Jazz Articles about Alphonso Johnson

Weather Report: Forecast: Tomorrow

by Ronald S. Russ
October 13, 2006

Weather Report Forecast: Tomorrow Columbia/Legacy 2006

If you followed jazz during the 1970s you were well aware of Weather Report. They consistently won the Down Beat readers' poll for jazz group of the year and helped forge a link between jazz, rock, and what would be later termed world music.

Formed in 1970 by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, keyboardist Joe Zawinul and bassist Miroslav Vitous, the band lasted for over 15 years with an ever-changing ...

Weather Report: Forecast: Tomorrow

by John Kelman
October 11, 2006

While the virtuosity of its members was never in dispute, of all the groups that emerged in the 1970s fusion era, Weather Report was the one that best avoided the trappings of excess--the victory of technical facility over musical substance to which other bands of the time fell prey. However, despite an auspicious beginning that leaned closer to a free jazz aesthetic than groups like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever, notwithstanding an emphasis on electric sounds and advanced production ...

Weather Report: Mysterious Traveller

by Todd S. Jenkins
April 23, 2002

In 1974, three years after the band's inception, Weather Report became one of the world's most popular jazz groups due to their uncompromising originality and musicianship. This was the year that founding member Miroslav Vitous was replaced by Alphonso Johnson, who became a critical asset as both a fluid, creative bassist and a composer. Drummer Ishmael Wilburn and Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romao, with a shifting cast of supporting players, laid the foundation for the band's most exciting incarnation yet. ...