BIRDL AND

W E AT H E R R E P O R T

H E AV Y W E A T H E R - 1 9 7 7
WEATHER REPORT

• Weather Report is an American jazz fusion band. It was founded by keyboardist Joe Zawinul and
saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who met while performing with Maynard Ferguson’s Big Band, and
recorded together with Miles Davis on his album, “Bitches Brew”.
• ‘Birdland’ is a song written by Joe Zawinul and originally performed by Weather Report for their
album, “Heavy Weather” in 1977. Birdland marked Weather Report’s peak of popularity and
commercial success. An instrumental jazz fusion song, it follows some standard jazz conventions,
such as complex chord progressions, harmonies and unconventional (by modern standards)
structure. This is undercut by the - at the time - advanced electronic instrumentation, somewhat
simplistic melodies and a lack of improvised solos. The combination of these two forms solidify
Birdland as a jazz fusion piece, and is often considered one of the most popular songs within the
genre.
JAZZ FUSION

Jazz fusion is the broad term used to define jazz music that has adapted and integrated into other
styles of music. This includes, but is not limited to, rock, rhythm and blues, funk, hip hop, disco
or electronic dance music. Due to this, defining ‘Birdland’ under that genre can be misleading,
and if not that, doing the song an injustice at the least.

Fusion was born out of the necessity to adapt to the sizable divergence between the popularity of
several other genres, versus the decline in popularity for traditional jazz music. Given the
thoroughly intrinsic value of freedom and expression in jazz, several jazz musicians had no issue
adapting their styles or tweaking the nature of their instrumentation to create brand new sounding
and structural music.
INTRO/HORN MELODY

Birdland starts with a low ascending synth line that resolves on G, the key of the song. The second half of
the intro cuts in a high-pitched bass line, played using artificial harmonics. The bassist, Jaco Pastorius uses
frequent bends to alter the feel of the rhythm. The 2 instruments provide a polyphonic melody, with the
piano chords coming in to serve as the harmony. The drum hi-hat also comes in with the bass harmonics,
playing a straight quavered rhythm. It gives the intro a rushed, panicked feel with its rapidness, compared to
the slow, meandering synth melody.

After a swell in the drums, the intro explodes into a horn line. Played by a soprano and tenor sax, the rhythm
is heavily syncopated between the continuous hi-hat hits on the drum kit. Here is the first example of
heterophony in Birdland, as the piano mimics the saxophone with its own harmonic approach, playing major
7 chords underneath the copied melody.
Top: bassline
Bottom: synth line

Full horn line, notated for trombone

Just as quickly as it appears, the song lulls into a peaceful vamp section, something ‘Birdland’
does many times throughout its duration. The piano and synth are both played by Zawinul. The
bass guitar takes on a more harmonious approach during these vamp sections, playing octaves to
accompany the keyboard lines.
A short sax solo cuts in during the vamp, this time played on a tenor. The short duration and
simplicity are not reminiscent of traditional jazz music. The solo ends on a minor second, which
gives the entrance to the second vamp a strong melodic resolution.
The vamp continues for several cycles after the saxophone interlude.
MAIN MOTIF

The main motif of ‘Birdland’ is a melodically diverse phrase led by the saxophone, and
harmonised by the piano. The use of major 7 chords, the strong rhythmic pulse on beats 2 and 3
and simplistic melody instil the main motif of ‘Birdland’ with a sense of overly naïve positivity.
The bass guitar gets especially talkative, playing very melodically instead of just root notes. This
adds a nice polyphony to the main motif.
VAMP 2

We come to our second unique vamp section. It contrasts the busy-ness of the previous section.
Here the bass guitar takes on a more traditional harmonious role, playing static octave phrases.
We also get the first use of vocals on ‘Birdland’, Zawinul sings a nonsensical, scat-like phrase
that he repeats twice, which is also mirrored by the piano. The familiar synth sound heard in the
intro comes back during this vamp, and plays the zig-zagging melody. For the entire duration of
the vamp there are no chord progressions, only a single chord is held by another synth. Various
electronic phasing and flanging sound effects also bubble up during various points in the latter
half of the vamp. This single held chord, atonal electronic phrases and ominous rhythmic bass
pattern make the second vamp a rather eerie and ominous precursor that culminates in the next
section.
CHROMATIC DESCENSION

After the slow build from the previous section, a majority of the instrument’s burst into a bizarre
chromatically descending unison melody. This type of atonal melodic contouring is not seen
before or after again. However, when Shorter cuts in on the melody with his sax solo, it adds a
layer of polyphony. The piano plays dissonant chords on the off beats, which add uncertainty to
the section in this context.
REPEAT

The chromatically descending lines in the previous section are peeled back and one chord on the
synth is held. Then we somewhat get a rendition of the intro once again. The bending harmonic
sounds that were heard in the intro come back. Shorter also noodles around the A major
pentatonic scale, before joining the bass melody with heavy use of heterophony. The contrast
between the previous use of atonal scales and the current use of a major scale by the two
instruments providing the melody effortlessly bridge the vamp to the next section. It is fluid, non-
jarring and musically coherent. The second rendition of the horn riff in ‘Birdland’ appears here, it
is the exact same as the previous version.
The horn riff leads into another vamp, which is the exact same vamp that occurred after the first
use of the horn riff. It repeats twice instead of five times.
MAIN MOTIF/OUTRO

‘Birdland’ ends on the previously discussed main motif. There are a few differences worth
mentioning however. Throughout this section, high pitched male vocals can be heard mimicking
the saxophone melody. Further on into the section, we get a somewhat simplistic keyboard solo,
performed by Zawinul. The rapid hi-hat rhythm is also being doubled by a tambourine, with a
strong accent on beats 2 and 4. This section repeats for roughly ~1 minute before fading out.
WHY IS BIRDLAND A JAZZ FUSION
SONG?
‘Birdland’ features many characteristics that are identifiable with jazz music.
The most obvious of these features - to me - is the structure of the song.
A- B-C -D -E-C -F-A-B-C -E
In the late 70’s, song structures such as these were unheard of in the dominant genres of rock,
disco, country and pop. This structure clearly suits instrumental, soloistic genres of music, such
as jazz. Furthermore, layers of elements of heterophony, homophony, monophony and polyphony
can be found all over the track. These terms used to describe musical features are also extremely
common in various jazz genres, particularly Dixieland, bebop and big band jazz ensembles.
Despite all these elements, what makes ‘Birdland’ a jazz fusion song is its instrumentation.
Whereas jazz music has strong roots in acoustic instruments, Weather Report boldly discarded
these to embrace a more commercial and futuristic sound. As a by-product of the success of
‘Heavy Weather’, many proprietors of the jazz fusion genre would incorporate heavily
synthesised sounds into their arrangements. Furthermore, while ‘Birdland’ does retain some
elements of improvisational spirit, the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic complexity of the song
are all rather simple and possess clear parameters compared to typical jazz arrangements.
Many aspects of ‘Birdland’ do possess the same traits of traditional jazz music, in effectively all
mediums. However, this equally rings true for genres like rock and dance music. ‘Birdland’ blurs
the line between them. It is disingenuous to restrict a song to one particular genre, particularly for
a song as eclectic as this one. If you consider one aspect of the song for too long, you will
erroneously picture it to suit one genre. The richness and depth of all musical elements in
‘Birdland’ all need to be evaluated equally. Its effortless blend of musical styles and
instrumentation make it one of the best and most successful jazz fusion singles of all time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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