1976 Weather Report – Black Market

Black Market is the sixth studio album by American jazz fusion band Weather Report. Released in 1976, it was produced by Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter. It was recorded between December 1975 and January 1976 and released in March 1976 through Columbia Records.

This is Weather Report’s first studio album to feature bass player Jaco Pastorius; he appears on two tracks, one of which was his own composition “Barbary Coast”. The back cover photo shows Pastorius, Chester Thompson, and Alex Acuña with the band, although bass player Alphonso Johnson played on the majority of the record’s tracks. The album draws heavily from African influences and its style could be described as “world fusion”. The second track, “Cannon Ball”, is a tribute to saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, Zawinul’s employer for several years during the 1960s. Adderley died a few months before Black Market was recorded.