Weather Report: Volcano For Hire (2023) Painting by Noël Van Hoof

“Volcano for Hire” is a Weather Report track from the 1982 album “Weather Report” (a little confusing, since the group previously released an album of the same name in 1971). The composition is written by Joe Zawinul. It starts with a lot of noise and spectacle, a kind of Hawaiian war chant, with Peter Erskine on drums and Robert Thomas Jr. on percussion. In the first two minutes, two themes are performed as an intro. You can feel the tension, something is going to happen. Then follows the release, the main theme with the typical Zawinul “grooves”, followed by a closing. It is the last album on which Jaco Pastorius can be heard on bass and Peter Erskine on drums.

Listeners who are now in the right mood, can also find some excellent live recordings of “Volcano for Hire” on YouTube, including a 1981 Tokyo recording, featuring Jaco Pastorius, and a 1982 recording from the Playboy Jazz Festival in Hollywood. I personally find the latter the most interesting because of the big amount of energy released by the drummer and percussionist: this volcano is about to erupt! If all this is not enough, you can also listen at watch on YouTube a version for two pianos of this composition performed by 2 keyboard virtuosos: Friedrich Gulda and Joe Zawinul. There are 2 different live recordings. One of the live recordings has been released on CD with the title “Music For Two Pianos”.

Now back to the painting. Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius walk by a "Volcanoes for Hire" shop and they see that the shop owner Joe Zawinul shows a very fine active volcano in a glass box. By the way: people who want to own their own volcano can check out YouTube on how to make your own volcano out of cardboard. Smoke included!

Related themes

Jaco PastoriusJoe ZawinulWayne ShorterWeather ReportJazz