Unlike Universal Syncopations II where there was pre-production work and dropping in of solos and parts, Music of Weather Report seems to have been recorded, like Remembering Weather Report, live (i.e. all the players present in the studio at the time of recording). But it's difficult to exclude the possibility some parts may have been dropped in later – the polyrhythmic effect of two drummers may have been achieved with one drummer embellishing figures around the pre-recorded other – who knows? Perhaps these things ought not to concern us, but somehow they do. Vitous thinks highly of Gary Campbell (who appeared on US II and Remembering WR) who appears here in the left channel, along with Gerald Cleaver, who works well in tandem with Bonisolo in the right channel (along with Nasheet Waits). Like Dvorak, who also came from Prague, Vitous's love for Slavic melody is hinted at, and, like Remembering WR, Music of Weather Report has its origins deep in Vitous' past in general, and Mountain in the Clouds in particular, where he defined a free roaming role for the bass, moving between accompaniment and a solo voice in his own right. This role was re-defined with Gerald Cleaver on Remembering, the drummer working well with an equally free flowing approach to rhythm, where except for a very brief passage played in time, they succeeded in swinging without actually playing in time. Here this rhythmic relationship is somewhat muddied by the addition of Waits adding polyrhythmic commentary, but in general the drummers succeed in providing a strong foundation for pieces like ‘Scarlet Woman Variations’ or ‘Seventh Arrow’ where the essence of the Weather Report composition provides the basis for collective and individual improvisation. ‘Birdland Variations’ follows this pattern where melodic motifs from the tune emerge and disappear without following the precise ad hoc compositional form of the Weather Report original, rather it's the rhythmic spirit and energy that provides the foundation for the collective whole.