''Black Market'' is an instrumental jazz fusion album released by

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian virtuoso keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer and voca ...

in 1976. This album was produced by Joe Zawinul and

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

. It was recorded between December 1975 and January 1976 and released in March 1976 through Columbia Records. Columbia released it again as a digitally remastered CD in 1991. This is Weather Report's sixth overall album and the first to feature bass player

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...

, who appears on two tracks, one of which was his own composition "Barbary Coast." The back cover photo shows Pastorius, Chester Thompson, and

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian-American drummer and percussionist. Background Born in Pativilca, Peru, Acuña played in local bands such as La Orquesta de los Hermanos Nec ...

with the band, although bass player Alphonso Johnson played on the majority of the record's tracks. The album draws heavily from African influences and its style could be described as "world fusion". The second track, "Cannon Ball", is a tribute to saxophonist

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single " Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", wh ...

, Zawinul's employer for several years during the 1960s. Adderley died a few months before ''Black Market'' was recorded.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians: * Joe Zawinul —

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

Grand Piano,

Rhodes Electric Piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

, 2 ×

ARP 2600 The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Allen R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 ...

Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer The Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer is a range of analog music synthesizers that was produced from 1975 to 1979 by Oberheim Electronics. It was developed by Tom Oberheim, and was the first production synthesizer capable of playing chords. Spe ...

, orchestration *

— Selmer soprano and tenor saxophones, Computone

Lyricon The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first wind controller to be constructed. Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184), filed for patent o ...

* Alphonso Johnson —

electric bass The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

— electric

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

(tracks 2 & 6) * Narada Michael Walden — drums (tracks 1 and 2) * Chester Thompson — drums (track 1, tracks 3–7) *

— congas, percussion (tracks 2–5, track 7) *

Don Alias Charles "Don" Alias (December 25, 1939 in New York City – March 28, 2006 in New York City) was an American jazz percussionist. Alias was best known for playing congas and other hand drums. He was, however, a capable drum kit performer: for ...

— percussion (tracks 1 and 6) Production: * Joe Zawinul — producer * Wayne Shorter — co-producer *

Ron Malo Ronald Clements Malo (August 29, 1935 in Illinois – August 15, 1992 in Burbank, California) was an American engineer for Chicago's Chess Studios from 1959 until 1970. He was the engineer for the first sessions the Rolling Stones did in the US, i ...

— engineer * Nancy Donald — cover design * David McMacken — cover illustration *

Ed Caraeff Ed Caraeff (born April 18, 1950) is an American photographer, illustrator and graphic designer, who has worked largely in the music industry. He has art directed, photographed and designed more than 400 record album covers from 1967 to 1981 for ...

— photography

References

External links

Weather Report Annotated Discography: Black Market
1976 albums Columbia Records albums Black Market {{1970s-jazz-album-stub