Editing Weather Report (section)

===1977–1979: Jazz-rock stars===
{{Original research section|date=March 2023}}
[[File:Portrait_of_Tracy_1980.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Pastorius, reaching to accentuate his bass guitar sound with harmonics]]
The recruitment of Jaco Pastorius helped to push Weather Report to the height of its popularity. Already a rising star in his own right, Pastorius brought a very musical, melodic quality to the bass. He could play muscular, lightning-fast groove lines influenced by R&B or funk, as well as demonstrating an extraordinary solo control of tone and string harmonics, often sounding more like a horn player. Pastorius was also a [[multi-instrumentalist]] (contributing drums, [[steel pan]], and [[mandocello]] to the latest recording sessions), a gifted composer (eventually responsible for some signature Weather Report pieces such as "[[Teen Town]]" and "Three Views of a Secret"), and a useful production foil for Zawinul due to his knowledge of recording studios and techniques. Finally, Pastorius' stagecraft and aggressive showmanship helped the band to bring in a new audience.

[[File:Weather Report1.jpg|thumb|230px|left|L-R: Zawinul, Pastorius, Shorter]]

The band's next album was 1977's acclaimed ''[[Heavy Weather (album)|Heavy Weather]]'', which proved to be the band's most successful recording in terms of sales, while still retaining wide critical acclaim. It included the band's biggest hit, the propulsive and danceable "[[Birdland (composition)|Birdland]]" (highlighting Pastorius' singing bass lines and Zawinul's synthesized ensemble brass), which became a pop hit and later became a [[jazz standard]]. Weather Report appeared on the [[Burt Sugarman]]-produced series ''[[The Midnight Special (TV series)|The Midnight Special]]'', performing both "Birdland" and "[[Teen Town]]". ''Heavy Weather'' continued Weather Report's record of awards, including their last ''[[DownBeat]]'' Album of the Year award.

During this period, Pastorius' strong professional connection with [[Joni Mitchell]] (for whom he played bass throughout the latter half of the 1970s) led to another musical connection. Over the next few years, Mitchell hired the Weather Report line-up ''en masse'' (although without Zawinul in each case) to play on her studio albums ''[[Don Juan's Reckless Daughter]]'' (1977) and ''[[Mingus (Joni Mitchell album)|Mingus]]'' (1979).

[[File:Weather Report2 (Jaco Pastorius).jpg|thumb|200px|right|Jaco Pastorius, with bass guitar in Toronto, November 1977]]
During August 1978 the band joined [[Maurice White]]'s vanity label [[American Record Corporation|ARC]] at Columbia.<ref>{{cite work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViQEAAAAMBAJ&q=Maurice+White+1978+ARC&pg=PT18|title=New ARC Columbia Label on debut|page=19|volume=90|date=August 5, 1978|publisher=Billboard Magazine}}</ref> At the time they were once again without either a full-time drummer and percussionist, with Alex Acuña having returned to Las Vegas for a career as a studio musician and [[Manolo Badrena]] having been fired for "non-musical reasons". Shorter had been focusing most of his attention and compositional ideas into his solo work, while Zawinul was sketching out ideas for a solo album of his own, which involved moving away from a raw group sound in favor of constructing a far more orchestrated and experimental studio-based recording with multiple overdubs. However, Weather Report's contract and work schedule required another album, so Zawinul's solo work was absorbed into what became Weather Report's eighth album, ''[[Mr. Gone (album)|Mr. Gone]]'' (1978).

The studio sessions made use of a variety of drummers – Pastorius played the kit on two tracks and further contributions came from [[Tony Williams (drummer)|Tony Williams]], [[Steve Gadd]], and [[Peter Erskine]] (the latter an ex-[[Stan Kenton]]/[[Maynard Ferguson]] drummer recruited to the project by Pastorius). Erskine became a full member of the band for the next tour and remained with Weather Report until 1982. The album also featured guest appearances from [[Deniece Williams]] and [[Earth Wind and Fire]] leader [[Maurice White]].  The album rose to No. 1 on the [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] [[Jazz Albums]] chart.<ref>{{cite work|title=Billboard Jazz Albums|page=56|volume=90|date=December 2, 1978|publisher=Billboard Magazine}}</ref>

Notoriously, ''Mr. Gone'' (1978) received only a one-star review rating from ''[[DownBeat]]'' after a string of group releases which had all pulled a five-star rating. The group arranged for a rebuttal interview with the magazine to defend their efforts. Zawinul and Pastorius were uncompromising in their contributions to the interview, Shorter more philosophical, and Erskine the most reticent of the four.

[[File:Weather Report2 1980.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Weather Report performing in Amsterdam in 1980]]
By the late '70s, Weather Report was a quartet of Zawinul, Shorter, Pastorius, and Erskine, and (for the first time) had dispensed with the auxiliary percussionist role, which had been integral since the band's inception. Instead, all four members doubled on percussion at various points in live performances. Zawinul commented that this sleeker, less crowded sound provided more listening range and made the music less chaotic now that the band were focusing more on melody and harmony.<ref>Silvert, Conrad. "Joe Zawinul: Wayfaring Genius—Part II". ''[[DownBeat]]''. June 15, 1978.</ref><ref>Hunt, Dennis. "Weather Report's Cloudy Image". Los Angeles Times. November 19, 1978.</ref>

The larger scale and multimedia staging of the band's tours (complete with stagehands, laser and film projections) began to take on the kind of rock-star proportions mostly unknown in jazz circles. The 1979 double live album ''[[8:30]]'' (which won that year's [[Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance|Best Jazz Fusion Performance]]) was recorded on the ''Mr. Gone'' tour and captured the direct power and energy of this lineup of Weather Report. Zawinul later described this lineup as "one of the greatest bands of all time! That band was a ''hummer''!"<ref>Jackson, Blair. "Fusion Giants Weather Report". BAM #157. June 3, 1983.</ref>

Between March 2 and 4, 1979, Weather Report traveled to [[Havana]], [[Cuba]], to participate in the historic [[Havana Jam]] festival, a break in mutual Cuban/American political hostilities, which had American artists such as [[Stephen Stills]], the CBS Jazz All-Stars, [[Bonnie Bramlett]], [[Kris Kristofferson]], [[Rita Coolidge]], and [[Billy Joel]] play alongside Cuban artists such as [[Irakere]], [[Pacho Alonso]], [[Tata Güines]], and [[Orquesta Aragón]]. Another featured performance was by the [[Trio of Doom]] (a short-lived teaming of Pastorius with [[John McLaughlin (musician)|John McLaughlin]] and [[Tony Williams (drummer)|Tony Williams]]). Weather Report's performance featured in Havana Jam '79, Ernesto Juan Castellanos' documentary celebrating the event.