ABSTRACT
Weather Report was the antithesis of the 1970s’jazz fusion style. Core members include Josef Zawinul, keyboards and synthesizers, and Wayne Shorter, saxophone; they incorporated rock, classical, and Third World ethnic influences within a harmonic and improvisational jazz framework, enabling the group to achieve a mainstream commercial success that eluded most of its peers. The recordings resulting from this collaboration possessed an orchestral grandeur that would greatly influence later jazz developments, most notably the European ambient labels like ECM and the lite jazz of Kenny G, Dave Grusin, and others.
