Mr. Gone (album)

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]

Mr. Gone
Studio album by Weather Report
Released	September 1978
Recorded	February–June 1978
Studio	Devonshire Sound Studios, North Hollywood, California
Genre	Jazz fusion
Length	37:30
Label	ARC/Columbia
Producer	Joe 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.^[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

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Christgau's Record Guide	B[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

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:^[14]

Weather Report

• Joe Zawinul - modified Rhodes 88 electric piano, acoustic piano, two ARP 2600 synthesizers, Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 synthesizer, Mu-Tron Bi-Phase and Mu-Tron Volume Wah effects, kalimba, thumbeki drums, sleigh bells, melodica, high hat, vocals (tracks 1 & 5)
• Wayne Shorter - tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones, vocals (track 1)
• Jaco Pastorius - bass, drums (tracks 1–2), timpani (track 2), vocals (tracks 1–2 & 6)
• Peter Erskine - drums (tracks 1 & 7), hi hat (track 3), vocals (track 1)

Additional musicians

• Tony Williams - drums (tracks 5–6)
• Steve Gadd - drums (tracks 3 & 8)
• Manolo Badrena - vocal solo (track 1)
• Jon Lucien - vocals (track 1)
• Deniece Williams - vocals (track 8)
• Maurice White - vocals (track 8)

Production

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

Charts

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

1. "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. Archived from the original on 2018-05-20. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
3. Milkowski, Bill (October 14, 2021). "Weather Report: the life and times of the group on record". jazzwise.com. Jazzwise. Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
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 November 26, 2024.
7. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: W". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Archived from the original on May 10, 2020. 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. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
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. Archived from the original on August 5, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
12. "Weather Report Mr. Gone" (PDF). americanradiohistory.com. Vol. 29, no. 1. High Fidelity. January 1979. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-05-18. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
13. "New Wave Hegemony and the Bebop Question". robertchristgau.com. Village Voice. January 22, 1979. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
14. Weather Report: Mr Gone. Columbia Records. 1978.
15. "Weather Report - Mr Gone". sverigetopplistan.se. Sverigetopplistan. Archived from the original on 2023-07-13. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
16. "Top British Soul Albums". Blues & Soul. No. 266. December 5, 1978.
17. "Weather Report". officialcharts.com. Official Charts. Archived from the original on 2018-05-20. Retrieved 2018-05-20.