 Joe
Zawinul (b. 1932) and Wayne Shorter (b. 1933) first played together in trumpeter
Maynard Ferguson's band in 1959. For the next decade Shorter played tenor
saxophone in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Miles Davis Quintet. Zawinul
spent the 1960's playing keyboard for Cannonball Adderly for whom he wrote
the jazz-rock hit Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. In 1970, Zawinul and Shroter formed
the jazz-rock group Weather Report with bassist Miroslav Vitous, drummer
Alphonse Mouzon, and percussionist Airto Moreira |