Weather Report

Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band of the

Weather Report
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.
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. Throughout
most of its existence, the band was a quintet of keyboards,
saxophone, bass, drums and percussion.

The band began as an avant-garde jazz group; when Vitouš left

Weather Report live June 11, 1981
Weather Report after a few years (due to creative and financial
disagreements), Zawinul increasingly took control and steered Background information
the band towards a more funk and R&B-oriented jazz sound Origin New York City,
incorporating elements of world music and the latest New York, U.S.
developments in synthesizer technology. During the mid-1970s Genres Jazz fusion, world
Weather Report remained one of the defining acts within the music, jazz-funk,
jazz form, winning the DownBeat best album award five times free jazz
in a row. Years active 1970–86

Alongside Miles Davis's electric bands, the Mahavishnu Labels Columbia, ARC
Orchestra, Return to Forever, and the Headhunters, Weather Associated acts Joni Mitchell, The
Report is considered to be one of the pre-eminent early jazz Zawinul Syndicate
fusion bands.
Past members List
Joe Zawinul
Wayne Shorter
Contents Jaco Pastorius
Miroslav Vitouš
Musical style
Alphonse Mouzon
History
Don Alias
1970: Inception and formation
Barbara Burton
1971–1972: Avant-garde collective
Airto Moreira
1973: Move towards groove Muruga Booker
1974–1975: Further into groove Dom Um Romão
1976: In transition Eric Gravatt
1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars Greg Errico
1980-1982: A tighter arrangement Alphonso Johnson
1982–1985: A new band Ishmael Wilburn
1986: Final split Skip Hadden
1986-present: After Weather Report Alyrio Lima
Chuck Bazemore
 Lineups Narada Michael
Timeline Walden
Releases since the band's breakup Chester Thompson
Alex Acuña
Grammy Awards
Manolo Badrena
Studio albums Peter Erskine
References Erich Zawinul
External links Robert Thomas Jr.
Omar Hakim
Victor Bailey
Musical style Jose Rossy
Mino Cinelu
Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various Frank Cuomo
areas of music, centered on jazz (including both the "free" and Steve Gadd
"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.

From the start, Weather Report took the unusual and innovative approach of abandoning the traditional
"soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and instead featuring opportunities for
continuous improvisation by every member of the band. This position remained consistent throughout the
life of the band. From the mid-1970s, individual solos became more prominent, but were never allowed
to overwhelm the music's collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured a free, extended
improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis's Bitches Brew-period work),[1] but by the mid-1970s,
this had moved towards more groove-oriented and prestructured music (as epitomized by their hit single
"Birdland").

Joe Zawinul's playing style was often dominated by quirky melodic improvisations (simultaneously
bebop-, ethnic-, and pop-sounding) combined with sparse but rhythmic big-band chords or bass lines.
Having originally made his name as a pioneering electric piano player, he went on to consistently
develop the role of the synthesizer in jazz during his time with Weather Report. Working with companies
such as ARP and Oberheim, Zawinul developed new ways of voicing and patching electronic tones for
textures, ensemble roles (including emulations of traditional band instruments) and soloing. In Weather
Report, he often employed a vocoder, as well as recorded sounds played (i.e., filtered and transposed)
through a synthesizer, creating a very distinctive, often beautiful, synthesis of jazz harmonics and "noise"
(which he referred to as "using all the sounds the world generates"). On some Weather Report tunes,
however, Zawinul's synthesized arrangements dominated the sound.

Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role

In the beginning let's say
Weather Report was a joint
thing. Then, after the second
album there's no question about
it, it became more and more my
group. Wayne wanted it like
that, but we were always
'partners in crime'. No Wayne,
no Weather Report.
as an instrumentalist,[1] drawn from both his solo work and his
contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during the 1960s.
His choice not to follow the same approach with Weather Report led
to some criticism of the group. During his time with Weather Report,
Shorter was noted for generally playing saxophone with an
economical, "listening" style. Rather than continually taking the lead,
he generally added subtle harmonic, melodic, and/or rhythmic
complexity by responding to other member's improvisations (although
he could and did sometimes exercise a more frenetic style akin to that
 —Josef Zawinul on his of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker). As a composer, he chose a
gradual takeover of more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music,
Weather Report[2] opposed to the sometimes flamboyant melodicism of the tunes written
by Zawinul or Pastorius. Playing both tenor and soprano saxophones,
Shorter continued to develop the role of the latter instrument in jazz,
taking his cue from previous work by Coltrane, Sidney Bechet, Lucky Thompson, and Steve Lacy.

Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music
technology and processing. Both Zawinul and original bassist Miroslav Vitouš experimented with
electronic effects pedals (as generally used by rock guitarists) with Zawinul using them on electric piano
and synthesizers and Vitouš on his upright bass (which he frequently bowed through distortion to create a
second horn-like voice). The band's third bass player, Jaco Pastorius, popularized the use of fretless bass
guitar, melodic bass soloing and extensive use of string harmonics, as well as consolidating the driving
R&B pulse in the band's music (which had been brought in by his predecessor Alphonso Johnson).

With the exception of a brief quartet period between 1978 and 1979 (wherein other members could
double on various percussion instruments), Weather Report's instrumentation always included both a
drummer alongside a percussionist. For its first eight years of existence, the group had difficulty finding a
permanent drummer, moving through about one drummer per year until Jaco Pastorius helped to recruit
Peter Erskine in 1978. Erskine and (later on) Omar Hakim were the only Weather Report drummers who
played with the band for more than two years.

History

1970: Inception and formation

Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter had first met and become friends in 1959 while they were playing in
Maynard Ferguson's Big Band. Zawinul went on to play with Cannonball Adderley's group in the 1960s,
while Shorter joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and then, in 1964, Miles Davis' second great quintet.
During this decade, both men made names for themselves as being among the best composers in jazz.

Zawinul later joined Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and
both men were part of the studio groups that recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and
Bitches Brew (1970).[1] Consequently, Weather Report has often been seen as a spin-off from the Miles
Davis bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, although Zawinul was never part of Davis's touring line-
up. Weather Report was initially formed to explore a more impressionistic and individualistic music (or,
as Zawinul put it, "away from all that eight bars shit and then you go to the bridge...")[3]

There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he
and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate, the classically trained Czech-born bass player
Miroslav Vitouš, who had previously played with each of them separately (as well as with Herbie Mann,
Bob Brookmeyer, Stan Getz, and Chick Corea). According to Vitouš himself, it was he and Shorter who
actually founded Weather Report, with Shorter bringing in Zawinul afterwards.[4] Whichever story is
true, it was those three musicians - all composers - who formed the initial core of the project.

To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in former McCoy Tyner drummer Alphonse
Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist.[1]
The initial recruits were session player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton.
During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over the
percussion approach) and the innovative Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira (yet another Davis
alumnus) was brought in to complete the record. Guitarist John McLaughlin was also invited to join the
group, but decided to pursue his solo career, instead.

1971–1972: Avant-garde collective

Weather Report's debut album Weather Report (1971) caused a sensation in the jazz world on its arrival,
due to the various talents of the group's members and their unorthodox approach to their music. The
album featured a softer sound than would be the case in later years, predominantly using acoustic bass,
with Shorter exclusively playing soprano saxophone. It built on the avant-garde experiments which
Zawinul and Shorter had pioneered with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, including an avoidance of head-
and-chorus composition in favor of continuous rhythm and movement. DownBeat magazine described
the album as "music beyond category".[5]

Although Airto Moreira completed the recording of the debut Weather Report album, his existing
commitments to Miles Davis prevented him from performing live with the group. Barbara Burton
performed at Weather Report's first residency (a week of performances at Paul's Mall in Boston, prior to
the album release), but could not come to business terms with Zawinul over tour plans. Zawinul
subsequently removed both her album credit and that of Alias, leaving Moreira as the only percussionist
credited. For the upcoming concerts, former Brazil '66 member Dom Um Romão was recruited as the
group's new percussionist on Moreira's own recommendation.

After further gigs in Philadelphia, Weather Report went on to a tour of Europe. Following disagreements
on tour, Mouzon was replaced by another former McCoy Tyner drummer, Eric Gravatt.

In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric.[1] The first side featured
new studio recordings, while the second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo,
featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Gravatt, and Um Romão (and later available in
full as the Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo).[6] The studio side used extended versions of the band
including various guest performers, suggesting that Weather Report was not necessarily an integral jazz
band, but might possibly work as an expandable project set up to realise the music of its three composers.
The album also featured Zawinul's first use of a synthesizer (an instrument with which he would become
synonymous within jazz) and of sound effects.

I Sing the Body Electric also showed the first signs of a shift in the balance of control within the band,
away from the more collective approach of the debut album. During the following year, this tendency
would develop further.

1973: Move towards groove

On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation
format, and the band started to take a new direction. Primarily at Zawinul's instigation, Weather Report
became more jazz funk- and groove-oriented, drawing more heavily on R&B influences and dense
electric keyboard work while adding more structure to both the prewritten and the improvisational
sections.
The change in approach affected the band deeply. Repetitive funk did
not suit Miroslav Vitouš' talents. Zawinul judged Eric Gravatt's “ [Miroslav] loved funk, and he
tried to play it, but he wasn't a
approach to be unsuitable for some of the new pieces he had written. funk player. It wasn't where he
Andrew White III had returned to play occasional English horn on the came from. He didn't connect
album, but Zawinul also employed him on bass guitar on three tracks up with how to go there. He
to get the style of funk playing required. For similar reasons, the could listen to it, talk about it,
and he admired it, but that's not
studio-based drummer/composer Herschel Dwellingham played drums what came out of him, so that
on four of the album's six tracks, replacing Gravatt entirely on three of was something that held back
them: on "Non-Stop Home", Dwellingham and Gravatt played where Joe wanted to go at the
together, with Gravatt the sole drummer only on "125th Street time I was with them.
Melodically and rhythmically,
Congress". Muruga Booker also contributed percussion to the sessions
Miroslav was great; what he did
alongside Dom Um Romão.) do, in terms of where I was
coming from, was very unique.
Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the Miroslav was still playing
band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band acoustic, and it was an odd kind
Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills of a funk. It was very...
interesting! ”
and stated that he had been the finest of the band's "pure jazz"
drummers[8] as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them —Weather Report touring
all."[9] With Gravatt gone and Dwellingham unavailable for touring, drummer Greg Errico on
former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Miroslav Vitouš[7]
Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards.

At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since the former preferred
Weather Report's original approach and the latter wished to continue further along the road to funk.
Retrospectively, Zawinul accused Vitouš of being unable to play funk convincingly (something which
Greg Errico corroborated) and claimed that he had not provided enough music for the band. Vitouš
countered that he had in fact brought in compositions, but that Zawinul had been unable to play them.
Vitouš has also accused Zawinul of having been "a first-class manipulator" primarily interested in
commercial success.[10][11] When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke
down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own
band and winning respect as a composer. His final contribution to Weather Report was to play bass on a
single track, which appeared on the band's 1974 album Mysterious Traveller ("American Tango", which
he had co-written with Zawinul).

Vitouš' departure marked the end of the first phase of Weather Report and the shift of overall creative
dominance of the band to Josef Zawinul, although Shorter remained an integral, influential, and vital part
of the project. Vitouš has subsequently accused both Zawinul and Shorter of having used foul play to
edge him out of the band, to deny the scale of his contribution to Weather Report's history and creative
approach, and to cheat him out of remuneration.[10][11]

1974–1975: Further into groove

Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman
for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson was a supple player more
than capable of providing the funk element which Zawinul desired. He was also an early advocate of the
Chapman Stick, which he can be heard playing on some of the live Weather Report recordings of the
period.
Weather Report's breakout album was 1974's Mysterious Traveller, which also featured the debut of new
drummer Ishmail Wilburn. The album continued Sweetnighter's process of reducing the free-jazz
elements of previous albums, but also showed a more fully developed compositional technique. Zawinul
exploited improvements in synthesizer technology on the recording and began to add processed sound
effects (such as cheering crowds, childlike cries and noises reminiscent of science-fiction aliens).
Mysterious Traveller was the second Weather Report album to win Album of the Year at DownBeat
magazine.

According to Zawinul, Wilburn apparently "lost heart" on tour (despite performing well in the studio). To
shore up the music, the band hired another drummer, Darryl Brown, to play alongside him. At the end of
the tour, both Wilburn and Brown left the band (as did Dom Um Romão) and Weather Report was, once
again, drummerless.

For the next set of studio sessions, Weather Report added a new Brazilian percussionist (Alyrio Lima)
and a new drummer - Chuck Bazemore of The Delfonics.[7] Bazemore turned out to be unsuitable for the
band and departed early in the sessions, with none of his recorded contributions being retained. Instead,
the band called in the former Herbie Hancock drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, who had been working
on another project in an adjacent studio. Ndugu recorded with Weather Report for a week and recorded
all of the drum tracks for the forthcoming album. However, he declined to join as a permanent member,
opting instead to continue with Santana. Johnson recommended his friend Chester Thompson (a former
Frank Zappa sideman), who joined as drummer in time for the next tour.

The new album, Tale Spinnin', was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a
consistent rhythm section (rather than a varied set of drummers, percussionists, and bass players) since
their debut. The album also made further strides in using technological improvements in synthesizers,
even making use of the gigantic studio-based TONTO array.

During the same year, Shorter also recorded Native Dancer under his own name (with the Brazilian
composer and vocalist Milton Nascimento). Tale Spinnin' won the DownBeat best album award for 1975
(the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up.

1976: In transition
1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented
work which the group had produced to date.[1] Weather Report's
music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more
melody-oriented, concise forms, which also offered a greater
mass-market appeal. Zawinul further consolidated his use of
Weather Report in Argentina. L to R: keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early
Shorter, Erskine, Zawinul, and form of wind synthesizer, the Lyricon.
Pastorius
However, the album was recorded during yet another period of
change for the group, with multiple personnel shuffles. Although
Alyrio Lima played percussion on one track, he was replaced during the sessions by Don Alias (his first
appearance with the group since the debut album debacle) and by Alex Acuña (a Peruvian drummer and
conga player based in Las Vegas, who had played with Elvis Presley and Ike Turner, among others).[12]
Alphonso Johnson was also worn out from the strain put on the rhythm by the band's frequent changes of
drummer. During a break in activity halfway through the recording of Black Market, Johnson opted to
leave Weather Report to play with the Billy Cobham/George Duke Band (which featured a young John
Scofield on guitar).

Prior to his departure, Johnson played on all but two of the new album's tracks. His replacement was Jaco
Pastorius, a virtuoso fretless bass guitarist from Florida, who had been in touch with Zawinul for several
years, and who came in to play on "Cannon Ball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul
and Shorter had assumed that Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson, and
for the second set of sessions they replaced him (on Jaco Pastorius' recommendation) with the former
Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden. Although Walden played on several album
tracks, he ultimately proved unsuitable. Thompson returned for the final Black Market sessions, but left
again after failing to gel as a rhythm section with Pastorius (whose style was much busier than that of
Johnson). Thompson subsequently joined Genesis as their touring drummer.

Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success,[1] selling well and being the fourth of
the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine. For the subsequent tour,
Alex Acuña moved from percussion to the drum kit, and Don Alias was replaced by the young Puerto
Rican percussionist Manolo Badrena, who had previously played with various Latin rock bands and with
Art Blakey. The band made a very well-received appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was
filmed for future release.

1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars

The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report
to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own
right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the
bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines
influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an
extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often
sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-
instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan, and mandocello to
the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually Pastorius, reaching to accentuate his
bass guitar sound with harmonics
responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as
"Teen Town" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful
production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording
studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to
bring in a new audience.

The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather,

L-R: Zawinul, Pastorius, Shorter
which proved to be the band's most successful recording in
terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It
contained the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable
"Birdland" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and
Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit
and later became a jazz standard. Weather Report appeared on
the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special,
performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town". Heavy Weather
dominated Weather Report's disc awards, including their last
DownBeat Album of the Year award.
During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with Joni Mitchell (for whom he played
bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years,
Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up en masse (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on
her studio albums Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977) and Mingus (1979).

During August 1978 the band joined Maurice White's vanity label
ARC at Columbia.[13] At the time they were once again without
either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña
having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and
Manolo Badrena having been fired for "non-musical reasons".
Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional
ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a
solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw Jaco Pastorius, with bass guitar
in Toronto, November 1977
group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and
experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs.
However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work
was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, Mr. Gone (1978).

The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and
further contributions came from Tony Williams, Steve Gadd, and Peter Erskine (the latter an ex-Stan
Kenton/Maynard Ferguson drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member
of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured
guest appearances from Deniece Williams and Earth Wind and Fire leader Maurice White.

The album rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. [14]

Notoriously, Mr. Gone (1978) received only a one-star review rating from DownBeat after a string of
group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with
the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were defiant in their responses to the
interviewer, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.

By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of

Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the
first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary
percussionist role, which had been integral since the
band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled
on percussion at various points in live performances.
Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded
sound provided more listening range and made the
music less chaotic now that the band were focusing
more on melody and harmony.[15][16]
Weather Report performing in Amsterdam, in 1980
The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's
tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film
projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979
double live album 8:30 (which won that year's Best Jazz Fusion Performance) was recorded on the Mr.
Gone tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul would
later describe this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer!"[17]
Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic
Havana Jam festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists
such as Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, Bonnie Bramlett, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, and
Billy Joel play alongside Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines, and Orquesta
Aragón. Another featured performance was by the Trio of Doom (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with
John McLaughlin and Tony Williams). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79,
Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.

1980-1982: A tighter arrangement

During 1979's touring, Shorter had begun to feel sidelined by the current Weather Report's aggressive
drive and by the sometimes overly macho musical interplay between Pastorius and Zawinul, which on at
least one occasion squeezed him out of band performance. At one point, he claimed to a journalist that he
would be leaving the band within a few months. In the event, Shorter resolved his major differences with
his bandmates - but the near-split appeared to inform Weather Report's next development, which was a
step back towards a purer jazz approach.

At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer

Drummer Thomas, left, and Shorter,
performing in Amsterdam, in 1980
Bobby Thomas, Jr. (a fellow Floridan, with whom he had jammed
previously) into the band. Thomas featured on the 1980 album
Night Passage. A tighter and more traditional recording than
previous releases, the record featured a more prominent role for
Shorter, a strong element of bebop, and a nod to jazz's golden age
via a high-speed cover of Duke Ellington's "Rockin' in Rhythm"
(showing off Zawinul's pioneering and ever-increasing ability to
create synthetic big-band sounds on his synthesizers).

By now, Pastorius was displaying signs of the mental instability

and substance abuse problems that ultimately wrecked his career; and the close relationship he'd
previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul grew tired of Pastorius' showmanship
onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from the music). Towards the end of the year, Pastorius began
working on his long-delayed second solo album (Word of Mouth) (1981) in New York, while Zawinul
worked on new Weather Report material in California.

Weather Report's next album Weather Report (1982) - their second eponymous release following their
1971 debut - was recorded in 1981, although it was not released for another year. Zawinul's dominance as
instrumentalist and composer (as well as group director) was even more pronounced on this album. Much
of the band's music was increasingly written out rather than improvised. In the event, Pastorius spent
more of his creative attention on the Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report
album being his contribution to a single, group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one
whole composition to the 1982 album beyond group-written work) was already taking a more
philosophical approach. He later commented, "for a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected
not to do things."

The delay in releasing the 1982 Weather Report album had the side effect of breaking up the current line-
up of the band. By late 1981, Pastorius was putting together the Word of Mouth Big Band (which
included Erskine) for concert dates in Japan, on the assumption that 1982 would be a Weather Report rest
year. However, previously canceled tour dates had left the band open to potentially crippling lawsuits and
an obligation to play replacement concerts. When scheduled, these clashed with the Word of Mouth
concerts and led to Pastorius leaving Weather Report, albeit relatively amicably. As Zawinul put it, "We
had no choice. We had to find another bass player... Basically, Jaco went his way and we had to go ours."

Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and a subsequent summer commitment to Steps Ahead)
meant that he, too, had to be replaced, while Robert Thomas, Jr., was simply dismissed. Reduced to a
duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble a new
band.

1982–1985: A new band

On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak, Zawinul and Shorter recruited the 23-year-old drummer
Omar Hakim, a talented session player and multi-instrumentalist, who had played with a variety of
musicians (including Mike Mainieri, David Bowie, and Carly Simon). Hakim was immediately entrusted
with recruiting the rest of the new lineup. Having failed to secure Marcus Miller as bass guitarist, he
selected Victor Bailey (a recent graduate from the Berklee College of Music, with whom Hakim had
played while backing Miriam Makeba). Hakim also recruited percussion/concertina player José Rossy,
with whom he had worked in Labelle.

The new Weather Report went straight onto tour. The music developed on tour was later recorded for the
1983 album Procession, which showed the band beginning to make something of a return to the "world
music" approach which it had pioneered in the mid-1970s, and featured a cameo appearance from The
Manhattan Transfer.

Continuing with the same lineup, Weather Report recorded the Domino Theory album in 1984, with
Hakim stepping into Jaco Pastorius' old role as Zawinul's co-producer. The album was Weather Report's
first album to employ drum machines and samplers (the Emulator), deepening the band's involvement
with cutting-edge music technology) and also featured a guest vocal from Carl Anderson. However, by
this point in time the band's profile was beginning to suffer due to the revival of more traditionally styled
jazz, which made it harder to market jazz fusion.

Percussionist and singer Mino Cinélu replaced Rossy in the spring of 1984 and appeared on the band's
video release Live in Japan (reissued on DVD in 2007). The same lineup played on 1985's Sportin' Life
album, which included a cover of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and appearances by Bobby
McFerrin and Carl Anderson. In keeping with Zawinul's technological curiosity, the album heralded the
arrival of MIDI, which allowed him to rapidly and inexpensively write, demonstrate, and record music
via a set of synthesizers.

By the time of the release of Sportin' Life Shorter and Zawinul had opted not to tour the material. Instead,
they took a break for long-delayed solo projects. Despite Weather Report's inactivity (during which
Hakim joined Sting's band and Bailey worked with Steps Ahead), Zawinul and Shorter still claimed that
the band was still a going concern.

1986: Final split

Weather Report's contract with Columbia Records expired in 1986, leaving both parties open to other
options. By this point, both Zawinul and Shorter were beginning to realise that the refreshing nature of
other projects was more satisfying than Weather Report work, and both generally felt that the band had
run its course.[1]
Since Columbia Records was contractually owed one more Weather Report record, the band delivered it
in the shape of their 1986 album This Is This!, which was assembled during gaps in various players'
schedules. With Hakim now too busy with Sting to play drums on more than one of the album's tracks,
Zawinul recruited Peter Erskine to play the rest. Cinelu and Bailey were both flown in for a few days to
record, and contributed one composition each, with the remainder being written by Zawinul. For two
tracks, Zawinul brought in guitarist Carlos Santana as a contributor. However, Shorter spent barely any
more time on the project than Bailey or Cinelu did: he contributed no compositions at all, and was not
even present on many of the album's tracks.

In February 1986, the San Diego Union-Tribune announced that Shorter had left the band to concentrate
on solo work.[18] Having reluctantly agreed with Shorter that he would no longer use the band name,
Zawinul then ended Weather Report.

1986-present: After Weather Report

Having split the band, Zawinul promptly attempted to reform it - after a fashion - as Weather Update.[1]
For this project, he reunited with recent Weather Report alumni Victor Bailey, Mino Cinélu and Peter
Erskine, but replaced Shorter with guitarist John Scofield. This lineup was short-lived, with Los Angeles
session guitarist Steve Khan and former Weather Report percussionist Robert Thomas, Jr. replacing
Scofield and Cinelu prior to live appearances.[19] Weather Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before
Zawinul dissolved the band. From 1988 onwards, Zawinul went on to enjoy a successful nineteen-year
career leading the world music/jazz ensemble The Zawinul Syndicate (which has continued, following
Zawinul's death, as The Syndicate).

Rather than form another collective band, Wayne Shorter concentrated on his solo career and on work as
a bandleader, which continues to the present day.

In spite of the band's enduring popularity, a Weather Report reunion never occurred. The nearest that the
band ever came to reuniting was when Zawinul and Shorter both played live with Miles Davis on July
10, 1991, in Paris (the only time when Zawinul is known to have shared a live stage with Davis).[6] A
projected mid-'90s reunion CD for Verve never materialized; according to Zawinul, disappointing sales
for Shorter's CD High Life may have played a part in ending the idea.[20]

Four of the band's members have since died. Zawinul himself died on September 11, 2007, in Vienna
from skin cancer (Merkel cell carcinoma).[21][22] He was predeceased by mid-period bass player Jaco
Pastorius, who died on September 21, 1987, following a fatal beating in his hometown of Fort
Lauderdale, Florida. Pastorius' successor on bass guitar, Victor Bailey, died on November 11, 2016
(apparently from complications from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis).[23][24]. Alphonse Mouzon, the first drummer, died on December 25, 2016 from cardiac arrest
after neuroendocrine cancer.[25][26]

Lineups
Late 1970 - Early Early 1971 Early 1971 – Mid Mid 1971 – Early
1971 1971 1972

Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter -

soprano soprano soprano soprano
saxophone saxophone saxophone saxophone
 Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul -
electric and electric and electric and electric and
acoustic pianos acoustic pianos acoustic pianos acoustic pianos
Miroslav Vitouš - Miroslav Vitouš - Miroslav Vitouš - Miroslav Vitouš -
acoustic and acoustic and acoustic and acoustic and
electric basses electric basses electric basses electric basses
Alphonse Alphonse Alphonse Alphonse
Mouzon - drums, Mouzon - drums, Mouzon - drums, Mouzon - drums,
vocals vocals vocals vocals
Don Alias - Barbara Burton - Barbara Burton - Dom Um Romão -
percussion percussion percussion percussion
Barbara Burton - Airto Moreira -
percussion percussion
Early 1972 - End End 1972 - Early Early 1973 - End End 1973 - Mid 1973
1972 1973 1973

Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter -

soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor
saxophones saxophones saxophones saxophones
Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul -
electric and electric and electric and electric and
acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos,
synthesizer synthesizer synthesizer synthesizer, organ,
Miroslav Vitouš - Miroslav Vitouš - Miroslav Vitouš - percussion, guitar
acoustic and acoustic and acoustic and Alphonso
electric basses electric basses electric basses Johnson - electric
Eric Gravatt - Andrew White - Greg Errico - bass, chapman
drums English horn, drums stick
Dom Um Romão - electric bass Dom Um Romão - Ishmail Wilburn -
percussion Eric Gravatt - percussion drums
drums Dom Um Romão -
Herschel percussion
Dwellingham -
drums
Dom Um Romão -
percussion
Muruga Booker -
percussion
Mid 1973 - Mid 1974 Mid 1974 - End 1974 End 1974 - Mid 1975 Mid 1975 - End 1975

Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter -

soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor
saxophones saxophones saxophones saxophones
Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul -
electric and electric and electric and electric and
acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos,
synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ,
percussion, guitar percussion, guitar percussion, guitar percussion, guitar
Alphonso Alphonso Alphonso Alphonso
Johnson - electric Johnson - electric Johnson - electric Johnson - electric
bass, chapman bass, chapman bass, chapman bass, chapman
stick stick stick stick
 Ishmail Wilburn - Chuck Bazemore Leon "Ndugu" Chester
drums - drums Chancler - drums Thompson -
Darryl Brown - Alyrio Lima - Alyrio Lima - drums
drums percussion percussion Alyrio Lima -
Dom Um Romão - percussion
percussion
End 1975 - Start 1976 Start 1976 Start 1976 - Early Early 1977 - Spring
1977 1978

Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter -

soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor
saxophones, saxophones, saxophones, saxophones,
lyricon lyricon lyricon lyricon
Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul -
electric and electric and electric and electric and
acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos,
synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ,
percussion, guitar percussion, guitar percussion, guitar percussion, guitar
Alphonso Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius -
Johnson - electric electric bass electric bass electric bass,
bass, chapman Narada Michael Chester drums, percussion
stick Walden - drums Thompson - Alex Acuña -
Chester Don Alias - drums drums, percussion
Thompson - percussion Don Alias - Manolo Badrena -
drums percussion percussion
Alex Acuña -
Don Alias - percussion Alex Acuña -
percussion percussion
Alex Acuña -
percussion
Spring 1978 - Early Early 1980 - Start Start 1982 - Spring Spring 1984 - Early
1980 1982 1984 1986

Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter -

soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor soprano and tenor
saxophones, saxophones, saxophones, saxophones,
lyricon, percussion lyricon, percussion lyricon, percussion lyricon, percussion
Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul -
electric and electric and electric and electric and
acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos,
synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ, synthesizer, organ,
percussion, guitar percussion, guitar percussion, guitar percussion, guitar
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius - Victor Bailey - Victor Bailey -
electric bass, electric bass, electric bass electric bass
drums, percussion drums, percussion Omar Hakim - Omar Hakim -
Peter Erskine - Peter Erskine - drums, percussion, drums, percussion,
drums, percussion drums, percussion guitar guitar
Robert Thomas José Rossy - Mino Cinélu -
Jr. - percussion percussion, percussion, vocals,
concertina acoustic guitar
Early 1986 - February February 1986 - 1986 1986 - 1987 (as
1986 (As Weather Update) Weather Update)
 Wayne Shorter - Joe Zawinul - Joe Zawinul -
soprano and tenor electric and electric and
saxophones, acoustic pianos, acoustic pianos,
lyricon, percussion synthesizer, synthesizer,
Joe Zawinul - percussion percussion
electric and John Scofield - Steve Khan -
acoustic pianos, electric guitar electric guitar
synthesizer, Victor Bailey - Victor Bailey -
percussion electric bass electric bass
Victor Bailey - Peter Erskine - Peter Erskine -
electric bass drums drums
Omar Hakim - Mino Cinélu - Robert Thomas
drums, percussion, percussion, vocals, Jr. - percussion
guitar acoustic guitar
Peter Erskine -
drums
Mino Cinélu -
percussion, vocals,
acoustic guitar

Timeline
Releases since the band's breakup
A "post band" Weather Report double CD called Live and Unreleased was made available in 2002,
featuring vintage live recordings made during the late 1970s/early 1980s with various personnel. In
September 2006, Columbia/Legacy released a Weather Report boxed set, Forecast: Tomorrow. It
includes three CDs of mostly previously released material (from 1970 to 1985, excluding This is This!)
and a DVD of the entire September 29, 1978, performance (with Erskine and Pastorius) in Offenbach,
Germany, not previously available. A DVD video of the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival performance
(featuring the Heavy Weather lineup of Pastorius, Acuna, and Badrena) has become available, as well.
Columbia/Legacy have also re-released the 1984 Live in Japan concert on DVD.

In 2011, the Zawinul estate, in conjunction with an independent label, released a 40th-anniversary
commemorative trilogy of previously unavailable Weather Report live shows: In March Live in Berlin
1975 was released both on vinyl and as a CD/DVD set; in June the Live in Offenbach 1978 DVD was re-
released together with a previously unavailable double CD of the complete show; in October Live in
Cologne 1983 was released as both DVD and double CD.

Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of
the United States. Weather Report won one Grammy from six nominations.[27]

See also: List of Awards and Nominations of Weather Report

Year Nominee / work Award Result

1972 "I Sing The Body Electric" Best Jazz Performance by a Group
1979 "8:30" Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
1981 "Night Passage" Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
1982 "Weather Report" Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
1983 "Procession" Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental
1985 "Sportin' Life" Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental

Studio albums
This table shows the main studio albums released by Weather Report. For more detailed information,
please see: Weather Report discography.[28][29]

Year Album
1971 Weather Report
1972 I Sing the Body Electric
1973 Sweetnighter
1974 Mysterious Traveller
1975 Tale Spinnin'
1976 Black Market
1977 Heavy Weather
1978 Mr. Gone
1980 Night Passage
1982 Weather Report
1983 Procession
1984 Domino Theory
1985 Sportin' Life
1986 This Is This!

References
1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin
Books. p. 1238. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
 2. Nicholson, Stuart. Jazz-Rock: A History. Schirmer Books. 2001, ISBN 978-0825671883
3. Silvert, Conrad. "Joe Zawinul: Wayfaring Genius - Part II". DownBeat. June 15, 1978.
4. Jung, Fred. "A Fireside Chat with Miroslav Vitous" (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.p
hp?id=619&pg=3) (page 3). All About Jazz (allaboutjazz.com). October 10, 2003.
5. (Dan Morgenstern, DownBeat, May 13, 1971).
6. "Weather Report | Biography & History" (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/weather-report-mn0
000243527/biography). AllMusic.
7. Glasser, Brian. "In a Silent Way". Sanctuary Publishing Limited. 2001.
8. Armbruster, Greg. "Joe Zawinul Interview". Keyboard Magazine. March 1984.
9. Woodard, Josef. "Weather Report: Storm Surge". DownBeat. January 2001. pp. 22–28.
10. Kot, Jake (August 1, 2009). "Conversation with Miroslav Vitous" (https://bassmusicianmaga
zine.com/2009/08/conversation-with-miroslav-vitous/). Bass Musician.
11. Prasad, Anil. "Miroslav Vitous: Freeing the muse" (http://www.innerviews.org/inner/vitous.ht
ml). Innerviews webzine. 2004.
12. "1977 Weather Report Tour Program" (http://www.zawinulonline.org/galleries/1977_wr_prog
ram). Zawinulonline.org. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
13. New ARC Columbia Label on debut (https://books.google.tt/books?id=ViQEAAAAMBAJ&pg
=PT18&dq=Maurice+White+1978+ARC&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBhfbq5MPgAhUQhu
AKHVL9D2UQ6AEIKzAE#v=onepage&q=Maurice%20White%201978%20ARC&f=false).
90. Billboard Magazine. August 5, 1978. p. 19.
14. Billboard Jazz Albums. 90. Billboard Magazine. December 2, 1978. p. 56.
15. Silvert, Conrad. "Joe Zawinul: Wayfaring Genius--Part II". DownBeat. June 15, 1978.
16. Hunt, Dennis. "Weather Report's Cloudy Image". Los Angeles Times. November 19, 1978.
17. Jackson, Blair. "Fusion Giants Weather Report". BAM #157. June 3, 1983.
18. Varga, George. "Shorter Departs Weather Report". San Diego Union-Tribune. February 28,
1986.
19. Bianchi, Curt. "Weather Update: Zawinul in Transition" (http://www.zawinulonline.org/article
s/weather_update/). Zawinul Online website. 2001.
20. Prasad, Anil. "Joe Zawinul: Man of the people" (http://www.innerviews.org/inner/zawinul.htm
l). Innerviews webzine. 1997.
21. McDonald, Ray (September 12, 2007). "Keyboardist Joe Zawinul Dies" (https://web.archive.
org/web/20090116115422/http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-09/2007-09-12-vo
a18.cfm). VOA News. Voice of America. Archived from the original (http://voanews.com/engl
ish/archive/2007-09/2007-09-12-voa18.cfm) on January 16, 2009. Retrieved January 2,
2009.
22. Schudelm, Matt (September 12, 2007). "Joe Zawinul, 75; Keyboardist Was a Pioneer of
Jazz Fusion" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR20070
91102289.html). The Washington Post. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
23. "Victor Bailey, RIP" (http://www.weatherreportdiscography.org/victor-bailey-rip/).
VictorBailey.com. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
24. "Health Update, Sept. 27th 2016" (https://www.facebook.com/victor.bailey.7165/posts/86279
9117184719). Facebook.com. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
25. "Alphonse Mouzon, Jazz and Fusion Drummer, Dies at 68" (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/
12/28/arts/music/alphonse-mouzon-jazz-and-fusion-drummer-dies-at-68.html).
Nytimes.com. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
26. "Remembering Alphonse Mouzon" (http://downbeat.com/news/detail/remembering-alphons
e-mouzon). Downbeat.com. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
27. "Weather Report" (https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/weather-report). Grammy.com.
28. "Weather Report > Discography > Main Albums" (https://www.allmusic.com/artist/weather-re
port-mn0000243527) (XHTML). AllMusic. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
29. Bianchi, Curt (2005). "Weather Report: The Annotated Discography" (http://www.binkie.net/
wrdisc/index.html). www.binkie.net. Retrieved September 2, 2010.

External links
Weather Report's official website (http://www.weatherreportmusic.com)

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