Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was initially co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul, the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter and Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš. Other prominent members at various points in the band's lifespan included bassists Alphonso Johnson, Jaco Pastorius and Victor Bailey; and drummers/percussionists Peter Erskine, Alex Acuña, Airto Moreira, and Chester Thompson. Throughout most of its existence, the band was a quintet of keyboards, saxophone, bass, drums and percussion.
John McLaughlin is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. His music includes many genres of jazz combined with elements of rock, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. He is a pioneer of jazz fusion.
Simon Phillips is a Los Angeles-based English jazz, pop and rock drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He worked with rock bands during the 1970s and 1980s and was the drummer for the band Toto from 1992 to 2014.
Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Waldron led his own bands and played for those led by Charles Mingus, Jackie McLean, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy, among others. During Waldron's period as house pianist for Prestige Records in the late 1950s, he appeared on dozens of albums and composed for many of them, including writing his most famous song, "Soul Eyes", for Coltrane. Waldron was often an accompanist for vocalists, and was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist from April 1957 until her death in July 1959.
Jean-Luc Ponty is a French jazz violinist and composer.
Bulee "Slim" Gaillard, also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone.
David Sancious is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on the Human Touch (1992), Tracks (1998), and Western Stars (2019). Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known as a keyboard player and guitarist. He left the E Street Band in 1974 to form his own band, Tone, and released several albums. He subsequently became a popular session and touring musician, most notably for Stanley Clarke, Narada Michael Walden, Zucchero Fornaciari, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, and Sting among many others. In 2014, Sancious was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the E Street Band.
Armando Peraza was a Latin jazz percussionist and a member of the rock band Santana. Peraza played congas, bongos, and timbales.
Derek Wadsworth was an English jazz musician, composer and arranger.
John Michael Glyn Etheridge is an English jazz fusion guitarist known for his eclecticism and broad range of associations in jazz, classical, and contemporary music.
Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey was an American jazz trumpeter.
René Urtreger is a French bebop pianist.
Christian Escoudé is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist.
Taft Jordan was an American jazz trumpeter, heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong.
Jake Vernon Haven Porter was an American jazz trumpeter and record producer.
Daniel Joseph Schmid is an American musician, known for his work as the bassist and co-founder of the ska-swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies. Schmid was also part of the rock duo the Visible Men, and has worked with alternative rock musicians such as Black Francis and Pete Yorn.
François Biensan is a French trumpeter and harmonica player, working primarily in jazz and blues styles.
Jean-Loup Longnon is a French jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He is the nephew of Guy Longnon.
François Jeanneau is a French jazz saxophonist, flautist, and composer.
Ernest Shepard, Jr. was an American jazz double-bassist and vocalist.
