Cucumber slumber (Zawinul/Johnson) "'Cucumber Slumber' was a jam," Johnson told Zawinul biographer Brian Glasser. "We were recording in a studio in Connecticut, and I just came up with [sings the famous bassline]. All of a sudden, the drummer started playing, and it just took off from there. It was a total improvised jam. I'd have to say it was one of the best tracks for me. Not just because of that bassline--that was a stroke of luck--but when I listen to Wayne and Joe's solos, they're like, the perfect solos. Every note, all the phrasing, is just perfect, and I marvel at that. Even now I listen to that track and I go, 'God, how'd they do that?'" "I'll let you in on a little secret, Johnson continued. "We kind of knew the three sections we'd done, and we were doing another take of it. At one point, Joe's playing, and I went to what you might call the bridge and I looked over and Joe's headphones had fallen off, so he was still playing the previous section. Then all of a sudden his radar went up and he just shifted gear, and it was brilliant, really amazing. It's still there, if you listen, because when they mixed the record back then, the big thing was quadraphonic sound, so they couldn't lose it." "Cucumber Slumber" has been extensively sampled by rappers in the late 1980s and 1990s, a practice that often included no remuneration to the original artist. This led to some legal action, which was the subject of a 1992 article by Fred Shuster, which talked about a recent Federal court discussion determined that unless authorization is given by the copyright owner of the original material, the resulting new recording is against the law. In the article, Zawinul said the first responsibility of an artist is to give credit where credit is due: "If you steal something, steal it and play it yourself," Zawinul said. "In the case of sampling, some type of money should be paid depending on what is being used." Rapper M.C. 100 Ft. Jesus appropriated 16 measures of the Weather Report tune "Cucumber Slumber" for the track "Truth Is Out of Style," Zawinul said, "and they never even got in touch with us." Maureen Woods, owner of Mizmo Enterprises, which administrates Zawinul's music publishing, said that her company had contacted I.R.S. Records, which represents M.C. 100 Ft. Jesus, but that there had been no reply so far. "Usually, you work out something to do with royalties or a fee or something," Woods said. "If worse comes to worst, you go to court." |