17 Facts About Weather Report

Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986.

Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre.

Weather Report maintained a consistent interest in a textured sound and developments in music technology and processing.

In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric.

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.

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On 1973's Sweetnighter, Weather Report began to abandon the primarily acoustic group improvisation format, and the band started to take a new direction.

Weather Report could listen to it, talk about it, and he admired it, but that's not what came out of him, so that was something that held back where Joe wanted to go at the time I was with them.

When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitous left Weather Report, moving on to an illustrious career leading his own band and winning respect as a composer.

Weather Report was 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 music had evolved further from open-ended funk jams into more melody-oriented, concise forms, which offered a greater mass-market appeal.

Weather Report's 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".

Black Market continued Weather Report's ongoing run of success, selling well and being the fourth of the band's albums to win the album of the year award from DownBeat magazine.

Band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather Report, which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim.

Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman-produced series The Midnight Special, performing both "Birdland" and "Teen Town".

Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.

Weather Report Update toured in 1986 and 1987 before Zawinul dissolved the band.

Weather Report 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.