So what is the considered view of Weather Report then from the perspective of 2015?

[Lat-Literal]

I have a studio that records quite a bit of jazz - much of which, I think, reveals elements of ‘crossover’ of one sort or another. This is particularly true among the (very) young players.

Here are a couple of examples - although perhaps not that well known - yet?

Snowpoet - Butterflies https://youtu.be/NQmkrIm0hfo

Laura Jurd: DINOSAUR - ‘Hardanger‘ https://youtu.be/m5qCRWR4kTw

Many thanks.

I found them quite interesting. The first does, though, remind me in style of Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells, not that it is at all bad thing. But those guys aren't jazz.

[Ian]

Snowpoet might not be 'jazz' but it's certainly what some jazz musicians do.

Here is an other example recorded in the studio:

Chris Hyson/Kit Downes: https://soundcloud.com/chrishyson/like-a-bird

[Quarky]

Laura Jurd: DINOSAUR - ‘Hardanger‘ https://youtu.be/m5qCRWR4kTw

In view of Laura's unstoppable rise to stardom, I think she should consider disposing of those horn-rimmed glasses, and dressing in something more fashionable.

[Serial_Apologist]

In view of Laura's unstoppable rise to stardom, I think she should consider disposing of those horn-rimmed glasses, and dressing in something more fashionable.

I disagree - I think that 14-year old nerdy schoolgirl look with the fringe over her glasses and floppy toppies contrasts magnificently with the vitality of her playing - she is imv one of the best things to have hapened in British jazz trumpet since Harry Beckett, and that's saying something as a field that is now crowded with extraordinarily good players might turn out to be the era for British trumpeters the way the 1960s was (arguably) for saxophonists and the 1970s keyboardists. Take a moment to tell her how good she is and you'll meet a wonderfully friendly person too! I'll have to go back to my Dave Douglas to make up my own mind how right Ian Thumwood is in what he says, but he probably is.

[eighthobstruction]

Laura Jurd: DINOSAUR - ‘Hardanger‘....doesn't arf sound like several other compositions by other artists (almost to a tee)....

Harry Beckett....

Bought Five Weather report albums Sings Song Electric to Black Market....I'd say a lot going on within these albums....my friends who were less impresssed by JR Fusion would have always said "Too much going on"....But I'd like to sing praise for the sound production engineers who separated the band members sound and blended it all so clearly....

[Serial_Apologist]

Many thanks.

I found them quite interesting. The first does, though, remind me in style of Aidan Moffat and Bill Wells, not that it is at all bad thing. But those guys aren't jazz.

I would place Snowpoet more in the lineage of the Azimuth trio John Taylor formed with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler at Manfred Eicher's recommendation in 1977, and which lasted for about 20 years - a sort of modern day tie up with a pastoral musical tradition going back to the Tudors by way of Metroland, ahem. Which some on here hate, I know, (see, Cromwell omitted to collectivise the English kulaks). As they will the following clip, (straight ahead afficionados be warned!) featuring Lauren Kinsella once more, this time in the sort of exposed improv setting Maggie Nicols goes for, dangerously prone to failure on a bad might but also looking to find at its best the previously unexpressed, which for me is always more interesting than the expected:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op5gzdxv61c

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I would place Snowpoet more in the lineage of the Azimuth trio John Taylor formed with Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler at Manfred Eicher's recommendation in 1977, and which lasted for about 20 years - a sort of modern day tie up with a pastoral musical tradition going back to the Tudors by way of Metroland, ahem. Which some on here hate, I know, (see, Cromwell omitted to collectivise the English kulaks). As they will the following clip, (straight ahead afficionados be warned!) featuring Lauren Kinsella once more, this time in the sort of exposed improv setting Maggie Nicols goes for, dangerously prone to failure on a bad might but also looking to find at its best the previously unexpressed, which for me is always more interesting than the expected:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op5gzdxv61c

"Cromwell and the Kulaks", sounds like a early sixties R&B band that I would have paid to see at the Marquee!

For the record, off at an angle, Marx did not say, "the idiocy of rural life" in the Communist Manifesto, he said "the isolation of rural life". A bad translation from the German.

Although I think idiocy has a grain of truth. Oh, just urbancentric joking.

BN

[Ian Thumwood]

Laura Jurd looks like Thelma from Scooby Doo.

[Serial_Apologist]

Laura Jurd looks like Thelma from Scooby Doo.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Great to see appearance still matters in jazz. Well, women's appearance really matters in jazz, the fact that some aging British male saxophonists etc look more like serial killers should be discounted.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Great to see appearance still matters in jazz. Well, women's appearance really matters in jazz, the fact that some aging British male saxophonists etc look more like serial killers should be discounted.

BN.

I still think she would be a good musician even is she looked like Barney Rubble.

[Tenor Freak]

I still think that Weather Report is relevant to listeners now. They really hit their peak between 1974 and 1978. I still listen to Heavy Weather and Black Market now. Those records will never die.

Wayne probably lost interest in the project around 1980, from then onwards he's really only a sideman giving way to the increasing dominance of Zawinul's keys. I do not agree with the argument that he wrote better compositions with Miles or his own Blue Note groups; I'd put "Lusitanos" or "Palladium" up there at the top rank of his compositions any day. Incidentally I think he carried on because it was an easy gig, they were treated like royalty on their frequent tours of Japan and if the bread is right, why not? It's telling that Wayne has really experimented at the end of his career.

Wayne should really have limited Zawinul to a couple of synths, Rhodes and acoustic piano because that offered the best (IMO) palette of sounds. Perhaps an ARP 2600, an Oberheim Polyphonic, Rhodes and a Yamaha acoustic - that would do. And recorded at Devonshire Sound in North Hollywood, CA.

[Beef Oven!]

I still think that Weather Report is relevant to listeners now. They really hit their peak between 1974 and 1978. I still listen to Heavy Weather and Black Market now. Those records will never die.

Wayne probably lost interest in the project around 1980, from then onwards he's really only a sideman giving way to the increasing dominance of Zawinul's keys. I do not agree with the argument that he wrote better compositions with Miles or his own Blue Note groups; I'd put "Lusitanos" or "Palladium" up there at the top rank of his compositions any day. Incidentally I think he carried on because it was an easy gig, they were treated like royalty on their frequent tours of Japan and if the bread is right, why not? It's telling that Wayne has really experimented at the end of his career.

Wayne should really have limited Zawinul to a couple of synths, Rhodes and acoustic piano because that offered the best (IMO) palette of sounds. Perhaps an ARP 2600, an Oberheim Polyphonic, Rhodes and a Yamaha acoustic - that would do. And recorded at Devonshire Sound in North Hollywood, CA.

Agree about Black Market and Heavy Weather. I play both albums regularly and enjoy them just as much as I ever did.

On a separate note, why is there a tendency, particularly among jazz fans, to refer to black musicians by their first name and white musicians by their surname? I've obviously considered the tendency as a patronising subconscious form of racism, but there could be other explanations. It's often about Waynes and Zawinuls, never Joes and Shorters!

[charles t]

On a separate note, why is there a tendency, particularly among jazz fans, to refer to black musicians by their first name and white musicians by their surname? I've obviously considered the tendency as a patronising subconscious form of racism, but there could be other explanations. It's often about Waynes and Zawinuls, never Joes and Shorters!

Can't say, McGee...but a fine jazz essayist - namely, Gene Lees (who also wrote the lyrics of Waltz For Debby by Bill Evans) had some things to say about it in his Cats Of Any Color - Jazz, Black And White

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gene-lees/cats-of-any-color/

[Beef Oven!]

Can't say, McGee...but a fine jazz essayist - namely, Gene Lees (who also wrote the lyrics of Waltz For Debby by Bill Evans) had some things to say about it in his Cats Of Any Color - Jazz, Black And White

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-r...-of-any-color/

Thanks - a very interesting looking book. I may well get a copy.