Decades after its disbanding, Weather Report’s legacy remains as significant as ever. Songs like “Birdland” and “Black Market” have increasingly taken the compositional status of standards. But that growth has existed almost entirely within an instrumental realm. Weather Report’s music has never included lyrics or employed vocalists. And, so, there is a radicalism in adding vocals to the music as Kurt Elling and Yellowjackets do on Play Weather Report Alive in Europe + Bonus Studio Recordings (Big Shoulders, 2026).
But Elling is nothing if not radical. For Play, he wrote new lyrics for pieces a bit deeper into Weather Report’s chartsbook. And he does so in a way that allows him to be fully integrated into the longstanding Yellowjackets band, effectively its fifth member, instead of standing in front of pianist-keyboardist Russell Ferrante, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, fretless electric bassist Dane Alderson, and drummer Will Kennedy. While the combined ensemble is featured on the live tracks which comprise most of the album, the three tracks in the Bonus Studio Recordings finds a studio band of Elling and Alderson with pianist Joey Calderazzo, guitarist Mike Moreno, and Elling’s mainstay drummer Marcus Finnie.
Interestingly, while Weather Report is often thought of as an iconic fusion band, these renderings don’t necessarily emphasize electric aesthetics. Much of the keyboard work, unlike Joe Zawinul’s in Weather Report, centers on the acoustic piano. That is true regardless of whether the keys are in the hands of Ferrante or Calderazzo. As a result, the music on Plays often sounds wildly different from the originally recorded versions of the same compositions. Mercifully, Plays never feels like a tribute album. Elling dives in headfirst, exuding confidence at every juncture. Even though the compositions provide an existing architecture, they feel new. It also helps that much of the material is relatively obscure or from the latter years of the original band’s catalog.
“Elegant Ride,” based on Shorter’s “Elegant People,” stretches into a lengthy twelve minute statement. The Yellowjackets begin, and the audience roars when Elling joins. His vocal technique – featuring unique phrasing, use of space, and scatting – is as captivating as his choice in lyrics. Alderson, Mintzer, and Kennedy dynamically solo before Elling brings it home explosively with full band support. Jaco Pastorius’ “The Fanfold Hawk” and Weather Report’s “A Certain Continuum” are combined on the second track. In it, Elling displays his command of dynamics and range, singing the initial section, from whispers to roars. In the latter section, Ferrante plays skittering, gleaming piano runs, his chords linking with the bass and drums to create a driving rhythm. It all flows spontaneously. Elling re-enters and closes with a flourish.
“A Secret In Three Views,” also a Pastorius composition, finds Elling sharing lyric credit here with Phil Gadston. The performance is especially – perhaps overly so – theatrical, with Elling often singing sustained notes, and Mintzer aggressively blowing through his solo. The track traverses different aural landscapes, yet never lags in energy or drama. Mintzer penned piece “Intrigue,” a bit of a step away from the Weather Report songbook, primarily pits the composer’s saxophone against Elling’s improved vocals. Alderson’s inventive Pastorius-like bass and Ferrante’s acoustic piano also get plenty of space. In sum, it’s a showcase for the Yellowjackets.
Zawinul’s “Current Affairs” avoids the electronic textures of its original rendition. Ferrante and Elling engage in a piano-vocal duet before Mintzer soars above the band with a brawny, emotive solo. It’s a great track and, though a Weather Report piece, seemingly the most far-removed from the band’s sound. “Pallas’ Palace,” based on Wayne Shorter’s “Palladium,” again features Mintzer in tenor beast mode, dueling with Elling. Hints of the original melody appear even as Ferrante plays as much acoustic piano as Rhodes. By its end, the band goes full throttle, fueled by Kennedy and Alderson and Elling’s improvised dialogue with the bass-drum tandem. The audience is just as alive; they are in a frenzy.
The studio tracks don’t bear much resemblance to Weather Report’s output. They are more intimate and chamber-like. Calderazzo plays with a different sense of harmonics than Ferrante and stays exclusively acoustic. Moreno’s guitar introduces a new color. The absence of a horn – especially given the power both Wayne Shorter and Mintzer have on the saxophone – is notable too. Alderson maintains the rhythmic pulse with a less heavy-handed, more hip-hop-oriented Finnie. “The Elegant Ride” is half as long, feeling more concentrated and perhaps easier to hone in on Elling’s lyrics. The same is true of the studio version of “Pallas’ Palace,” an even stronger feature for a rollicking Calderazzo. Elling’s approach is very similar in studio as it is on the live tracks, with fewer improvisational passages. “The Face in the Barroom Mirror” is a Shorter composition with Elling’s lyrics that sounds as if the writer and vocalist are engaging in conversation. Calderazzo is brilliant in weaving his fills into the dialogue. The cinematic lyrics contrast light and dark, cold and heat, with Elling’s vocals rising and falling accordingly. The treatment somewhat channels “Lush Life,” which hardly anyone would associate with Weather Report.
Across Play Weather Report, Elling adds an additionally rich narrative to Weather Report’s music. The album never feels emulative or merely tributive. Instead, the album aptly shows how much more life there is in the works of Shorter, Zawinul, and the magic band they created together so long ago. For those willing to look, those compositions can be every bit a contemporary, diverse, sophisticated, and energetic as they have always been.
‘Play Weather Report Alive in Europe + Bonus Studio Recordings’ is out now on Big Shoulders Records. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.
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