Weather Report was an influential jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining jazz with art music, ethnic music, R&B, funk, and rock elements (in heavily varying proportions during the years), often demonstrating high levels of compositional and improvisational skills. Along with other groups that were founded by Miles Davis alumni (Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Headhunters), Weather Report was one of the greatest innovators of the jazz fusion genre at that time. The beginning The band was originally a spin-off from the group of musicians associated with Miles Davis in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The stable core of the group was the duo of pianist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter, while the other musicians were rotated, sometimes with almost every new album release. Both Zawinul and Shorter had made their marks among the best composers in jazz, Zawinul in Cannonball Adderley's group and Shorte