Now Spinning: Black Market by Weather Report

 The Cover: 

Album: Black Market

Band: Weather Report

Year: 1976 (CBS)

Is it going to rain?: The first daily weather forecast was published on August 1, 1861, by British naval officer Robert FitzRoy in The Times. The first televised weather forecast in the United States aired on October 14, 1941 on New York’s WNBT, consisting of a sponsor message and a static screen. In 1952, NBC’s Today show broadcasted an early live weather segment featuring Jim Fidler of the U.S. Weather Bureau with hand-drawn maps. Not entirely sure on the inspiration for the band's name. 

About the band: This jazz fusion band was formed around Joe Zawinul (keyboard) and Wayne Shorter (saxophone), who became friends in 1959 while they were playing in Maynard Ferguson’s Big Band, according to weatherreportband.com. Shorter was also part of Mile Davis’s second great quintet in 1964.  The original founders were Zawinul, Shorter, and bass player Miroslav Vitous. This album is the first studio album to feature bassist Jaco Pastorius. This is the sixth studio album for the band.

Producer: Zawinul and Shorter.

Cover art: Dave McMacken is credited with the cover art and design. He performed similar roles on albums for AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Frank Zappa, Cat Stevens, and Kansas. He also did the cover art for the Nintendo game Double Dragon III, my personal favorite of the Double Dragon games.

The tracks:

Side 1

1.      Black Market

2.      Cannon Ball

3.      Gibraltar

Side 2

1.      Elegant People

2.      Three Clowns

3.      Barbary Coast

4.      Herandnu

Featured Song: Cannon Ball – this is a tribute to Zawinul’s former employer saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. He and Zawinul had a crossover hit in “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” that was covered (with lyrics added) by the Buckinghams. Adderley also appeared on the Miles Davis albums Milestones and Kind of Blue.

Where Did I Get This: I bought three boxes of records for $30 off of Marketplace in October. One box included this album along with the band’s self-titled debut album. The median value for this one on Discogs is $6.33 with the high end at $22.47. This copy is in good condition and includes the illustrative vinyl cover. I think I’ll plug this one in at about $10.00.

Back to school: This is considered a jazz/fusion album, and whenever I hear those words, I think of a class I took in college to fulfill a general education credit. It was a “Progressive Rock/Fusion” course where we discussed acts like Miles Davis, King Crimson, Genesis, Herbie Hancock, Yes, and many more. My last memory of that class is the teacher instinctively miming guitar chords when answering questions. I don’t remember studying Weather Report, it’s been a long time so I could be wrong on that, but I think they may have been mentioned.