Live in Tokyo

Artist: Weather Report
Label: Sbme Import
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2
EAN: 5099748920829
ASIN: B000024XGM

Release Date: 1998-01-23

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Listmania:

70's Music
The (not so obvious) "Kind Of Blue" similars
some serious fusion records
Albums for the 21st century

Tracks:

Medley: Vertical Invader/Seventh Arrow/T.H./Doctor Honoris Causa
Medley: Surucucu/Lost/Early Minor/Directions

Tracks:

Orange Lady
Medley: Eurydice/The Moors
Medley: Tears/Umbrellas

Similar Items:

Live and Unreleased
Procession
I Sing the Body Electric
Sweetnighter
Weather Report

Customer Reviews:

Straight To The Brain!.......2004-04-19

This album is a sample of what the Miles Davis Alumni learned with him. It's so intelligent like many of the Miles' Recordings. Also, in this album you will appreciate Miroslav Vitous as a bass player, let's recognize it: Jaco Pastorius is a really good bass player but Miroslav Vitous is so good as him (and sometimes i think that he's better) because of the really good tone that Vitous gives with is acoustic bass. Eric Gravitt and Dom Um Romao make an excellent percussion and rythm section, Wayne Shorter plays an strange, but good, form of free-fusion jazz and Joe Zawinul is here at his peak of experimentation using ring modulators, rhodes, wah-wah, and some other paraphernalia, its sound sometimes makes you think that there is a guitar player in the stage, but no, it's just Zawinul!. Amazing album with music that makes you follow every single sound, finding so much things every time you listen, that's really, music that goes straight to the brain!

scary..........2003-12-29

... straight up scary. "Lets hit them hard, right from the first note" is what Zawinul is said about this recording. And they (Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, and Miroslav Vitous) do JUST that.

The Early Weather Report, Rare and Live!!.......2003-12-20

"Live In Tokyo" captures the Jazz-rock fusion band Weather Report in a stunning performance at Shibuya Hall in January 1972. The band line-up for the concert consisted of Joe Zawinul on pianos, Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Miroslav Vitous on bass, Eric Gravatt on drums and Dom Um Romao on percussion.
Segments from this album were released as half of the band's second album "I Sing The Body Electric". On this album however, it is a complete 90-minute performance consisting of five lengthy tracks (four of which are continuous suites containing different pieces).
The band was definitely on a musical high during this particular concert displaying a sound that is raw and full of fierce improvisation. Joe Zawinul's keyboard work is at its most experimental here as he modifies his electric piano with a distortion box, wah-wah pedal and a ring modulator. This sometimes gives the impression that there's a guitarist on-stage during the performance when in fact there is no guitar to be heard. His acoustic piano work is also experimental as he sometimes plays it from the inside striking its strings by hand instead of with the keyboard.
Miroslav Vitous's bass work is also at its best here, alternating between acoustic and electric. There are several moments during this album (especially in the opening medley) where Vitous grabs the spotlight with his unique style. His work with the bowed bass on "Orange Lady" is particularly strking and haunting.
Wayne Shorter's sax playing is at its most free form here. It's not exactly like Ornette Coleman or John Coltrane but it is highly improvisational and momentous. His work on the band's studio albums tends to be more refined and subdued but here, Wayne lets it rip and tear.
Drummer Eric Gravatt is a sadly underrated drummer but nonetheless does an outstanding job here. His extended drum solo is the first thing heard on this album. Throughout this performance, he pushes the rhythm with full force.
Percussionist Dom Um Romao also has some moments in the spotlight here. Besides spicing up Gravatt's rhythms with various percussive toys, Romao also has a solo moment in the album's second suite using whistles, a thumb piano and using his own body as an instrument. There is a similar moment in the intro to "Orange Lady".
Overall, the "Live In Tokyo" performance captures the early Weather Report at its very best. This music is extremely agressive and loud. The other live albums from the band ("8:30" and the recent "Live and Unreleased") are a lot mellower compared to this one. "Live In Tokyo" is definitely an essential title if you're a Weather Report fan. If you're new to the band's music, this may not be the place to start, however it certainly is not unlistenable.
This album has yet to be released in the U.S. even after its intial release in Japan over 30 years ago. Hopefully, that will all change in the near future. This is some great music and a great live performance from a great band. Definitely worth checking out.

sensational early Weather Report!.......2001-08-08

On the heels of the slew of 2-disc electric Miles, Sony has released from the vaults the full live Weather Report concert from November 1971 in Tokyo! With Shorter and Zawinul fresh out of Miles' band, this is definitely in that vein -- funky avant jazz fusion, not the catchier radio-friendly "Birdland" of a few years later. I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC has always been one of my 2 favorite Weather Report records, along with MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER, and if you like I SING you're sure to like LIVE IN TOKYO as it's the source of the live portions of that record.

You can clearly hear why the sections that were lifted for I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC were chosen -- they include some of the tightest, punchiest moments of the concert. The highlights of what was left out include Zawinul imitating Miles' muted trumpet with synthesizer in a duet with Gravatt on drums, a dramatic shift from frenetic electric piano to dramatic acoustic piano on one of the first disc medleys, and Shorter cutting loose on the live version of "The Moors." Zawinul's impressionistic "Orange Lady" and Shorter's bop piece "Eurydice," which lead off the second disc, are the least compelling.

This is not "free jazz" -- no need to be quite that intimidated. While LIVE IN TOKYO lacks strong melodies, can be harmonically complex, and is definitely rhythmically complex, Weather Report sticks with Miles in NOT following Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor and the late Coltrane. This quintet can be intensely funky, but they don't stick with the groove as the group would later -- that's part of what makes the overall effect more abstract. Great to hear, after 30 years!

Intense, electrified free jazz!.......2001-03-31

In principle, this live concert from 1972 follows the same approach as Weather Report's self-titled debut: ensemble improvisation where pretty much anything goes. But whereas the debut is a dreamy, laid-back affair, Live in Tokyo is a fierce, aggressive document of a band that was more "free" than "fusion". (Compare this to Miles Davis's 1970 Fillmore concerts, which have a similar point of departure.) Zawinul's playing on the Fender Rhodes is dissonant and processed with primitive electronics, and on the acoustic piano he's all over the place -- from Bill Evans-like meditations to messing around with the piano's innards. Wayne Shorter, little more than sonic wallpaper on some later albums, blows like a madman on the tenor and soprano saxophones. And the rhythm section (Miroslav Vitous, Eric Gravatt, Dom Um Romeo) is the most spontaneous in WR's catalogue, and arguably the most exciting. The music is organized into 5 lengthy medleys, containing some material from Weather Report's debut as well as otherwise unreleased stuff. There's also a compact, blistering version of Zawinul's "Directions". This music is not for the faint of heart (fans of Black Market and Heavy Weather won't find much to like here) but showcases a band at the peak of its abilities. This essential live recording isn't available domestically so snap it up while you can!

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