Weather Report

Inception and formation

Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter first met and became 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 would later join Shorter in contributing to the initial fusion music recordings of Miles Davis, and both men were part of the studio groups, which recorded the key Davis albums In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). In consequence, 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 in order 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����)

Dave Redmond: The Next In Line

by Ian Patterson
September 3, 2025

Ireland probably has more good jazz bassists than at any time before but ask who the most in-demand bassist in the country is and the answer is most likely Dave Redmond. The Dubliner has been a key player on the Irish jazz scene since the early 2000s, playing with Irish guitar greats Louis Stewart and Tommy ...

William Carn's Choices: The Unburdening

by Dan McClenaghan
August 7, 2025

The Covid pandemic allowed Canadian trombonist William Carn to push toward electronics, to move in the direction of going remote with his fellow players for the process of putting a set of sounds together. His debut album, 2023's self-produced Choices (review here) started the process. He doubles down (a much-heard phrase in the 2020s, thanks to ...

Several Silent Ways & More

by Bob Osborne
August 7, 2025

The arrival of a new Anthony Wilson album with his interpretation of Joe Zawinul's “In A Silent Way" lead me to dig out other versions--a live rendition by Weather Report plus the two versions from the The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions box set release by Miles Davis. Zawinul's haunting melody is the centrepiece of ...

Festival International de Jazz de Montr��al 2025

by Mark Sullivan
July 16, 2025

Various Venues Festival International de Jazz de Montr��al Montr��al, Canada June 28-July 2, 2025 The headliners of the 45th edition of the festival included names like Gospel legend Mavis Staples, Canadian rockers Blue Rodeo, Canadian Inuk musician Elisapie, New Orleans musician Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Nigerian singer/songwriter Ayra Starr, Canadian ...

Wayne Shorter Quartet: Live At The North Sea Jazz Festival, 1986

by Mike Jacobs
June 17, 2025

Notable for having some of the hottest young musicians of its day--namely Mitchel Forman (Mahavishnu, John Scofield) on keys, Tom Brechtlein (Chick Corea) on drums and Gary Willis (Tribal Tech, Allan Holdsworth) on bass--Wayne Shorter's first post-Weather Report quartet was as short-lived as it was criminally undocumented. If you weren't fortunate enough to have caught this ...

The Bad Plus at Jazz Alley

by Paul Rauch
May 16, 2025

The Bad Plus Jazz Alley Seattle, Washington May 13, 2025 The Bad Plus is a band, and a successful brand in the music world. They have a litany of successful recording and performance credits to their history, achieving amazing success while employing an approach to jazz that is perhaps odd and ...

Nick Brignola: Between A Rock And The Jazz Place, Part 2

by Rob Rosenblum
May 15, 2025

Part 1 | Part 2 This interview was originally published in 1969 in an Albany, New York area arts publication called Transition. It documents a time when saxophonist Nick Brignola was in the process of trying to break out of the confines of bebop and incorporate some of the elements of fusion that was ...

Daniele Sepe: Poema 15

by Neri Pollastri
March 26, 2025

Tra un Capitone e l'altro (l'ultimo lo avevamo recensito cinque anni fa, uno nuovo sta uscendo), Daniele Sepe trova il tempo per pubblicare per Encore Music un disco dei suoi: dedicato al cinquantenario del golpe cileno (avvenuto l'11 settembre 1973, l'album �� stato registrato a maggio del 2023) e perci�� ricco di canti di lotta e ...

Peter Erskine: Revisiting Weather Report

by C. Andrew Hovan
March 20, 2025

A standout drum prodigy of his generation, Peter Erskine began playing at the age of four. After honing his skills at Interlochen, he launched his professional career in 1972 with Stan Kenton. Four years later, he joined Maynard Ferguson before making a pivotal move, replacing Alex Acuña in Weather Report. In the spring ...