Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32825 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-04-16
• Rating: Exempt
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Synopsis
A group founded by members who had previously played with Miles Davis, Weather Report are captured on film at a show in Montreux, 1976.

Customer Reviews

A musical space-trip
While worldclass musicians kept revolving around the nucleus of the band: keyboard wizzard and sonic genius Joe Zawinul and transcendental saxplayer Wayne Shorter, I think it's fair to say that this line-up, who went on to record their groundbreaking hit-album "Heavy Weather", was the classic one.

With the dynamic southamerican percussion/drum duo of Manolo Badrena and Alex Acuña. And basslegend Jaco Pastorius, the master of the fretless bass, who not only had the chops, but also - as this DVD shows - like his great idol Jimi Hendrix the stage-presence and the charisma of a true star. His solo-piece "Portrait Of Tracy" gives convincing evidence to why so many consider him the best bassist ever. But also his ensemble playing is brilliantly funky all the way.

I was very fortunate to see this band in Copenhagen the year after, and the words that kept resounding in my head during and after was 'electric church music'. This show certainly confirms my impression of a high soaring band, with roots in the earth and the minds firmly planted in deep space.

The only surprise is how relatively 'thin' Zawinul's keyboardsound is. Not least compared with his latest brilliant recordings: "Bird Jam" (mainly with african musicians) and "Brown Street" (with german Big Band). Makes me realize that the stern-faced Austrian visionary actually sounds and plays better than ever at 75!

If one should complain about anything, it should be the relatively short duration. But while the claim in the linernotes that this band cover more ground in an hour than most others do in a year might be slightly exaggerated, it's certainly not completely off the mark.

All in all another fine release in the exciting "Live at Montreux"-series. And as always the sound is very good, without being outstanding.

As good as it gets ...
Great to see an official release of this at long last - what took you so long ! I'm familiar with it already, having tracked a copy down about three years ago. Up until then this was my visual musical 'Holy Grail' ever since witnessing tantalizing clips from it introduced by Humph on some late night BBC2 jazz programme back in '76. I agree that this is perhaps the finest incarnation of the band ( also made evident by some of the live stuff that saw the light of day on CD a few years back ). The whole performance is transfixing, check out the rendition of 'Black Market' on here - the band are ON FIRE. Completely essential listening and viewing for any jazz-rock fans anywhere.

Music that lasts
This is a superb performance. While some of the so-called jazz-fusion music of the 1970s sounds awfully outdated today, Weather Report never got hit seriously by the passing of time. On the contrary, their albums continue to grow on me.

The line-up presented on this DVD has a special place in my heart, because it was the one I saw one year later at one of my first major concerts. Then, 30 years ago, they blew me away. Now, 30 years later, I realize that their music really still stands. And the performance here is an excellent documentation of this. The interplay between carefully composed intricate patterns and free-form improvisations are stunning. The footage also captures the report between the band members admirably. The concentration and joy in everybody's eyes are a joy to witness.

Enjoy!