Weather+report

"I don't know what the next record will be," Josef Zawinul said in the summer of 1972, "but it'll be something else! We've been learning every night, and we're still growing."Indeed, Sweetnighter was something else. Zawinul began to assert greater control of band, steering it away from the collective improvisation that marked its live performances toward more structured compositions emphasizing funk and groove. This was exemplified by the album's two dominant tracks, "Boogie Woogie Waltz" and "125th Street Congress," as well as the album closer, "Non-Stop Home." Other tracks were reminiscent of Weather Report's previous albums, making Sweetnighter a transition from the band's first phase to what one might call its mature phase.