Weather Report乐团的音乐打破了爵士乐严谨的和弦与旋律结构，把摇滚乐、拉丁音乐、疯克音乐以及非洲音乐的元素渗透到自己的音乐中。而他们对于电子合成器丰富音色的运用更使得乐团的音乐丰富多彩。整个乐团，尤其是Josef Zawinul和Wayne Shorter依靠自己的音乐修为运用新的音乐逻辑连接以上一些独具特色的音乐，使得它们相互滋润、包容。最后，用音乐作品本身的精神力量来感动每一位聆听者，从而达到创作音乐的最终目的－－影响灵魂。音乐是一种对外在世界的洞悉，一种叙述现实的特殊方式。同时，它也是一种生命的哲学指南。而融合音乐的首要思想就是不同乐派、不同国籍乐手之间毫无隔阂、敞开心扉地进行音乐上的调和，并且在调和中许多不同的元素相互靠拢、相互探触，进而互为一体，生长，发芽，开出五光十色的美丽花朵。这种共享互惠的方式成为融合派乐手创作音乐的主要源泉。这也就是为什么象Weather Report乐团和Shakti乐团这类相同重量级的乐队在一起巡演时能够安静地坐在台下互相仔细认真地聆听和学习的原因。前Miles Davis乐团的成员，来自奥地利的Josef Zawinul和黑人萨克斯手Wayne Shorter一手创立了Weather Report乐团。记得Josef Zawinul曾经说过：“贝司是所有音乐之母，而鼓则是所有音乐之父。”显然，他对于整个乐团中的贝司手和鼓手有着不一般的要求。正因为这个才导致了Weather Report乐团中贝司手和鼓手的频繁更迭。象贝司手就经历了Miroslav Vitous、Alphonso Johnson、Jaco Pastorius以及Victor Bailey。而鼓手的变换更是让人眼花缭乱。从巴西鼓王Airto Moirera、Dom Um Romao到Chester Thompson（前Frank Zappa乐队的鼓手）、Narada Michael Walden（此君在放下鼓棒后因为成为流行天后Whitney Houston的音乐制作人而名噪一时）、Alejandro Alex Acu?a（秘鲁裔鼓手，曾与猫王以及Tina Turner合作）、Manolo Badrena（波多黎各裔）再到Peter Erskine以及Omar Hakim。Zawinul一直希望自己乐团的鼓手拥有一种力量，一种能够突然爆发出来的惊人力量。这对于Zawinul来说比节奏感更重要。1971年，一张名为《Weather Report》的同名专辑诞生。这就预示着这个重量级乐队辉煌的开始。他们的音乐就象70年代这个音乐的黄金年代那样散发着绚烂的光芒。在Weather Report乐团的音乐中电子合成器扮演了十分重要的作用。在1972年的《I Sing the Body Electric》专辑的《Unknown Soldier》中，Zawinul第一次运用了ARP 2600电子合成器。这些合成器的运用使得Zawinul的演奏得到了解放。他可以随心所欲地使用自己想要的音色，自如地指挥一个并不存在的弦乐团。到《Mysterious Traveller》专辑中，他更是运用了两台ARP合成器。这使得他的即兴弹奏变得游刃有余。那首有22页曲谱的《Nubian Sundance》就体现了这种效果。后来，Zawinul更是喜欢上了复音合成器（Polyphonic Synthesizer）。尤其是在最富争议的专辑《Mr.Gone》中使用的Prophet-5复音电子合成器。它那准确的音色完全俘获了Zawinul的心。即使现在回想起来，Zawinul也是赞不绝口。当然，整个乐团不仅仅是Josef Zawinul使用合成器。Wayne Shorter也在《Three Clowns》中尝试了一下Computone Lyricon（一种风鸣合成器）的电萨克斯的味道。Weather Report乐团最成功的单曲非1977年专辑《Heavy Weather》中的《Birdland》莫属。Birdland是纽约一家著名的爵士俱乐部。它对于Josef Zawinul来说具有不一般的意义。可以说，在这个俱乐部所发生的事情浓缩了他的一生。在那里，他遇到了 Miles Davis、Duke Ellington和Louis Armstrong，还有他那漂亮的妻子Maxine。在这首流行味道极浓的歌曲中Zawinul巧妙地运用Oberheim Polyphonic合成器的4音，从而取得了非常棒的效果。可以说，就是因为这首歌曲才使得整张专辑成为乐团销量最好的专辑。当然，Weather Report乐团也能够做出非常柔情的作品。《A Remark You Made》就是一首柔情万千的歌曲。Shorter以往高亢尖锐的萨克斯在这首歌曲中被植入一种细腻的情感纹理，简短的音乐语句中充满了让人落泪的情绪。优秀的音乐作品依靠其强大的情感冲击打动了一个个被爱情、友情以及亲情滋润过的心灵。by Richard S. GinellWeather Report started out as a jazz equivalent of what the rock world in 1970 was calling a supergroup. But unlike most of the rock supergroups, this one not only kept going for a good 15 years, it more than lived up to its billing, practically defining the state of the jazz-rock art throughout almost all of its run. Weather Report also anticipated and contributed to the North American interest in world music rhythms and structures, prodded by keyboardist/co-founder Joe Zawinul. And WR, like many of jazzs great long-lived groups, proved to be an incubator for several future leaders who passed in and out of the band in a never-ending series of revolving-door personnel changes. The original members of the band were Zawinul, Wayne Shorter (saxophones), Miroslav Vitous (electric bass), Airto Moreira (percussion) and Alphonse Mouzon (drums), with only Zawinul and (until 1985) Shorter remaining in place throughout the bands lifespan. Zawinul, Shorter and Moreira all had experience playing in and influencing the studio and live electric bands of Miles Davis — and at first, WR was a direct extension of Miles In a Silent Way/Bitches Brew period, with free-floating collective improvisation and interplay, combining elements of jazz, rock, funk, Latin and other ethnic musics. With the release of Sweetnighter in 1972, Zawinuls influence upon the bands direction began to deepen; the groove became more important, structures were imposed upon the material (though the group continued its freewheeling interplay in live gigs). When the innovative bassist Jaco Pastorius replaced Alphonso Johnson in 1976, WR entered its most popular phase, with Pastorius becoming a flamboyant third lead voice, Shorters sax receding into more epigrammatic form, and Zawinul rediscovering his commercial touch and sharpening his electronic sophistication. The best-selling Heavy Weather album (1977) actually served up a hit song that became a jazz standard (Birdland), and with the entry of Peter Erskine on drums (1978), the group finally had a stable lineup for awhile. Contrary to accepted wisdom, the departures of Pastorius and Erskine in 1982 led to a recharging of WRs batteries; their replacements Victor Bailey (bass), Omar Hakim (drums), Jose Rossy and later, Mino Cinelu (percussion) were more amenable to Zawinuls deepening inclinations for Third World rhythms, sounds and textures. This edition of WR rattled off three more albums, including the outstanding Procession. But Shorter, who had gradually ceded nearly total artistic control to Zawinul, was getting restless; he took a leave of absence in 1985 and later that year, left WR for good. This Is This (1985), in which Erskine returns and Shorter plays only a limited role, was WRs swan song. Zawinul would tour in 1986 with a revamped version called Weather Update (a prelude to the keyboardists own Zawinul Syndicate), and there was talk in 1996 about Zawinul and Shorter reuniting in the studio for a new edition of WR, but Zawinul later deflated the speculation.