Night Passage (album)
Night Passage is the ninth studio album by Weather Report, released in 1980. The tracks were recorded on July 12 and 13, 1980 at The Complex studios in Los Angeles (before a crowd of 250 people who can be heard on a couple of tracks), except for "Madagascar", recorded live at the Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan on June 29 of the same year. The album introduces a new member to the band, percussionist Robert Thomas Jr. "Night Passage" loses the over-done production layers of some of Weather Report's earlier releases (most notably 1978's "Mr.  Gone"). What is lost in layers of overdubs is made up in solo improvisation in the classic jazz tradition. Trivia. "Three Views of a Secret" would be rerecorded for Jaco's solo album "Word of Mouth" (1981). Critical reception. Richard S. Ginell of Allmusic gave a four out of five stars review saying "All things being relative, this is Weather Report's straightahead album, where the elaborate production layers of the late-'70s gave way to sparer textures and more unadorned solo improvisation in the jazz tradition, electric instruments and all." Don Heckman of High Fidelity called Night Passage "one of  the finest albums Weather Report has ever made". Night Passage was Grammy nominated in the category of Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental.