is good, some of it is sorta tacky, but it's all great.

When somebody tells you to fuck off, the only noble response is to demand to see the authority which bestows upon them the right to so say. This band on these recordings seem to be at once responding to a fuck off issued by the cultures of suicidal zombies masquerading as traditionalists, as well as issuing a fuck off in return on the authority of Because We Can Do THIS.

Strong people making strong music, and if any number of points it got too strong for its own good, oh well. Time took care of that, as it does all things. But before it did, these folks felt it incumbent to handle it themselves. I would humbly posit that Self Determination Music comes in many forms at many strata, and that this, whatever else it may be at any given moment, is most definitely Self Determination Music.

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Oh shit, now this is turning into recreational listening...and it's really fun like that, even the tacky stuff. Listening to Wayne play on "Night Passage", that same lick overandoverandoverandOVER with the occasional variances in tone or just the one extra note, wow, that's a whole different type of engagement with the music, channeling the energy of immediacy into simple part playing. Far from some kind of cop out, that, to me, is a deeper understanding than always having to be a "soloist"...although when he does that, hell yeah. Wayne's been one of the great musical minds of the 20th and 21st centuries, and by this time, I think you can say that everything he's played has been serious, although what it's been serious about doing might not alwyas have been the same, But DAMN, Wayne Shorter!

But the whole thing is like that, really...whatever "game" is or isn't being played, it's being played with a rather uncompromising sense of all-in. These were some crazy motherfuckers, all of 'em! For further proof, check out "Rockin' In Rhythm". The studio version was fun enough, but this one here, let's talk about who else could - or WOULD - play something like this, then or now, and appreciate it and them for having the lack of sanity to ever think about ever NOT doing it.

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On November 28, 2015 at 11:57:10 PM, JSngry said:

When somebody tells you to fuck off, the only noble response is to demand to see the authority which bestows upon them the right to so say. This band on these recordings seem to be at once responding to a fuck off issued by the cultures of suicidal zombies masquerading as traditionalists, as well as issuing a fuck off in return on the authority of Because We Can Do THIS.

Strong people making strong music, and if any number of points it got too strong for its own good, oh well. Time took care of that, as it does all things. But before it did, these folks felt it incumbent to handle it themselves. I would humbly posit that Self Determination Music comes in many forms at many strata, and that this, whatever else it may be at any given moment, is most definitely Self Determination Music.

Mr. JSngry,

I've enjoyed so much of your writing here at organissimo for several years. Sometimes I actually have to think. Damn funny, too. 

So thanks, finally...

John, Vancouver BC

Edited by jdw
Corrected poor sentence structure. Dammit.
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Well, thank you. But thank the people making the music, really, good and bad alike, because if it was all the same...

39 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Good news. I opted for the Japanese version and have to wait a bit to hear it but plenty to listen to in the meantime. I think WR and The Pretenders are the two bands I've seen the most in my life, and I'm always game for live W R!

And I really like that most of this is not at all perfectly mixed and such...occasionally it'll sound real cassette-y hissy and/or soundbourdy out of balance. End result is that it sounds like something from "then", which is how it should be.

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On November 22, 2015 at 8:55:33 AM, bertrand said:

I texted Wayne and he texted me back. Everyone involved including the estates etc. have signed off on this so it is all legit.

Bertrand.

Bertrand's reply above was in regards to the following question earlier in the thread:

- Quote - 

On November 18, 2015 at 1:05:12 PM,  ghost of miles said: 

Fans of the early-1970s edition of the group--have you checked out this 2-CD release yet?

Weather Report Agora Columbus Ohio October 17th 1972

http://www.amazon.com/Agora-Columbus-Ohio-October-17th/dp/B00V6XVUFO/ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&qid=1449016412&sr=8-1&keywords=weather+report+agora

- end quote - 

I don't question Bertrand's information on this, but the release IS confusing. I checked out the current releases on this "Hi Hat" label and the others (about twelve or so) all appear to be live bootleg CDs: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, etcetera. The kind of big names that would be on major labels with lots of press attention for a new "from the vaults" live album. Plus, web searches show the Hi Hat label itself doesn't seem to have an official website or available contact information. Any more details (from anyone) would be appreciated... 

John

PS: forgive my clumsy attempt to quote from two different posts in one reply

 

 

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Curiosity finally got the better of me. After a shit-arse day at work, looked this up on Spotify expecting to have a quick listen and have my scepticism confirmed. Instead, got totally sucked in. Enthusiasm for Weather Report re-invigorated, ordered the set.

 

Edited by xybert
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You should have questioned my info, I was just kidding about texting Wayne :) If he knew this existed, he would have a cow.

I am glad you ordered it, if only to tell me the sound quality is acceptable enough for me to order it was well.

Here is what needs to be issued legally with all permissions etc: the 9/3/71 Berlin radio broadcast. A whole side of Weather Report most people don't know, including some octet charts and a version of 'Moto Grosso Feio'. AMAZING concert.

Bertrand.

 

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On 01 December 2015, JSngry said:

That's right...they used the same odd-sized box as they did on the Garner...I've been listening to it just through Amazon Prime )Roku and phone) and haven't really opened it up yet.

Sinatra: a Voice in Time is packaged the same way, so it looks like a new Sony "thing".

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2.12.2015 at 9:42 AM, bertrand said:

You should have questioned my info, I was just kidding about texting Wayne :) If he knew this existed, he would have a cow.

I am glad you ordered it, if only to tell me the sound quality is acceptable enough for me to order it was well.

Here is what needs to be issued legally with all permissions etc: the 9/3/71 Berlin radio broadcast. A whole side of Weather Report most people don't know, including some octet charts and a version of 'Moto Grosso Feio'. AMAZING concert.

Bertrand.

 

Would be awesome if some label like Cuneiform released this as 2CD + 1DVD set, in addition of the concert audio there's a 30 minute tv broadcast of rehearsals.

That would be something. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On December 2, 2015 at 10:24 AM, king ubu said:

(Isn't the Love Supreme 3 CD version in the same format? or is that yet different again? and how do people store the Hip-O-Select sets, do you all still have shelves for 7" rekkids?)

The Love Supreme 3 cd version is yet again different.

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