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Mysterious Traveller

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Released
  
March 24, 1974

Mysterious Traveller (1974)
  
Tale Spinnin' (1975)

Release date
  
24 March 1974

Genre
  
Jazz fusion

Length
  
48:17

Artist
  
Weather Report

Label
  
Columbia Records

Mysterious Traveller httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen007WRm

Recorded
  
November 1973 - March 1974 Devonshire Sound, Los Angeles

Producers
  
Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter

Similar
  
Weather Report albums, Jazz fusion albums

Mysterious Traveller is the fifth album of Weather Report released in 1974. This album marked the end of bassist Miroslav Vitouš's tenure with the band. Vitouš was replaced by Alphonso Johnson. Another addition to the line-up is drummer Ishmael Wilburn. Greg Errico was the drummer for the tour between the previously released Sweetnighter and this album, but declined an invitation to be a permanent member of the band.

Contents

The record is the band's first that predominantly uses electric bass and incorporates liberal uses of funk, R&B grooves, and rock that would later be hallmarked as the band's "signature" sound. Also, the more restricted compositional format became evident on this album, replacing the more "open improvisation" formats used on the first three albums. It was voted as the album of the year by the readers of Down Beat for 1974, garnering their 2nd overall win in that category, also garnering a five-star review from that publication along the way.

The album peaked at #2 in the Billboard Jazz album chart, #31 in the R&B album chart, and #46 in the Billboard 200 chart.

Weather report mysterious traveller


Track listing

  1. "Nubian Sundance" (Zawinul) – 10:40
  2. "American Tango" (Vitouš, Zawinul) – 3:40
  3. "Cucumber Slumber" (Johnson, Zawinul) – 8:22
  4. "Mysterious Traveller" (Shorter) – 7:21
  5. "Blackthorn Rose" (Shorter) – 5:03
  6. "Scarlet Woman" (Johnson, Shorter, Zawinul) – 5:46
  7. "Jungle Book" (Zawinul) – 7:25

Early copies of the album do not list "Cucumber Slumber" on the back cover or inner sleeve, and list "Jungle Book" as the final track of side one rather than side two. However, most known copies of the album include the seven tracks in the order listed above. One exception is the cassette release, with "Blackthorn Rose" as the second track of side one and "American Tango" as the second track of side two.

The Mastersound SBM edition of Mysterious Traveller includes a previously unreleased song, "Miroslav's Tune", as a bonus track at the end of the album.

Weather Report

  • Josef Zawinul - Electric and acoustic piano, synthesizer, guitar, kalimba, organ, tamboura, clay drum, tack piano, melodica
  • Wayne Shorter - Soprano and tenor saxophone, tack piano
  • Miroslav Vitouš - Upright bass (track 2 only)
  • Alphonso Johnson - Bass guitar
  • Ishmael Wilburn - Drums
  • Skip Hadden - Drums (tracks 1 and 4 only)
  • Dom Um Romão - Percussion, drums
    • Guest musicians
  • Ray Barretto - Percussion (track 3 only)
  • Meruga Booker - Percussion (track 1 only)
  • Steve Little - Timpani (track 6 only)
  • Don Ashworth - Ocarinas and woodwinds (track 7 only)
  • Isacoff - Tabla, finger cymbals (track 7 only)
  • Edna Wright - Vocalists (track 1 only)
  • Marti McCall - Vocalists (track 1 only)
  • Jessica Smith - Vocalists (track 1 only)
  • James Gilstrap - Vocalists (track 1 only)
  • Billie Barnum - Vocalists (track 1 only)
    • Technical
  • Ron Malo - sound engineer
  • Teresa Alfieri - cover design
  • Helmut K. Wimmer - cover artwork

    • Songs

    1Nubian Sundance10:40
    2American Tango3:40
    3Cucumber Slumber

    References

    Mysterious Traveller Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA