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Tale Spinnin' sets up a hypnotic groove, loose and funky with more than a touch of Afro-Latin in the rhythm section and engaging melodic detail on top. The compressed lyric intensity and experiments in acoustic/electric orchestration which lent Weather Report's recent Mysterious Traveller its intriguing surface and structural intricacy are largely missing, and only Josef Zawinul's "Man in the Green Shirt" and "Five Short Stories" have themes which leave lasting impressions. Neither tune is as singularly beautiful as Traveller's "Jungle Book" or "Blackthorn Rose," but Traveller was one of the most stunning instrumental LPs of the year. Despite its relative lightness, Spinnin' convinces once again that Weather Report is the most adventurous, meticulous and consistently stimulating band working in the electric-jazz idiom.

Shorter's Native Dancer features four Brazilian musicians under the direction of singer/songwriter Milton Nascimento and five Americans, among them a restrained Herbie Hancock. Most of the material is by Nascimento and the other pieces (by Shorter and Hancock) have a definite Brazilian flavor. Modern Brazilian pop is incredibly kinetic, achingly lyrical and extremely passionate, as opposed to the cooler Bossa Nova of the early Sixties, and it is easy to understand why expressionist Shorter would be intrigued by it. Those who follow Brazilian sounds closely may be somewhat disappointed by Dancer's concept, since it lacks the glossy production veneer of Nascimento's own recordings and basically grafts Shorter's soprano and tenor onto a preexisting structure which seems complete in itself. Others will conclude that Shorter is copying Gato Barbieri, who was playing Brazilian pop material with Stanley Clarke and Airto several years ago and sounding very much like some of this. But Shorter can say more by varying the timbre of one note than most saxophonists can in an entire phrase and his sincerity and the ravishing lyricism of Nascimento's "Ponta de Areia" and "Lilia" should overcome any skepticism. Dancer isn't everything a contemporary Brazilian/American fusion could be, but on its own terms it's a delight. (RS 190)

BOB PALMER