Have You Heard?
By Doug Robinson, July 7, 2006


Weather report: A ray of sunshine

Thanks to everyone who has commented on my last column, where I ran my dirty rotten story in an attempt to explain why I enjoy the music of The Beatles, Ornette Coleman, Brahms, Blue Man Group and Ray Charles with equal enthusiasm. I had a good time writing it!

And speaking of Brother Ray, I hope I’ll see you at Teatro Angela Peralta on July 7 for our big Tributo en Jazz a Ray Charles. It’s the first time I’ve performed around town since I began writing these music columns, and it should be a great show. Tickets are available right now at the box office, and hopefully they’ll go pretty fast because we’re doing both English and Spanish language promotion for the concert.

I promised that I would have more music recommendations this time, so let’s get started.

It’s fine with me that guitarist John Scofield is filed under “jazz,” but in truth his approach lands him somewhere between jazz, rock and soul. His electric guitar playing is unique as far as I can tell—he wasn’t the first jazz guitarist to employ the sonic tools of rock players (distortion pedals, feedback, etc.), but his secret is in the way he combines these effects to create his sound. There is often a weeping, melting feel to his melodic lines. Part of that is his playing technique—he “pulls off” notes that other guitarists might pick individually, which gives them a delicate voice. 

This doesn’t mean his music is always mellow, because he employs the same technique when he’s rocking at high volume. Though I have many favorite John Scofield albums, I always come back to three of them. I Can See Your House from Here is a beautiful duet album with Pat Metheny (backed by bassist Steve Swallow and my new favorite drummer, Bill Stewart); Hand Jive is lazy and melodic funk, and Works for Me is a straight-ahead bop date that also features the brilliant pianist Brad Mehldau, as well as the late drum legend Billy Higgins’ final performance. If there is anyone who successfully marries dissonance and harmony today, it is John Scofield.

I’m going to reach back into the past for my next recommendation: Heavy Weather by the seminal fusion group Weather Report. Call me crazy, but I think all music lovers should be at least passingly familiar with this influential band. Weather Report started when two superstars (Cannonball Adderly’s keyboardist Joe Zawinul and Miles Davis’s saxophonist Wayne Shorter) left their respective bands to form their own group with bassist Miroslav Vitous. In 1970, they weren’t the first to combine jazz, rock and avant-garde sensibilities, but their impact was immediate and controversial. People who wanted to hear these instrumental titans blowing some soul were disappointed to hear loping ambient soundscapes for prepared piano, or percussion-heavy World Music grooves before such a term even existed. I found their early music hard to listen to for those reasons—I could hear greatness and originality there, but it was so layered and dense that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it. 

Over the years, Weather Report’s music became more accessible, and eventually they met their fans somewhere north of the middle. Zawinul and Shorter were the only band members who stayed on throughout their 16-year run. Every album would typically feature a new bassist or drummer, and their ability to attract the most innovative players was actually another example of the group’s impact. Uber-bassists Jaco Pastorius and Alphonso Johnson made their professional debuts in the group; drummers Peter Erskine, Chester Thompson and Alex Acuna were introduced to thousands of listeners.

Heavy Weather features the band during the Jaco Pastorius era, my personal favorite. It features lots of Latin rhythms meshed with rock beats and a brush with New Age textures. It is the only Weather Report album to produce a bona fide hit, the catchy song “Birdland,” which was later covered by Manhattan Transfer (using lyrics provided by Jon Hendricks). It’s a gas—check this one out.

Finally, I want to say a word about a beautiful all-acoustic album called Strength in Numbers by a group of the same name. By the time they recorded this album, the individual players were each well known as being the tops in their respective fields. Banjo player Bela Fleck, dobro master Jerry Douglas, bassist Edgar Meyer, fiddle wizard Mark O’ Connor and mandolinist Sam Bush had been heard hundreds of times on bluegrass and country records, but for this one-time superstar group recording, they focused on their own whimsical compositions. Ever hear a bluegrass group playing reggae music? How about switching between a Celtic chant to an up-tempo country blowout with such urgency that you could get whiplash just from listening? This is a beautiful album, now sadly out of print, though I have found several copies over the years, which I’ve bought to use as gifts for my music-loving friends.

That’s it for now—happy listening!

Doug Robinson is a multi-instrumentalist who plays with the group Mo’ Ritmo in San Miguel de Allende.