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80-800: The festival also included American acts such as Weather Report , the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom , Fania All-Stars , Stephen Stills , Billy Swan , Bonnie Bramlett , Mike Finnigan , Kris Kristofferson , Tony Williams, Jaco Pastorius , John McLaughlin, Rita Coolidge , and Billy Joel .As well as Cuban acts by Irakere , Pacho Alonso , Zaida Arrate, Elena Burke , Orquesta de Santiago de Cuba, Conjunto Yaguarimú, Frank Emilio Flynn , Juan Pablo Torres , Los Papines, Tata Güines , Cuban Percussion Ensemble, Sara González , Pablo Milanés , Manguaré, and Orquesta Aragón . In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Fidel Castro started to loosen

160-515: A jazz standard . Weather Report appeared on the Burt Sugarman -produced series The Midnight Special , performing both "Birdland" and " Teen Town ". Heavy Weather continued Weather Report's record of 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

240-430: 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 was criticized for allowing his synthesized arrangements to dominate the sound. In the beginning let's say Weather Report

320-401: A Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). 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..."). There's some dispute over how Weather Report initially formed. According to Zawinul, it began when he and Shorter recruited another Miles Davis associate,

400-416: A bassist, a drummer and a percussionist was the standard formation for Weather Report. The band started as a free improvising group with avant-garde and experimental electronic leanings (pioneered by Zawinul); when Vitouš left Weather Report (due mostly to creative disagreements), Zawinul increasingly steered the band towards a funky, edgy sound incorporating elements of R&B and native musics from around

480-517: 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 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

560-705: A career that lasted some forty years for labels including Columbia Records and RCA Records . Born on June 30, 1935, and raised in Brooklyn , he attended Columbia University , studying music and philosophy. While serving at Fort Bliss in El Paso County, Texas while in the United States Army for two years, he hosted a local radio show and organized a jazz festival. While in his late-20s, Berniker produced Barbra Streisand 's first three albums — The Barbra Streisand Album (that year's Grammy winner for Album of

640-462: 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

720-587: A drummer and 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 Omar Hakim were the only drummers who played with Weather Report for more than two years. 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

800-399: A funk player. It wasn't where he came from. He didn't connect up with how to go there. He 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. Melodically and rhythmically, Miroslav was great; what he did do, in terms of where I was coming from, was very unique. Miroslav

880-614: A group of the company's music enthusiasts, made a four-day trip to Havana, where they took great interest to Cuban music, and especially to Afro-Cuban jazz band Irakere . After months of discussion, Lundvall signed Irakere and in July the group traveled to New York to perform an unannounced guest set at the famed Newport Jazz Festival-New York . Rave reviews led to an invitation from the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland . A few months later, Irakere won their first Grammy with

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960-462: A guest vocal from Carl Anderson . Mike Berniker Michael Berniker (June 30, 1935 – July 25, 2008) was an American record producer who was recognized with nine Grammy Awards over the course of his career for his work on albums with such performers as Perry Como , Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme , Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand , as well as Broadway theatre cast recordings, Latin jazz, classical, spoken word and comedy albums in

1040-547: 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; the close relationship he'd previously shared with Zawinul was becoming strained as Zawinul lost patience with Pastorius' showmanship onstage (beginning to feel that it detracted from

1120-446: A horn player. Pastorius was also a multi-instrumentalist (contributing drums, steel pan , and mandocello to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually 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

1200-504: A more frenetic style akin to that of John Coltrane or Michael Brecker ). As a composer, he chose a more abstract, sometimes atonal and "free jazz" style of music, 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

1280-467: A new band. On the recommendation of Michał Urbaniak , Zawinul and Shorter recruited 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

1360-419: A rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were uncompromising in their contributions to the interview, 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

1440-456: A solo career as composer and band leader. 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

1520-452: 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

1600-573: The DownBeat best album award for 1975 (the third Weather Report album to do so) and Native Dancer was the runner-up. 1976's Black Market album was perhaps the most rock-oriented work which the group had produced to date. 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 keyboard synthesizers, while Shorter experimented with an early form of wind synthesizer,

1680-546: 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

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1760-526: The CBS Jazz All-Stars , travel accommodations were made, equipment was rented, a wide cross-section of media was invited, and both recording and videotaping plans were confirmed. Record producers Bert DeCoteaux and Mike Berniker flew down with a crew from the CBS Recording Studios along with a support team and mobile 24-track Recording Studio from Record Plant NY . The musicians landed at

1840-584: The Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album at the 1992 ceremonies . He won the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the Grammy Awards of 1986 for his work as producer of the original Broadway cast album for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom . As an executive with RCA Records , Berniker signed Daryl Hall and John Oates and Juice Newton . Berniker lived with his wife Heather in Fort Lee, New Jersey from

1920-598: The José Martí airport on March 1. Havana Jam was an invitation-only event, with mostly cultural personalities and members of the Communist Party and their children in attendance, though some students from different art and music schools were also invited. The festival was hardly mentioned in the Cuban press, and thirty years later, not many Cubans know it ever existed. With the hall filled to capacity, Weather Report opened

2000-562: The Lyricon . 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) 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). Alphonso Johnson

2080-402: 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

2160-441: 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

2240-536: 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. At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for

2320-421: The Cuban and American people. This event, spontaneously entitled Havana Jam, was set for March 2 through 4, 1979. For assistance in the planning of the event, Lundvall brought aboard Jock McLean and Phil Sandhaus of Columbia 's artists development department, who then enlisted Showco (a Dallas -based concert production company) and Studio Instrument Rentals to help organize the event. By early February,

2400-577: The Lundvall and his team had organized the roster for the event. Representing the U.S. would be Billy Joel , Stephen Stills , Weather Report , Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge , the Fania All-Stars and the CBS Jazz All-Stars , a group conceptualized by Lundvall which was scheduled to feature more than 20 top jazz artists on the label. As the event came closer, other CBS Records personnel began working to organize it. Rehearsals were scheduled for

2480-515: The Year ), The Second Barbra Streisand Album and The Third Album — all of which were released six months apart in the one-year span from February 1963 to February 1964, and which were described by The New York Times as "among the most expressively uninhibited" of her career. Berniker also produced Streisand's classic career-making single " People ", her first Top 10 single. He produced several Broadway albums, including his work with composer Cy Coleman on The Will Rogers Follies , which won

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2560-503: The album Irakere , recorded at their Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival performances. Then, in the Fall of 1978, he joined forces with Fania Records director Jerry Masucci and convinced the Cuban cultural authorities to organize a three-day festival in Havana with the participation of Cuban and American musicians. The event would be recorded and televised for the enjoyment of both

2640-465: 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". In 1972, Weather Report released its second album, I Sing the Body Electric . The first side featured new studio recordings, while

2720-408: The band members generally distanced themselves from that term. From the start, Weather Report took the unusual approach of abandoning the traditional "soloist/accompaniment" demarcation of straight-ahead jazz and featured opportunities for continuous improvisation by every member of the band. That position remained consistent throughout the life of the band. From the point where Alphonso Johnson joined

2800-425: The band to bring in a new audience. The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed Heavy Weather , which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It included 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

2880-423: 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. The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on

2960-413: The band, individual solos became more prominent in concert, but were never allowed to overwhelm the collective approach. Initially, the band's music featured an improvisational method (similar to Miles Davis 's Bitches Brew -period), but eventually that shifted to a more groove-oriented approach and catchier compositions (as epitomized by their 1977 hit single "Birdland" ). Joe Zawinul's playing style

3040-469: 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. Whichever story is true, it was those three musicians – all composers – who formed

3120-424: 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, Leon "Ndugu" Chancler . The new album, Tale Spinnin' , was released in 1975. It was the first Weather Report album to feature a consistent rhythm section (rather than

3200-407: The evening's proceedings to an abrupt halt at 3 A.M. Leading off Sunday evening's performances was trombone player Juan Pablo Torres , followed by Cuban singer Elena Burke . Appearing next on the bill were Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge , backed by a band composed of Billy Swan and other musicians. Kristofferson performed first, singing many of his popular songs. Rita Coolidge then took

3280-399: The event. At the beginning of 1980, Pastorius recruited hand-drummer Robert 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

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3360-624: The festival, utilizing its Charanga sound of violins, cello, flute, and rhythm section. The concert was going later than expected, and people began to leave the hall because of the midnight public transportation curfew. Hence, when the Fania All-Stars took the stage, the house was half empty. Their ensemble included salsa artists such as Rubén Blades , Johnny Pacheco , Pete Rodríguez , Héctor Lavoe , Larry Harlow , Santos Colón , Luigi Texidor , Pupi Legarreta , Papo Lucca , Roberto Roena , Adalberto Santiago , Sal Cuevas , Wilfrido Vargas , and more. Leading off Saturday evening's entertainment

3440-525: The finest of the band's "pure jazz" drummers as well as being "from the jazz side... my favorite of them all". With Gravatt gone and former drummer Herschel Dwellingham unavailable for touring, former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico played on the Sweetnighter tour, but did not stay with the band afterwards. At this point, Vitouš and Zawinul found themselves at creative loggerheads, since

3520-484: 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, selling well and being

3600-644: 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. For his part, Zawinul would later recall Vitouš planning to concentrate on more bowed solos and getting

3680-497: 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 in July at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1976, which

3760-416: The fusion-era work of Miles Davis ), Weather Report is widely considered one of the defining bands of the jazz fusion genre. Over their 16-year career, Weather Report explored various types of music, predominantly centered on jazz (initially the " free " variety), but also incorporating elements of art music , ethnic music , R&B , funk , and rock . While their work was categorized as "jazz fusion",

3840-433: The group to hire a second bassist to play the standard basslines, to which Zawinul's response was "why don't we get one bassist who can do all of that?" Zawinul claimed that "there was nothing disrespectful about it... we had to make this move. And history has proved us to have been right." When Shorter sided with Zawinul, the original three-man partnership broke down acrimoniously and Vitouš left Weather Report, moving on to

3920-412: The group's repertoire through the aid of Florida radio , mostly AM stations such as WQAM , WGBS , WKWF and WLCY . Weather Report was followed by two traditional Cuban ensembles of differing styles. The first, Conjunto Yaguarimú , featured vocalists Zaida Arrate and Pacho Alonso , who interpreted "dated" Cuban music. The second group, Orquesta Aragón , played some of the most dynamic music of

4000-641: 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

4080-510: The initial core of the project. To complete the band, Zawinul, Shorter and Vitouš brought in McCoy Tyner 's former drummer Alphonse Mouzon and began recording their debut album while looking for a full-time auxiliary percussionist. The initial recruits were session percussion player Don Alias and symphony orchestra percussionist Barbara Burton. During recording, Alias quarreled with Zawinul (allegedly due to Zawinul being too dictatorial over

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4160-512: 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 later described this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a hummer !" Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to Havana , Cuba , to participate in

4240-538: 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

4320-481: 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. On 1973's Sweetnighter , Weather Report began to abandon

4400-579: 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)

4480-490: 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. 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

4560-474: 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. Weather Report's debut album Weather Report 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

4640-512: The political tension between the two countries and opened Interest Sections both in Havana and Washington, D.C. It was the first time in almost two decades after Castro's rise to power that there was a real interest in establishing a normalization of diplomatic relations and the lifting of the United States embargo against Cuba . In April 1978, CBS Records director Bruce Lundvall , together with

4720-420: 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. [Miroslav] loved funk, and he tried to play it, but he wasn't

4800-490: 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. Vitouš' replacement was the Philadelphian electric bass guitarist Alphonso Johnson (formerly a sideman for the pop-fusion player Chuck Mangione ). Recruited by Shorter, Johnson

4880-575: The second side was taken from live recordings of a concert in Tokyo , featuring the full-band lineup of Zawinul, Shorter, Vitouš, Eric Gravatt , and Dom Um Romão (and later available in full as the 1972 Japan-only double album Live in Tokyo ). 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

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4960-418: The show, offering an assortment of sound effects before launching into their set. The audience repeatedly rose to its feet during the program, setting the festival's prevailing mood of "music over politics". Backstage, Weather Report's members ( Joe Zawinul , Wayne Shorter , Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine ) were later congratulated by an assortment of Cuban musicians and fans, most of whom were familiar with

5040-456: The stage. Then, Sara González sang several numbers accompanied by Pablo Milanés y Grupo Manguaré . Then came the festival's finale, Billy Joel . Unlike most of the other acts, Joel's performance was not recorded or videotaped. In 1979, Columbia released two double albums of the festival performances, Havana Jam and Havana Jam 2 . The Fania All-Stars 's set was released later that year as Havana Jam on Fania . The Trio of Doom performance

5120-425: 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

5200-558: The world. Zawinul used the latest developments in synthesizer technology, and he took advantage of a large variety of sounds and tone colors to make the band stand out. During the first half of their career, Weather Report were seen as one of the defining acts in modern jazz, winning the DownBeat "best album award" five times in a row. Alongside bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra , Return to Forever , and Herbie Hancock 's Headhunters (all with members inspired by and partially responsible for

5280-413: 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 "Cannonball" and his own composition "Barbary Coast". Zawinul and Shorter had assumed that new drummer Chester Thompson would be departing alongside his friend Johnson and, for the second set of sessions, they replaced him (on Pastorius' recommendation) with

5360-466: 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. —Josef Zawinul on his gradual takeover of Weather Report Wayne Shorter came to the group with a reputation as a dominant role as an instrumentalist, drawn from both his solo work and his contributions to Miles Davis' "second great quintet" during

5440-510: 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. According to Zawinul, new drummer Ishmael 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

5520-409: 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

5600-455: Was already taking a less active approach. He later commented, philosophically, "For a long time in Weather Report, I abstained. I elected not to do things." Erskine's own commitment to Word of Mouth (and his summer commitment to Steps Ahead ) meant that his part also needed to be replaced; at the same time, Robert Thomas Jr. left the band. Reduced to a duo, and with tour commitments looming, Zawinul and Shorter were obliged to quickly assemble

5680-464: 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

5760-407: Was even more pronounced on this album. Increasingly, the band's music was written out rather than improvised. At the same time, Pastorius was spending more of his creative attention on his Word of Mouth project: his only writing for the Weather Report album was his contribution to a single group-composed piece. Shorter (who only contributed one composition to the 1982 album, beyond group-written work)

5840-425: Was filmed for future release. 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

5920-416: Was initially co-led by Zawinul and Shorter but as the 1970s progressed, Zawinul became the primary composer and creative director of the group. Other prominent members throughout the band’s history included bassists Jaco Pastorius , Alphonso Johnson and Victor Bailey , drummers Chester Thompson and Peter Erskine , and percussionists Airto Moreira and Alex Acuña . A quintet of Zawinul & Shorter with

6000-407: Was limited to two selections, the assemblage was also well received. What followed was considered the highlight of the festival, the 25-member Cuban Percussion Ensemble . The entourage featured some of the biggest names in modern Cuban drumming , such as Tata Güines , Los Papines , Guillermo Barreto and Changuito , backed by pianist Frank Emilio and his quartet. After a percussion set, Cuba

6080-608: 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

6160-571: Was released in 2007 as Trio of Doom . The event is recollected and revived in Ernesto Juan Castellanos's 2009 documentary Havana Jam '79 . Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul , American saxophonist Wayne Shorter , Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš , American drummer Alphonse Mouzon as well as American percussionists Don Alias and Barbara Burton. The band

6240-406: Was still playing acoustic, and it was an odd kind of a funk. It was very... interesting! —Weather Report touring drummer Greg Errico on Miroslav Vitouš Gravatt took his replacement in the studio sessions badly and quit the band at the end of recording, moving to Minneapolis to join the band Natural Life. Many years later, Zawinul paid tribute to Gravatt's skills and stated that he had been

6320-548: Was the first grouping of the CBS Jazz All-Stars , composed of Dexter Gordon , Stan Getz , Jimmy Heath , Arthur Blythe , Woody Shaw , Hubert Laws , Bobby Hutcherson , Willie Bobo , Cedar Walton , Percy Heath and Tony Williams . The stage was then turned over to the Trio of Doom , including luminaries John McLaughlin , Jaco Pastorius , and Tony Williams . As a finale, a third ensemble came onstage: Blythe, Jimmy Heath, Laws, Bobo, Richard Tee , Rodney Franklin , Eric Gale , John Lee and Gerry Brown . Although their set

6400-533: Was treated to its first taste of rock 'n' roll by Stephen Stills . He performed a high-energy set that featured a band that included Bonnie Bramlett and Mike Finnigan . Stills gave a sampling of his various popular songs, and then jumped into the audience with his remote-control guitar and sang a salute to the audience entitled Cuba Al Fin . Irakere then closed the show. The group was joined by Rodney Franklin , Richard Tee , John McLaughlin , Willie Bobo , Stan Getz , Jaco Pastorius and others, then bringing

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