I've been neglecting Mog lately, hence no WR weekends for a while now. I'll squeeze in a little time to add this post & I think it may as well be a slight diversion from the main trail to follow WR drummer Eric Gravatt after the Japan tour as he plays as a session drummer. Eric Gravatt

Trying to stay with the chronological approach, the nice thing about these little tangents away from the central theme is that they provide a glimpse into other aspects of the jazz scene at the time that Weather Report were building their reputation. Eric's first port of call after the WR Japan gigs is with saxophonist Joe Henderson, a somewhat under-appreciated horn player of the times who through a clever marketing "relaunch" by Verve eventually made it big in the '90s riding the wave of the smooth jazz movement. Back in the '70s Joe was blowing a nice mix of modern and latin jazz with a varying selection of backing musicians that included some lesser known as wellas soon-to-be big names. He put out a string of great albums in the 70's to only average acclaim, so it was fitting that he was eventually appreciated later in time.

Here's a track from Henderson's '73 release "Canyon Lady"with Gravatt on drums sitting nicely in the pocket with the little-known but excellent session bassist John Heard. For WR fans, they'll enjoy the electronics on the rhodes piano at the beginning of the track (from none other than funky George Duke).

There was a rich array of jazz like this to be enjoyed in the 70's following the inspiration of Coltrane, Davis and other greats from the 60s. Enjoy.

Joe Henderson