Mr. Gone (album)

Mr. Gone is the eighth studio album by jazz fusion band Weather Report released in 1978 by ARC/Columbia Records.[1] The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.[2]

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)

Overview

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.[3][4]

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.[5]

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.' [6]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[7]
Christgau's Record GuideB[8]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[9]
New York Daily News(favourable)[10]
Baltimore Sun(favourable)[11]
Washington Post(favourable)[12]
High Fidelity(favourable)[13]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[14]

Mr. Gone came in at No. 1 on High Fidelity's 1978 Critics' Choice poll in the category of Best Contemporary Jazz Album.[15] Music critic Jon Pareles also placed Mr. Gone in his ballot for the Village Voice 1978 Pazz and Jop poll.[16]

Track listing
  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

The recording and technical personnel were as follows:[17]

Weather Report
Additional musicians
Technical
  • Alex Kazanegras - engineer
  • Dave Mancini - second engineer
  • Nancy Donald - cover design
  • Lou Beach - cover illustration

Chart positions
Chart (1978) Peak
position
US Billboard Top Jazz Albums[2] 1
UK Blues & Soul Top British Soul Albums[18] 19
UK Pop Albums[19] 47

References
  1. "Weather Report: Mr. Gone". 45worlds.com.
  2. "Billboard Best Selling Jazz LPs" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com. Vol. 90, no. 50. Billboard. December 2, 1978. p. 56.
  3. "Punk Jazz: The Jaco Pastorius Anthology". Allmusic.com.
  4. "Weather Report: the life and times of the group on record". Jazz Wise Magazine.com.
  5. "Joe Zawinul: Sportin' Life". Jazz Times.com.
  6. "Questlove Supreme Podcast: Wayne Shorter". YouTube.com.
  7. Ginell, Richard S. (2011). "Mr. Gone - Weather Report | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  8. 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.
  9. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 204. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  10. Toepfer, Susan (November 12, 1978). "Weather Report: Mr. Gone". newspapers.com. New York Daily News. p. 310.
  11. I. Douglass, Frederick (November 12, 1978). "Weather Report's Electric Jazz at Lyric tonight". newspapers.com. Baltimore Sun. p. 310.
  12. Kernis, Mark (October 27, 1978). "It's a Reunion of Miles Davis Alumni". Washington Post.
  13. Heckman, Don (January 1979). "Weather Report Mr. Gone" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com. Vol. 29, no. 1. High Fidelity. p. 131.
  14. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1475. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  15. "Critics' Choice '78" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com. Vol. 29, no. 1. High Fidelity. January 1979. p. 112.
  16. "New Wave Hegemony and the Bebop Question". robertchristgau.com. Village Voice. January 22, 1979.
  17. Weather Report: Mr Gone. Columbia Records. 1978.
  18. "Top British Soul Albums". No. 266. Blues & Soul. December 5, 1978. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  19. "Weather Report". officialcharts.com. Official Charts.
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