Mr. Gone (album)

Mr. Gone
Studio album by
Weather Report
ReleasedSeptember 1978
RecordedFebruary–June 1978
StudioDevonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California
GenreJazz fusion
Length37:30
LabelARC/Columbia
ProducerJoe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius
Weather Report chronology
Heavy Weather
(1977) 		Mr. Gone
(1978) 		8:30
(1979)

Mr. Gone is the eighth studio album by jazz fusion band Weather Report released in 1978 by ARC/Columbia Records. The album reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.[1]

Overview

[edit]

As the group was still looking for a drummer following the departure of Alex Acuña, outside drummers Tony Williams and Steve Gadd appear along with Peter Erskine, who would become Acuña's replacement. Singers Deniece Williams and Maurice White also appear on the track "And Then." The Pastorius-penned "Punk Jazz" was later the title of a posthumous compilation of Jaco Pastorius's music.[2][3]

The record became a center of controversy when DownBeat magazine gave it a one-star review. Zawinul went on to deliver a furious response to this review during a later interview.[4]

According to Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul came up with the name "Mr. Gone" as a reference to Shorter who was absent while the band was working on that album. Shorter stated in an interview on the Questlove Supreme podcast, "I stayed another month in Brazil while they were making a record. They were making some music and they named it after me. Joe Zawinul said, 'Let's call this one, Mr. Gone.'[5]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Christgau's Record GuideB[7]
New York Daily News(favourable)[8]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[9]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[10]

Frederick I Douglass of The Baltimore Sun proclaimed he tuned in and became "immersed in the electronic space sounds of Weather Report".[11]

Don Heckman of High Fidelity wrote "Still, despite Zawinul's electro-musical genius, despite the astonishing bass playing of Pastorius, despite the consistently rewarding improvisations of Shorter, and despite Pastorius' and Manolo Badrena's attempts to break out into exuberant vocalisms, this is a hard record to like without reservation".[12] With that said the album was still named the Best Contemporary Jazz Album in High Fidelity's 1978 Critics Choice Poll.[12]

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave a B grade, proclaiming "Like Black Market and Heavy Weather, this is short on rhythmic inspiration (four different drummers, no percussionists) and long on electric ivory. When I'm in the mood I can still get off on its rich colors and compositional flow."[7] Music critic Jon Pareles later placed Mr. Gone in his ballot for The Village Voice's 1978 Pazz and Jop poll.[13]

Bill Milkowski of Jazzwise described Mr. Gone as "a collection of well-crafted confections".[3]

Track listing

[edit]
  1. "The Pursuit of the Woman with the Feathered Hat" (Zawinul) 5:03
  2. "River People" (Pastorius) 4:50
  3. "Young and Fine" (Zawinul) 6:55
  4. "The Elders" (Shorter, arranged by Zawinul) 4:21
  5. "Mr. Gone" (Zawinul) 5:26
  6. "Punk Jazz" (Pastorius) 5:09
  7. "Pinocchio" (Shorter) 2:26
  8. "And Then" (music - Zawinul, lyrics - Sam Guest) 3:22

Personnel

[edit]

The recording and technical personnel were as follows:[14]

Weather Report

Additional musicians

Production

  • Alex Kazanegras - engineer
  • Dave Mancini - second engineer
  • Nancy Donald - cover design
  • Lou Beach - cover illustration

Charts

[edit]
Chart (1978) Peak
position
US Billboard Top Jazz Albums[1] 1
Swedish Pop Albums[15] 47
UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Albums[16] 19
UK Pop Albums[17] 47

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Billboard Best Selling Jazz LPs" (PDF). American Radio History. Vol. 90, no. 50. Billboard. December 2, 1978. p. 56.
  2. ^ "Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology". Allmusic.com.
  3. ^ a b Milkowski, Bill (October 14, 2021). "Weather Report: the life and times of the group on record". jazzwise.com. Jazzwise.
  4. ^ "Joe Zawinul: Sportin' Life". Jazz Times.com.
  5. ^ "Questlove Supreme Podcast: Wayne Shorter". YouTube.com.
  6. ^ Ginell, Richard S. "Weather Report – Mr. Gone: Review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  7. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: W". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 22, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  8. ^ Toepfer, Susan (November 12, 1978). "Weather Report: Mr. Gone". newspapers.com. New York Daily News. p. 310.
  9. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1475. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  10. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 204. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  11. ^ I. Douglass, Frederick (November 12, 1978). "Weather Report's Electric Jazz at Lyric tonight". newspapers.com. Baltimore Sun. p. 310.
  12. ^ a b "Weather Report Mr. Gone" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com. Vol. 29, no. 1. High Fidelity. January 1979.
  13. ^ "New Wave Hegemony and the Bebop Question". robertchristgau.com. Village Voice. January 22, 1979.
  14. ^ Weather Report: Mr Gone. Columbia Records. 1978.
  15. ^ "Weather Report - Mr Gone". sverigetopplistan.se. Sverigetopplistan.
  16. ^ "Top British Soul Albums". Blues & Soul. No. 266. December 5, 1978.
  17. ^ "Weather Report". officialcharts.com. Official Charts.
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