Along with Earth, Wind & Fire, Weather Report was one of the bridge bands for me. Tail Spinnin' was the first Weather Report album I heard, and Badia was a game changer.
My first hearing of EW&F was the “Head to the Sky” album, an overlooked gem. It was many years before I learned that they had also done the soundtrack for Melvin Van Peebles classic “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song.”
I have never seen that movie, C.L. I'll check it out. Just read this about it, "The film's music was performed by the then-unknown group Earth, Wind & Fire, who were living in a single apartment with hardly any food at the time. Van Peebles' secretary was dating one of the band members, and convinced him to contact them about performing the music for the film."
Completely fascinating, thanks so much for writing this. All those connections explored, and Donny appearing too.
In 1976/7 in a small town outside London, UK I too was listening to 'Gratitude', digging the sax solos and 'All n All', loving it all. Only years later with a strong Jazz habit did I realise how important that earlier listening was.
Joe Zawinul thought Maurice White was an incredible drummer.
Another awesome post, thank you!
Along with Earth, Wind & Fire, Weather Report was one of the bridge bands for me. Tail Spinnin' was the first Weather Report album I heard, and Badia was a game changer.
Thanks for traveling with us.
This was so incredibly informative. Thank you. Linking Sun Ra / AACM/ Earth Wind and Fire! Incredible.
Thanks for the support, Jim, and for traveling with us.
My first hearing of EW&F was the “Head to the Sky” album, an overlooked gem. It was many years before I learned that they had also done the soundtrack for Melvin Van Peebles classic “Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song.”
I have never seen that movie, C.L. I'll check it out. Just read this about it, "The film's music was performed by the then-unknown group Earth, Wind & Fire, who were living in a single apartment with hardly any food at the time. Van Peebles' secretary was dating one of the band members, and convinced him to contact them about performing the music for the film."
Interesting.
Completely fascinating, thanks so much for writing this. All those connections explored, and Donny appearing too.
In 1976/7 in a small town outside London, UK I too was listening to 'Gratitude', digging the sax solos and 'All n All', loving it all. Only years later with a strong Jazz habit did I realise how important that earlier listening was.
That's how it happened for me too - on the other side of the pond in a small town outside of St. Paul, Minnesota.
Thanks for traveling with us, Mark.
Thank you for a fab informative article. It'd be difficult for me to decide between All n All and Gratitude as my one and only Desert Island Disk.
That's a tough one, Kevin, but I'm grabbing Gratitude - too many good memories tied to that one, and the live Devotion always picks me up.