Weather Report

Conceived by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Miroslav Vitouš and keyboardist Joe Zawinul in 1970, the immensely popular, critically acclaimed, and fluidly staffed Weather Report emerged from the electric jazz-fusion space opened up by Miles Davis’ In a Silent Way (on which Shorter and Zawinul both performed) and Bitches Brew. After exploring languid improvisational zones on their relatively subdued eponymous 1971 debut, the combo grew increasingly heavier, funkier and more melodic, beginning with 1973’s Sweetnighter. The arrival of charismatic bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius for Heavy Weather (1977) and its hit single, “Birdland”, launched Weather Report into superstardom. Joni Mitchell used them, minus Zawinul, as her backing band on 1977’s ambitiously jazz-centric Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter and 1979’s Mingus. Weather Report continually reinvented themselves over 14 albums and countless live adventures, sounding tighter—even somewhat trad—on 1979’s Night Passage, before winding down in a soulful way on 1985’s Sportin’ Life.