Weather Report Weekend # 14 - The Many Instruments Of Joe
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"Talespinnin'", Weather Report's 1975 album is a joy. It marks a continued progression away from the freeform, tone poem content of the first few Weather Report albums to a more structured, compositional approach, while still bearing the distinctive hallmark of the Zawinul / Shorter sound throughout. Wayne Shorter plays beautifully on this album, which features a number of delightful sax solos.
Yet another new drummer - this time Leon "Ndugu" Chancler - a talented young musician who was with Carlos Santana's band, and who supposedly was playing on a Jean Luc Ponty session in the studio next door while Tale Spinnin was being recorded and was literally invited on the spot to come in and play on the album (replacing another session drummer that Joe and Wayne had hired at the start of the project). Apparently Joe wanted to hire Chancler full time afterwards, but the drummer chose to stay with Santana.
There's a noticeable increased usage of synthesizers here, including the massive T.O.N.T.O. modular analog synthesizer, overdubbed and blended with acoustic and electric pianos.
Zawinul also breaks out an array of unusual instruments on my chosen album track "Badia", including the use of an Egyptian "oud" (spelt incorrectly as an "out" on the original album cover) and something called a "West Afrik" which I have no idea what it is (although it preceeds a xylophone and could just be a typo - i.e. should have read "West African Xylophone"). I've listened to this track carefully many times and I can hear the oud clearly (the instrument has pairs of gut strings tuned in unison, with a single bass string - see picture).
Zawinul once had a girlfriend in Cairo in the late 50's so I'm guessing he must have picked up ethnic instruments (including this oud) on his travels and figured that he would use them in the studio (later, when the band was on tour, you could often see these strange collections of instruments on a table next to his keyboard rig). There's another mystery instrument credited to Zawinul on this track - something called a "mzuthra". Based on the Cairo connection I'm going to guess that this is actually an alternate name for (or spelling of) a "Mazhar", which is a large Egyptian tambourine, but this could be wrong! Yet another instrument credited to Zawinul is the Melodica.
This keyboard / reed instrument is played by blowing into the mouthpiece while simultaneously playing the keys - a kind of portable harmonium (!) that later would partly inspire the design of solo synths designed to be played while strung around the neck! The Melodica could also be played via an extension tube, allowing both hands to be free to play chords - and later in this series I'll share my "personal encounter" with Weather Report that all started with one of those extension tubes!
Finally check out the double-speed vocal on the intro. It sounds like it could be an Islamic call to prayer, adding further to the foreign exotic feel of this excellent track.
Enjoy.
MM
Comments (6)
Thanks, MM - another tee-rific post about one of my fav bands.
I always loved "5 short stories" from this record, a fascinating Shorter/Zawinu duet. Then there's "Lusitanos", another great (and I think overlooked) Wayne Shoter composition. I've been working on getting it into NAIL's rep.
"Badia" is one badass track. Multiple time changes; and the break is in 6, but.... never could figure it quite out. FYI, that vocal sample appears very briefly on a tune on Salif Keita's "Amen" disc (can't remember which tune, but it's instantly recognizable).
Looking forward to the next post!
Hi Neil,
Thanks for dropping in, and also for the lead on Salif Keita - I will give that a listen (not too familiar with his stuff, but he's a soulful singer for sure!).
"5 Short stories" is lovely, and is a perfect example of the "musical conversation" that Joe said was the hallmark of his relationship with Shorter over the years. It's great that your band is playing these songs!
MM
I just gave a gift to an 18 year old tenor phenomenon on his birthday: A complete set of Weather Report CD's. He was thrilled, as was I to be able to share this music with the next gen.
Love the Tonto pic, BTW.
That's great Neil, you rock! ;-)
Thanks for posting!
MM
Hey MM! Thanks for this great bit of documentary work you are doing on WR, probably my MOST formative influence after Miles and the MopTops. Keep it coming! I posted my own brief thoughts on Weather Report on my myspace page (myspacedotcom/wankfactory). God bless and take care, and ps, thanks for showing a pic of TONTO! I've always wondered what the hell it was!
WF, thanks for dropping by. I'm afraid this series is languishing. I got kind of busy with a number of things and haven't been Mogging for a while. I saw that Mog was having relaunch so I may try to get back and check out the new format sometime soon...and tackle the next WR release (the awesome "Heavy Weather" album).
Cheers
MM