Weather Report

Weather Report
Weather Report live June 11, 1981
Background information
Origin	New York City, New York, United States
Genres	Jazz fusion, world music, jazz-funk, free jazz
Years active	1970–86
Labels	Columbia
Associated acts	Jaco Pastorius, The Zawinul Syndicate, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Joni Mitchell
Past members	Joe Zawinul Wayne Shorter Jaco Pastorius Miroslav Vitouš Alphonse Mouzon Don Alias Barbara Burton Airto Moreira Muruga Booker Dom Um Romão Eric Gravatt Greg Errico Alphonso Johnson Ishmael Wilburn Skip Hadden Alyrio Lima Chuck Basemore Narada Michael Walden Chester Thompson Alex Acuña Manolo Badrena Peter Erskine Erich Zawinu Robert Thomas Jr. Omar Hakim Victor Bailey Jose Rossy Mino Cinelu Frank Cuomo Steve Gadd

Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was initially co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul, the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Due to creative and financial disagreements Vitouš left the band after a few years. Zawinul took increasing control and steered the band towards a more funk, R&B oriented sound. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included bassists Alphonso Johnson, Jaco Pastorius and Victor Bailey; and drummers/percussionists Peter Erskine, Alex Acuña, Airto Moreira and Chester Thompson.

Alongside Miles Davis's electric bands, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, and Headhunters, Weather Report is considered to be one of the pre-eminent early jazz fusion bands. As a continuous working unit, Weather Report outlasted all of its contemporaries despite (or perhaps because of) frequent changes of personnel, with a career lasting sixteen years between 1970 and 1986. However, the band was nearly always a quintet of keyboards, sax, bass, drums, and percussion.

Over a 16-year career, Weather Report explored various areas of music, centered on jazz (including both the "free" and "Latin" varieties), but also including various elements of art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock. While their work was often categorized as "jazz fusion", the band members themselves generally rejected the term.