BIRDLAND - 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. (Milkowski, 2021) 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. (Client, 2022) This is undercut by the - at
the time - advanced electronic instrumentation, somewhat simplistic melodies and distinct
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. (Rouâ,
2022)

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 an electric saxophone line. Played by a
soprano 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
‘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. (Burns, 2019)

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. (MasterClass, 2021)

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. (Burns, 2019) (Borders, n.d.)

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. (Kruth, 2017)

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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Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/big-band-jazz
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Burns, D. R., 2019. nzmusician. [Online]
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[Accessed 10 May 2024].
Client, V., 2022. Anselmo Academy of Music and the Arts. [Online]
Available at: https://www.anselmoacademy.org/different-types-of-jazz-music/
[Accessed 10 May 2024].
Kruth, J., 2017. Observer. [Online]
Available at: https://observer.com/2017/03/weather-report-heavy-weather-40th-
anniversary-review/
[Accessed 19 May 2024].
MasterClass, 2021. MasterClass. [Online]
Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/jazz-fusion-guide
[Accessed 10 May 2024].
Milkowski, B., 2021. Jazzwise. [Online]
Available at: https://www.jazzwise.com/features/article/weather-report-the-life-and-times-
of-the-group-on-record
[Accessed 10 May 2024].
Rouâ, V., 2022. therockpedia. [Online]
Available at: https://therockpedia.com/weather-report-heavy-weather-1977-a-legendary-
jazz-fusion-album/
[Accessed 10 May 2024].