WEATHER REPORT (THE BAND) Weather Report was the first jazz band to use synthetic sound extensively. It was led by keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The band was successful in mix free jazz improvisational style with a rock sound. Their homonymous first album shows Zawinul's virtuoso use of the latest technological resources of its time. Zawinul was a great connoisseur of the complexity in European electronic music mixes. He was trained as an interpreter and composer in bands led by musicians such as Cannonball Adderley, Maynard Ferguson, and Miles Davis. After composing several relevant tunes while with them, he went into the hunting of his own personal sound through free improvisation.