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Heavy Weather is the eighth album by Weather Report, released in 1977 through Columbia Records. The release originally sold about 500,000 copies; it would prove to be the band’s most commercially successful album.

Reception

Heavy Weather received a 5-star review from Down Beat magazine and went on to be voted jazz album of the year by the readers of that publication.

AllMusic Review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 5 stars out of 5 and stating “Released just as the jazz-rock movement began to run out of steam, this landmark album proved that there was plenty of creative life left in the idiom.”

Track listing:
Side one
1. “Birdland” Zawinul 5:57
2. “A Remark You Made” Zawinul 6:51
3. “Teen Town” Pastorius 2:51
4. “Harlequin” Shorter 3:59
Side two
1. “Rumba Mamá” Badrena, Acuña 2:11
2. “Palladíum” Shorter 4:46
3. “The Juggler” Zawinul 5:03
4. “Havona” Pastorius 6:01

Personnel:
Joe Zawinul – ARP 2600 on all tracks except “Rumba Mamá”, Rhodes electric piano on all tracks except “Birdland”, “Rumba Mamá” and “Havona”, Yamaha grand piano on “Birdland”, “Harlequin”, “The Juggler” and “Havona”, Oberheim polyphonic synthesizer on all tracks except “Rumba Mamá”, “Palladíum” and “The Juggler”, vocal on “Birdland”, melodica on “Birdland” and “Teen Town”, and guitar and tabla on “The Juggler”.
Wayne Shorter – Soprano saxophone on all tracks except “A Remark You Made” and “Rumba Mamá”, and tenor saxophone on “Birdland””, “A Remark You Made” and “Palladíum”
Jaco Pastorius – Fretless bass on all tracks except “Rumba Mamá”, mandocello on “Birdland” and “The Juggler”, vocals on “Birdland”, drums on “Teen Town”, steel drums on “Palladíum”
Alex Acuña – Drum set on all tracks except “Teen Town” and “Rumba Mamá”, congas and tom-toms on “Rumba Mamá”, and handclaps on “The Juggler”
Manolo Badrena – Tambourine on “Birdland”, congas on “Teen Town”, “Rumba Mamá” and “Palladíum”, vocal on “Harlequin” and “Rumba Mamá”, timbales on “Rumba Mamá”, and percussion on “Palladíum” and “The Juggler”

Released: March 1977
Recorded: Late 1976 – Early 1977
Studio Devonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California
Length: 37:39
Label Columbia
Producer: Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter