Certainly they made some great music over the years. But ultimately, Weather Report is a lesson in how supergroups simply do not work; it's just that this one happened to (sort-of) hang together much longer than most. I think their best album is Black Market, and there is great stuff on Sweetnighter and Mysterious Traveler. But everything after 1976 or so is dominated by the ego-maniacal Joe Zawinul. Wayne Shorter gets pushed to the side. However, Shorter's marginalization is nothing compared with the criminal squandering of Jaco's talents. The man was by far the greatest musical force in the band; you can see why he became fed up with Zawinul and left.

The early albums are more collaborative, building on what Miles Davis did with albums like Bitches Brew. The inclusion of Miroslav Vitous forces the band into a less commercial, more exploratory mode. But the band hit its creative high point when Jaco was hired for Black Market. This was Weather Report at the crossroads of wanting to make a little money, but still being tempered by a good solid fusion sound. The result is their best album.

But much of their output after that point is uninteresting, directionless waffling, Zawinul reaching only for commercial success. He probably attained that, but little else.